Another year of Florida garlic in the kitchen.

7 years ago

Here are few heads of garlic from this year's crop. Some of the heads are blown because were in the ground too long. With our wacky short growing conditions, they need as much time as they can get. These are all hard neck Northern adapted varieties that aren't supposed to grow here nohow. A bit of successful zone denial. I am already working on getting things together for planting this fall.

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inulover (9A Inverness, Florida)
Original Author

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

OK, I’m back, so here are a few thoughts about garlic in
central Florida and South. There was a fellow named Michael that was considered
the garlic whisperer, but he disappeared before I got into the stinking rose
game.

We are all familiar with our upside down planting schedule
and the problems with stone fruits. Garlic is a temperate plant and will not do
well in our semi-tropical weather unless we trick mother nature. There are varieties of garlic that do all
right in the south. They will work up in the panhandle across to the Atlantic.
Once you get south of something like Gainsville, they won’t work.

How to trick mother nature? The garlic has to think that it
has been through a winter. The common recommendation to vernalize garlic is to
subject it to temperatures 40F to 33F for 4 to 6 weeks (edit to insert missing text). This works unless the ground the garlic
is planted in is too warm. The garlic will reset if it is subjected to stress.
Our warm ground temperatures can devernalize the cloves. The result is a crop
of mostly rounds that look like miniature onions. 8 weeks will cause most of the southern
adapted varieties to head. I get 100%
head formation with 12 weeks. It is probably over kill for southern adapted
varieties. The big advantage to the long chill is that we can fool even hard
neck varieties.

Beyond getting the plants to form heads, it is hard to get
large heads in Florida. The further south you go, the harder it is. Head
formation is triggered by increasing day length, warm air and ground
temperatures. The cloves grow fast until the ground temperature gets too warm.
When the ground hits a variety dependant temperature, the plant stops growing.
Up north, it all flows together, but here in Florida we have no dormant season
and our air and ground temperatures heat up fast. I have been harvesting in
April. That is months before it is ready up north.

So if you want to play the garlic game, here’s what has
worked.

Pick a type of garlic you like to eat, but try
to get late maturing varieties.
Get the seed as soon as possible.
Chill in a paper bag in the refrigerator for as
long as possible. Preferably 10 to 12 weeks.
Plant late November to early December.
Mulch with a loose insulating material like
straw, or provide shade from February on.

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Comments (22)

User
7 years ago
Those are nice. I miss my hardnecks. I used to love the flowers.
whgille
7 years ago
Hi Larry, thank you for the garlic that you shared with me...I will also be planting in the fall. You are doing a great and successful experiment!

Silvia
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inulover (9A Inverness, Florida)
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Well Mr Gardener, there is no reason not to grow hard neck garlic, except maybe lack of desire. It is not complicated or hard to do. Do a search for growing garlic. I have posted several times about my experiments with the stinking rose here in central Florida. Granted, it is not like growing it up North, but once you understand what it takes you can have home grown garlic year round.
inulover (9A Inverness, Florida)
Original Author
7 years ago
Silvia, Have you picked which garlic to grow yet? The garlic seed I gave you before was a Creole variety. I has a tendency to produce multiple heads from a single clove. I talked to John about that and he suggested that we peel the cloves before planting. The creoles have a tendency to produce multiple seeds in a single clove wrapper. You are actually planting 2 or 3 seeds when you plant some cloves. That was part of the problem with our blown heads. I am still suspicious that creoles just like to sub-divide in our more tropical climate. I would recommend Yong Farms if you want a creole. John has been interested in the experiments here in Florida and I keep him up on what I'm doing. He also harvests earlier than the Northern seed producers and can usually ship earlier. If you want to go out on the wild side, I have had 2 years of Iowa German White and a good harvest of Saxon Brown and Blanak this year. Those all came from Filaree Garlic Farm. Filaree ships to Alaska in August, but will ship early to us if they understand our need for chilling. I will be calling them tomorrow if I can get time between sending the dogs to boarding and going to the airport. Grey Duck Garlic also ships early to Alaska, but I have not ordered from them. I also like Filaree's varieties better than Grey Duck. John at Yong Farms is going to put in Brown Saxon this fall, so we will be able to get that variety from him in the future.

I planted Iowa German White bulbils last fall. They should be rounds this year and heads next. I have saved bulbils from Brown Saxon and Blanak and will plant them this fall. Its 2 to 3 years from bulbil to head. I hope to eventually have my own seed so that I don't have to depend on the good will of seed producers that don't necessarily understand why Florida is not Texas or California.

I have been planting a single 4X8 bed each year. That generates a years worth of garlic for the 2 of us. It doesn't take a lot of room to be self sufficient in garlic.
whgille
7 years ago
Wow! Larry you are for sure a smart, diligent and patient man. I will follow your advice on planting, I will probably plant them all that you sent me but my style is more like the carefree type and I don't keep track of anything which I should.:)

Silvia
nighthawk0911
7 years ago
If you were stuck on a desert Island in Florida 9B what variety of garlic would you grow? Creole seems to be the southern variety I see most mentioned for the South and they say Hardnecks don't do as well here. What's the straight scoop?
inulover (9A Inverness, Florida)
Original Author
7 years ago
Creole is a Southern variety. We are not in a Southern type climate, so that is meaningless. We are more tropical and technique is more important than variety. Creole would be a good choice if you were going to grow a year's supply of garlic. Most Creoles are long storing. If it was for this fall, I would order the Iowa German White. I have 2 years with that hard neck, so it is fairly trustworthy. The cloves are large and it will store for maybe 6 months. With another successful year, I would take the Brown Saxon.

I would really like to have some of us try growing garlic in 9B and 10A. I think it will work fine, but until someone makes the effort, that is just opinion. I ordered a pound of Texas Rose. That is more than I need, so I may make some of it available in ready to plant condition to others. I'll see where I'm at when fall gets here. It would be great if UF would make garlic a graduate project and do some statistically valid testing. I think that it is a viable commercial crop in the right areas of Florida.
writersblock (9b/10a)
7 years ago
Has anyone tried Blue garlic? Just curious because my snowbird neighbors always bring me a bunch from their farm in Michigan and it's such wonderful stuff.
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
7 years ago
What about Spanish Rojo garlic? Would that be okay in zone 9a (Jax area)? I want to find some kind that will do well. I will try the German White as well.

Is it okay to plant cloves instead of seeds in the fall in FL where you get freezes? Obviously I know nothing about garlic. Last time I planted onions and garlic the chickens ate them all up lol. I didn't have my garden fenced off back then with a high enough fence but I do now.

~SJN
wanna_run_faster
7 years ago
Yes, Inulover...I would like to give garlic a try in 9a. How can I set myself up for success(i.e. Varieties, cloves, other suggestions or techniques).

Thank you!

helen
inulover (9A Inverness, Florida)
Original Author
7 years ago
I am off in Seattle. I'll respond when I get back to a real PC.
Cody Z
6 years ago
Do you mean chill the seeds or cloves before planting in late November?
inulover (9A Inverness, Florida)
Original Author
6 years ago
Yup. Put the whole head in a paper bag and set it in the back of the refer. It needs enough humidity not to dry out, but not so much as to rot. The vegetable bin generally has too much humidity. The further south you are, the longer it takes to avoid vernalization reset. We have had a string of warmer winters (according to friends that were born here). I was not getting 100% clove formation until I went to much longer chill. Last year I planted a split of 10 VS 12 week chill. I got a single round in the 10 week and the 12 week heads were all larger. I would love to get away with 6-8 weeks that less tropical growers can, but I don't like finding out next spring that half my garlic didn't. Getting seed early enough to chill that long isn't easy. I harvest in April, even the soutwest growers don't get all their crop into the drying sheds until June. I have found Filaree Garlic will put you on their Alaska ship schedule if you tell them why you need an earlier ship date than places like Alabama. Yong Farm has been able to get me seed early too. It is getting late in the order cycle. I need to get my order in as soon as they start accepting them to get my seed. I have been planting in mid to late December because of the long chill. My head size is not what I would like. I think getting the seed into the ground in October would produce larger heads. To that end, I will be planting some of my own seed, grown from bulbils, this October. I would like to be able to develop a couple of strains that are more heat tolerant. This all applies to hard neck garlic varieties. I have not messed with the soft necks yet. As a zone denier, I targeted hard necks because they are supposed to be the least likely to grow in in central Florida.
jeromecalderone
6 years ago
Starting this years Garlic down here in Palm Beach county looking to share my experience with growing 6 types of soft necks..
inulover (9A Inverness, Florida)
Original Author
6 years ago
Looking foreword to hearing how you do with the soft necks. I should be able to put my home grown seed into the ground this weekend. Mine are all hard neck. My commercial seed won't go in until December again.
tcgardener Zone 10a SE Florida
6 years ago
Jerome,

Would like to hear how yours have done. I ordered some softneck varieties and they should be arriving very soon.

Craig
jeromecalderone
6 years ago
I have mine in the refrigerator in paper bags I'll put them in raised beds most likely Dec.I know one of the variety's I have is Lorz Italian I'll post the others later.
tcgardener Zone 10a SE Florida
6 years ago
I ordered Burgundy garlic back in August from Filaree farms. Supposed to ship around 10/20. It is supposed to be a good one for this far south.

Craig
jeromecalderone
6 years ago
Ok so all the garlic Im planting his year has arrived. Varieties all soft necks include Lorz Italian, Inchelium Red, Spainish Benitee, Blanco Piacenza, Labrea Purple, and Rose du Lautrec. I have them in the fridge now and will prolly plant early December or or early January at the latest.Not sure if I will be doing raised beds or pots or if it matters but I will be documenting my results here.
jeromecalderone
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Well sadly out of the 6 types of Garlic I planted only the Lorz Italian did anything at all and all it did was produce quarter sized bulbs not even worth the effort. I guess growing garlic in south Florida even soft necks is a no go.
Glenn Jones(9b)
5 years ago
I have had ok results with elephant garlic in coastal Brevard, I planted in November and harvest in April. I keep the clove for seed in fridge all summer. Maybe give that a try. It's not a true garlic but it's close.

Another year of Florida garlic in the kitchen.

inulover (9A Inverness, Florida)
Original Author

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Another year of Florida garlic in the kitchen.

inulover (9A Inverness, Florida)Original Author

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