Garlic problem

Discussion in 'Fruit and Vegetable Gardening' started by shep, Sep 4, 2003.

  1. shep

    shep New Member

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    This year i harvested about 300 head of german white hardneck garlic. It grew excellent all year. After hanging in my barn about 5-6 weeks i noticed a lot of them have gone soft. they are hung in bunches and were kept dry with a breeze throug the barn. also my neighbor had no problem with his. it looks to be a mold that seems to have started in the base of the roots. it went up threw the bottom and spread into the cloves. whe had a lot of rain in the northeast this summer,{near Buffalo NY}. I dont know if i did something wrong in the curing process or if this was aquired in the growing process.
     
  2. David Tarrant

    David Tarrant Member

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    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    Suspect the garlic may have been harvested too early. It is important to leave them in the ground until the leaves turn brown and start to bend over (which could be as late as October in your area)
    Garlic cloves despite their density are susceptible to rotting if handled roughly during harvesting. Any bruising can trigger this.
    It sounds like you have the perfect storage space.
    I believe the problem is simply they were harvested too early.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 5, 2003
  3. I did wait until the leaves were more than brown, I pulled several heads prematurly and also left some in and pulled them late. it seemed the same percentage went bad.i checked several heads for maturity before the main harvest. it seemed to be a fungus that started in the roots and went up through the bottom. my dad harvested at the same time and all of his turned out alright. i was wondering if there is some kind of mold or fungus that can get in the ground and live on or in the plant until after harvest
     

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