Kinda blurry pic, but it looks like just a discolored tunic on an individual toe and no big deal. Does the discoloration go deeper than the surface?

tj

Looks like Bulb Mite damage to me. Google "garlic bulb mites" for photos to compare to yours.

http://www.science.oregonstate.edu/bpp/Plant_Clinic/Garlic/eriophyids.htm

Dave

no, sorry, seems to be neither so far. it's dry and rough, no signs of bugs. and only on the surface, can trim/peel it off. cloves are nice and hard. further online searching pointed to possibly leaving them in the ground too long before harvest, as the bulbs did begin to separate as well. all the roots have been present. nothing wet or slimey. very large, filling up my palm.

thanks, nature girl, that's where my research was heading. that and intuition as to the reason. garlic has so few problems with pests and disease, had to be a harvest issue! makes sense to me! better results next summer.

Planting for next years garlic should have been done in October.

Yes, hopefully you have already planted your garlic for 2017 harvest. I am sure your ground is like concrete now after this weekend.

I'm not sure how this got to when to plant, but my initial question was about the blemishes on what was harvested. Planting was done a long time ago. Thanks anyway, ; )

Perhaps the words "better results next summer" led people to think that was when you intended to plant.

Sorry about that. Glad you have it in the ground and growing already.

We kind of assumed that you might not have a lot of experience growing garlic which is kind of a 'different animal' than most crops. As an FYI - there is an Allium forum here on GW that has a lot of information on growing garlic.

I'm curious when you dug those up, October? I have never seen garlic like that before.

I have preferred to harvest garlic too early rather than too late.

Make some nice garlic powder! Those won't last too long fresh.

I dug them in August. They started dying back by the end of July. I think in the past I've dug them earlier, that's why the last couple years the brownish patches occurred. It just felt like July was too early to dig them up, so I waited. They are German Red Rocambole, and are descended from 2 original bulbs that I bought 8 years ago. I just keep replanting and increasing the amount, as many as 175 cloves planted one year. Yes, it would be helpful to learn more about Alliums, there are so many varieties, and we really love our garlic! I also planted Turkish Giants this fall.....can't wait! We have eaten almost all of them already, and I also made a lot of pesto with them and Genovese and Basilico Monstruoso basils that I grew. That's in the freezer! And yes, I will check out the Allium forum! Thanks!

Peter, I left a few garlic plants alone and let them grow scapes and remain in the ground until all top growth died. I wanted the the bulbils to grow as long as possible. The below ground bulbs looked very similar to the picture above when harvested. I think they were lifted in September. I harvested the "normal" ones in July. I planted some of the "old" cloves for next years crop since they looked to be healthy and of good size. I was surprised at the large size of the cloves since I figured leaving the scape on would yield a smaller bulb. Perhaps if I harvested plants with scapes left uncut when about half the leaves had died back the bulb would have been small...I don't know. But by time everything had died back on the scaped plants, the bulbs and cloves were good size: falling apart, but good sized. But they were not anything I'd want to store. I also did not enjoy cleaning all the soil off ones I wanted to use in the kitchen.

Anyway, the subsequent bulbil growing was a fun experiment. As expected, many of the plants yielded small rounds. I was surprised to see some develop into tiny little miniature bulbs with super mini cloves. These minis were very cute, but kinda useless. It was an interesting grow out, but not something I plan to do regularly.

So, long story short....that is why I know what bulbs left in the ground far too long look like :)

Naturegirl - I've never left any scapes on because I like to eat them! I am also too impatient to grow out bulbils. Do you know what type(s) you tried to grow out?

Saffron - If you ever want to try another type of garlic, there is a online garlic vendor in SW Wisconsin called Big Red Barn Garlic that has a pretty good assortment of garlic types and the owner (Barb) has great service. Rocambole types like your German Red are known for short storage potential so you might want to try one of the purple stripes, porcelains, or silver skin softnecks for longer storage. Since they are in your general area the garlic would already be acclimated to your growing conditions.

Growing out bulbils is a true test of patience ;)

Those fresh garlic scapes are the best.

Thanks, LoneJack. I'm looking at Red Barn right now. I usually order from Territorial Seeds.

Peter, yes! Love the scapes! Have freezer bags full for soups, stews, and stir fries.

Scapes are also great pickled! It's a bit of a challenge getting the curly things stuffed into the jars though :)

Yup, I know. Instead of dill weed for flavor I tried oregano once, went great with pasta.

Pickled scapes with pasta?

Do you can them? How long do they last in opened containers? The pesto cubes lose their flavor frozen.

Peter....since the scapes were pickled with oregano, in a jar and hot water bath processing, like regular canned pickles, they were very good on the side or actually cut up and in the spaghetti sauce. I refrigerate if there are any left and try to eat them up within a week. A very nice flavor treat. I don't freeze the pesto in cubes, I fill 1/2pt canning jars with enough head room and loose lids for expansion during freezing. The next day, I tighten the lids down and they keep for at least a year. I just set them on the counter to thaw when I'm ready to use it. I usually get between 10-20 jars a summer.