How long does it take for garlic to grow and mature, Members of the onion family in the garden are known for the long growing seasons needed to produce a decent crop of garlic.
Garlic (Allium sativum) is no exception, as it requires a period of relatively cold weather for bulb formation. Gardeners in regions with a Mediterranean climate do best by growing varieties of garlic suitable for the region in the fall to take advantage of the colder months.
SUMMARY
ABOUT GARLIC
Originally from Central Asia, garlic has long been adapted to southern European climates and eventually made its way into the New World. The popular white paper garlic bulbs sold in grocery stores are primarily grown in California, but thanks to their growing popularity, many heirloom varieties of this year are available in different colors, flavors, and intensities. Amateur growers.
Although store-bought cloves can sprout in some gardens, experts recommend looking for varieties that do best under local climatic conditions.
TYPES OF GARLIC
Although over 600 varieties of garlic are available, they all fall into two main categories: hard-necked and soft-necked. Hard-necked garlic produces a false seed stem called a stalk, which in turn produces bulbs that can be grown like ripe cloves but take longer to mature. Hard-necked finished bulbs have four to 12 lobes and it’s best to use them quickly because they don’t store well.
Fine garlic does not produce scape and is often referred to as “artichoke,” or braided garlic.
Mature follicles are larger and have multiple layers from 10 to 40 lobes. The so-called elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum) is actually a type of shallot grown as an annual, although it can produce mature bulbs that weigh more than a pound.
RECOMMEND READING:
- HOW TO GROW GARLIC INDOORS
- HOW TO PLANT GARLIC IN THE FALL
- HOW TO GROW GARLIC IN WATER
- HOW TO GROW GARLIC IN SUMMER
- HOW TO GROW GARLIC IN ONTARIO
Gardeners with warmer climates may have the most success with soft-necked varieties, which are more heat tolerant and hold longer than other varieties of garlic.
‘Burgundy’, which has a white but purple blanket, carnations with a sweet scent, and ‘French Sweet Silver Leather’ are both thin-necked varieties that are well suited for hot climates.
Good types of hard hoops for hot and dry weather include “German Porcelain”, which can be up to half the size of elephant garlic, and “Red Killarney” which has a beautiful pink casing.
Garlic (Allium sativum), a perennial relative of onions, is grown annually. You can grow garlic in a pot in a patio, patio, or garden, but not indoors. To reach full maturity, garlic needs a period of cold temperatures and a set length of day.
HARDNECK VS SOFTNECK GARLIC
The two main types of garlic are hard neck and soft neck. The hard, woody central stems grow from the bottom of the hard-necked garlic bulbs (Allium sativum var. Ophioscorodon).
Air lobes, called bulbs, grow from clusters of pinkish-white or green flowers. Hard-necked plants give fewer but larger pods than soft-necked garlic. Pruning the clove sticks can increase the size by 25 to 30 per cent.
About two years after pruning, the bulbs can be eaten or planted. Softneck (Allium sativum), the type you see most in supermarkets, does not require pruning. Unless you are nervous, a soft neck can rarely cause a flower stalk to grow.
Soft-necked plants produce more bulbs, but smaller ones, which keep longer than hard-necked bulbs. Hard-necked garlic needs cold winters to thrive, while soft-necked garlic works best in warmer climates.
AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE
When garlic is grown in the right conditions, it usually takes nine months to ripen. Garlic grows best when it receives at least six hours of full sun daily. Plant garlic in the fall three to eight weeks before the first frost. While this date depends on where you live, in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 6 through 10, it’s usually between September and November. If frost is not in your area, you can plant garlic in December or January.
You can plant garlic in the spring, but the plants will be stronger and taller if you plant them in the fall. For planting, peel the peel from the outside and carefully separate the cloves. Plant the cloves 1 to 2 inches deep and 3 to 8 inches wide with the pointed ends facing up. Plant them shallowly in warmer climates and deeper in cooler regions. If you are growing garlic for its greens rather than for its own sake, plant the baby pods close together.
HARVEST
Harvest time depends on climate and cultivar, but if you plant garlic cloves in the fall, you can usually harvest the bulbs between June and July. You can harvest soft collars early because they grow faster. When the leaves turn yellow or brown and nearly half of them – usually three to four leaves – are still green, the bulbs are ready to be harvested. If you harvest them while there are still green leaves left, the leaf cover for the bulbs will remain.
Do not pull garlic from the ground. Instead, dig about five inches long and pry off the bulbs with a fork. At harvest time, soft-necked garlic gives five to eight times its weight. Fresh garlic is sweeter and less pungent than preserved garlic. The stiff neck bulbs are ready to be harvested when the cloves are split apart but do not leave the plant.
CONTAINERS
Garlic plants have shallow roots that need space to propagate. The bowl should be at least 12 inches wide and 18 inches deep with drainage holes in the bottom. Wooden crates and semi-barrels work well, but you can plant garlic bulbs in contractor’s buckets or in the large black plastic containers that nurseries use for tree seedlings.
While garden soil is generally heavy and tends to get soggy in the winter, commercial pot soils containing peat, compost, or coconut fibre plus perlite or vermiculite are an ideal planting medium. For garlic.
COLD REQUIREMENTS
Most types of garlic require at least 40 days to form a bulb, with temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. If this is not present, the plant forms the familiar green stem with flat but no bulbous leaves. Garlic also fails to form bulbs if exposed to temperatures above 77 degrees Fahrenheit before planting, so it must be carefully cooled before planting.
GARLIC REACHING MATURITY
Once the requirements for a cold day and warm and dry days are met, the cloves begin to split into several new cloves to form a bulb with the same characteristics as the parent. The number of days to ripen varies for a particular type of garlic, but October-November seedlings are usually ready in May or June.
Garlic indicates that it is ready to be harvested when the tops are dry and fall off. Whole plants should be raised off the ground with a garden fork, being careful not to damage the packaging around the bulb.
GARLIC PESTS AND DISEASES
Garlic is subject to many of the same pests and diseases that afflict other members of the onion family. Thrips cause leaf spoilage and can be controlled by spraying insecticidal liquid soap on the leaves. Onion larvae penetrate into the subterranean bulb and cause upper foliage to turn yellow and wilt. It is mainly controlled by crop rotation and removal of infected plants.
Wireworms also damage bulbs by pits and mainly occur when you plant garlic in an area recently covered with grass. Armyworms congregate on individual plants and scrape leaves one by one. Populations can be controlled by manual selection or spraying with control fluid containing bacillus thuringiensis.
source:homeguides.sfgate.com
