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Post by pepperhead212 on Nov 4, 2019 18:33:33 GMT -5
The garlic is in! I uncovered the row this morning - I had a 4' wide piece of black plastic on the row since sometime in August, to solarize it, and I found the strangest thing - some onions growing! And right near the middle, not along the edges. Absolutely nothing else was growing, just 3 clusters of these bleached onions: Bleached onions, from under black plastic! Only plants living under there, after 3 months of solarization. by pepperhead212, on Flickr After 'tilling, I smoothed out the row, and ran the cord down the center, to plant on both sides of. I had 51 Italian Reds, 58 Metechis, 19 Montana Giants (only a half pound, and definitely the largest cloves!), and 67 Estonian Reds (only had 60 originally, with a bunch of the smallest set aside, and I got 7 of those, to fill the last 2 feet or so of the row. Garlic is in! 195 cloves, 11-4-2019 by pepperhead212, on Flickr Garlic row - line removed, and smoothed over, ready for the mulch! by pepperhead212, on Flickr The Estonian red was the smallest this year, which is unusual. I set aside about 3 oz of smaller cloves, then got what looked like the largest 7 of them, to finish off the row. Those Italian Reds were very large, and Montana Giant was, well, giant! I was wondering if some of the largest Italian and Montana cloves were those "twin cloves", but when peeled, they were just huge single cloves.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Nov 5, 2019 10:33:23 GMT -5
195 cloves! You do like your garlic. I hope you get a fantastic harvest next year.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Nov 5, 2019 10:36:17 GMT -5
I never have to worry about vampires!
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Post by paquebot on Nov 5, 2019 11:27:02 GMT -5
Only 195 cloves? At We Grow Garlic, Mike and I planted 3,200 one day. I would explode the bulbs while he drilled holes in the frozen ground. Then he would drop a clove in each hole and I would try to scrape enough soil to cover them. Somehow I managed to keep all of the skin on my fingers!
Nice to see Estonian Red being planted. Two of us introduced it to the US about the same time. One was strictly through SSE while mine went to the general public via We Grow Garlic. Turned out to be a real winner,
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by brownrexx on Nov 5, 2019 15:43:53 GMT -5
I planted 20 cloves.
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ponyexpress
Junior Member
Posts: 86
Zone:: 6b
Favorite Vegetable:: alliums
Joined: June 2020
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Post by ponyexpress on Jun 22, 2020 22:20:03 GMT -5
I planted around 300 cloves. Most of the scapes have been pulled. Waiting ~3 weeks before the garlic is harvested. Will make sure that I have 4 good leaves left before harvesting.
One problem with having different varieties is that they all mature at different times.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jun 23, 2020 11:43:17 GMT -5
True, but that also means you don't have to harvest and hang them all in one day, too. (Looking for the bright side.)
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jul 4, 2020 23:03:59 GMT -5
I dug up all but my metechi today, as most of those still have a lot of green. I got 97 to hang in the basement, plus about 20 that need to be used quickly (gave a dozen of those to my neighbor, who brought me over a plate from their BBQ). Estonian red was the best (surprisingly, with those small cloves), with very few of those plants that turned brown too fast, which happened with a lot of the new varieties Italian Red and Montana Giant, both of which had a good number of large bulbs, but a number of those were the early all brown plants, with just a green stalk. I dug them up as they appeared, but had to label them "use 1st". Just one side of the row of Estonian Red 7-04-20 by pepperhead212, on Flickr The other side of the Estonian Red row 7-04-20 by pepperhead212, on Flickr A couple of bulbils left on some of the Estonian Reds by pepperhead212, on Flickr Estonian Reds, the one on the bottom with just 2 huge cloves. by pepperhead212, on Flickr 48 heads of Estonian Red, and 17 heads of Montana Giant, ready to cure, 7-04-20 by pepperhead212, on Flickr 32 Italian Reds, next to those 17 Montana Giants, ready to cure, 7-04-20 by pepperhead212, on Flickr Montana Giant, Italian Red, and Estonian Red, hanging in the basement to cure, in front of my lathe. by pepperhead212, on Flickr In just a few days, the Metechi gets dug up. In just the last couple of days, quite a few of them have gotten down to the desired 4 greens.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jul 5, 2020 19:27:10 GMT -5
I harvested about a dozen Metechi today, after noticing that a number of those had lost most of the green quickly. I dug them up individually, which I did a while back with the other varieties. Everything I left in had at least 4 green leaves - I dug 2 with 4 greens that were large stalks, but left a few smaller ones. When only dealing with the few plants of the one variety, this is doable, but not when I had all the rest of those! I might harvest tomorrow - I'll play it by ear, as I might try to dig them out, if rain is coming, as I would rather get them a bit smaller, but dry, so that they can store longer. Tuesday is more likely for rain, but forecasts change constantly, and every day is hot and humid! Metechi - about a dozen dug up early, since they had few green leaves left.7-05-20 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 6, 2020 7:18:39 GMT -5
I dug my 20 German Porcelain garlic yesterday and they look nice. This is my entire crop. I only planted 20 cloves. I grow them at our cabin because I had damage at home from the Alium Leaf Miner 2 years ago and they have not spread to the county where the cabin is yet. There are lots of deer there but they do not touch my garlic. I would have waited another weak to harvest since they were a little greener than I wanted but I won't be back to the cabin for about 2 weeks and I didn't want them to get too brown. Garlic 2020 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by paquebot on Jul 6, 2020 13:17:55 GMT -5
Mine came out of the ground this morning. Somewhere around 110 and about 10 at a time between rest stops. 89º was taking a lot out of me. Rinsed the dirt off and trimmed the stalks to about a foot. Now drying on screens in the shade. No 4" bulbs but a lot close to 3".
Experiment again with and wothout scapes. Same results, no difference in bulb size. Those with scapes were greener and possibly still growing.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jul 6, 2020 13:52:17 GMT -5
I harvested the Metechi today - I went out when I saw the noon news, and the radar showed a major storm coming through my area, and it looked like around 2:30 it would start. Took me about 45 min. to harvest, clean, and ready them for hanging. By the time I got in, it was really dark, though it hasn't rained yet. By the time I got in there was a severe TS warning for a large area, including my area. I hear thunder, but no rain, yet. Here is a funny looking one I pulled up - happens about once every 5 years or so, when a clove gets planted upside-down. Usually, they don't grow this large. Metechi - Clove was planted upside down! by pepperhead212, on Flickr Metechi, harvested 7-06. 48 heads, plus the 6 to use right away. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Update: they said around 3 pm, and that's almost exactly when it started! And now it's coming down by the bucketfulls! brownrexx if you got this, your tank is full already!
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 6, 2020 14:23:23 GMT -5
pepperhead212, I wouldn't mind some bucketfulls! Nothing here yet except for a thunderstorm warning. I am pretty sure it will rain though since I used a rain check at the car wash. A clean vehicle usually brings rain in 1-2 days for me!
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freelove
Junior Member
Posts: 13
Joined: April 2019
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Post by freelove on Jul 7, 2020 6:40:37 GMT -5
Mine came out of the ground this morning. Somewhere around 110 and about 10 at a time between rest stops. 89º was taking a lot out of me. Rinsed the dirt off and trimmed the stalks to about a foot. Now drying on screens in the shade. No 4" bulbs but a lot close to 3". Experiment again with and wothout scapes. Same results, no difference in bulb size. Those with scapes were greener and possibly still growing. Martin Martin, I see that you rinse your bulbs and trim the top of the leaves. I was doing this and everything I read says not to rinse or trim that it shortens storage life. I feel more secure doing this now that I see that you do it. Have you found it shortens storage time or any other problems?
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 7, 2020 7:35:29 GMT -5
freelove , I rinsed mine the first year I grew it and later I noticed that the paper wrapper had unattractive brown stains on them and I didn't think that they stored quite as long. I do not cut off the stems and roots until I allow them to dry outdoors in my shed for about 2 weeks. I thought that I needed to make the heads look more white like store garlic but now I have found out that it comes from China and is bleached and also fumigated with Methyl Bromide to control insects. Yuk. Now I just let them dry overnight after harvesting and then brush them off with a soft dust brush.
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Post by paquebot on Jul 7, 2020 9:00:24 GMT -5
Rinsing is no worse than an inch of rain. It's only a matter of a few seconds, not a prolonged soaking. At We Grow Garlic, it was heavy silt soil. Washing was a major project and the plants went went right from there to the drying shed. My garlic bed is hand-made and almost light enough to pull rather than dig. No scrubbing and there wasn't even an inch of mud in the pail after more than 100 bulbs.
Pruning the stalks to just over a foot mostly resulted in about 6" of stem and leaves removed. That was more to enable them to fit on screens. The screens are on a wheelbarrow so good air flow. Just too many to hang. If rain is due, they can easily be covered.
And they are BULBS, not HEADS!!!
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 7, 2020 9:34:28 GMT -5
Sorry paquebot , but I have to disagree with you on this one. I Googled it and an equal number of people and companies call them HEADS rather than BULBS although both terms are used interchangeably. I think that there is no right answer and that both terms are correct. I am going to continue to call them heads. Everyone calls the separate pieces cloves so no disagreement there. Just for fun, lets do a poll of our members.
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Post by paquebot on Jul 7, 2020 10:21:42 GMT -5
The bulb vs head began when some chef saw a picture of a hardneck and saw the umbel and figured that that was where the garlic came from. I've been growing one variety since 1983. There were no garlic heads then and it still produces bulbs.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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tallpines
Pro Member
Posts: 298
Zone:: 4a
Favorite Vegetable:: This week, it’s Rhubarb
Joined: February 2019
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Post by tallpines on Jul 7, 2020 16:53:23 GMT -5
Sorry paquebot , but I have to disagree with you on this one. I Googled it and an equal number of people and companies call them HEADS rather than BULBS although both terms are used interchangeably. I think that there is no right answer and that both terms are correct. I am going to continue to call them heads. Everyone calls the separate pieces cloves so no disagreement there. Just for fun, lets do a poll of our members. My vote in this poll will be for BULBS! I am not a very good gardener and I depend on Martin’s expertise. (Besides .... there is NO WAY, I’d ever be brave enough to disagree with him! 🤪) .
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freelove
Junior Member
Posts: 13
Joined: April 2019
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Post by freelove on Jul 8, 2020 7:03:10 GMT -5
I trim mine because I hang them in my carriage house and they don't fit if I don't trim them. There is still a lot of foliage left, I trim about as much as Martin.
I started rinsing them because I thought that they might dry quicker if the soil was rinsed off instead of holding in moisture and any insects that might be in the soil. I also thought that the soil might cause them to rot or deteriorate. Perhaps I was wrong, but I was flying blind when I first started growing garlic.
brownrexx, thanks for your insight. I have seen plenty of pristine white garlic bulbs at garlic festivals that were not treated with any chemicals or from China. I do appreciate you sharing your own experience, it is something to be aware of. Some years are very wet here and that seems to shorten storage life and discolor the bulbs.
Martin, as always, I appreciate your knowledge and insight. Do you trim the roots? Why does leaving the roots help storage life or is there another reason to leave them on?
Thanks, all.
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 8, 2020 7:10:44 GMT -5
I don't hang mine, I lay them flay in a single layer on a wire mesh. However I only grow 20 plants so it's not a huge volume.
Mine get trimmed top and bottom and stored in wood baskets in my cool basement after about 2-3 weeks of drying outdoors. They last very well for the entire year. I used my last clove this year one week before I harvested the new crop.
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Post by paquebot on Jul 8, 2020 7:35:26 GMT -5
Roots and stalks remain in place until totally cured, about a month. Stalks are cut off with a Felco shears and roots are trimmed with a scissors. Then stored in small plastic baskets from Dollar Tree.
Already missing two. Mower needed some work and my favorite repair guy is moving to Utah. I walked in with two bulbs and said that my mower needed help. Three hours later it was fixed at half the cost I expected and that he and his wife were having lasagna!
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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ponyexpress
Junior Member
Posts: 86
Zone:: 6b
Favorite Vegetable:: alliums
Joined: June 2020
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Post by ponyexpress on Jul 8, 2020 15:15:22 GMT -5
Roots and stalks remain in place until totally cured, about a month. Stalks are cut off with a Felco shears and roots are trimmed with a scissors. Then stored in small plastic baskets from Dollar Tree. Same here except that I use bonsai scissors to trim my garlic after a month. In the past, I've tied them up and hung them from a rope under my the roof of my covered porch. This year, I want to lay them on top of hardware cloth attached to 2x4 wood frame.
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