It's finally a beautiful day for gardening and I'm happily pulling weeds and mulching etc when I realize my garlic (except for the elephant) is rapidly turning yellow and orange with rust. From what I've read this is a fungal infection, and aside from spraying fungicides (which don't sound all that successful), there are no suggested remedies. I'm thinking if it's that bad a disease, I should be pulling it all out and maybe burning it... but from what I'm reading I understand that some plants may die, and some won't and may still give edible garlic, so I could leave it and see what comes... ? Won't I infect my onions and leeks if I don't do anything? Will spores multiply and proliferate, and infect for years to come? Thanks for any help!
Hi, What I tend to do is to just remove and dump (not compost) the affected leaves / harvest badly affected plants. The bulbs from infected plants seem always to be smaller. I am pretty sure that the same rust affects all onions, leeks etc. I just would not plant onions in the same area next year. Simple rotation of crops should keep this problem under control. Good luck! BrianO
thank you - looks like most of the garlic will be goners unfortunately, but onions and leeks are "so far, so good". thanks again!
