Why garlic rots in the garden: what to do, how to deal with it

Weather

Garlic crop has good resistance to short-term dry periods. It does not require excessive moisture.

If prolonged rainy weather occurs, especially at the stage of garlic ripening, non-infectious rotting of the heads may occur.

Frequent dense morning fogs also have an adverse effect. Planting garlic on heavy loams suffers the most, where moisture does not seep in for a long time, harming the roots.

However, regardless of changing the beds to place them on lighter soil, it is recommended to install canopies made of transparent plastic film over the garlic plantings in rainy summers.

Is it possible to dig up garlic after it rains? Preparation and storage

After the winter garlic is dug out from the garden without removing the roots and leaves, the cloves are dried for a week or a little longer (from 7 to 10 days). Some leave the crop directly in the garden, but this can only be done in dry weather. It is important to consider that dew falls at night, soaking the collected fagots. While the garlic dries, all the nutrients from the tops move into the bulbs.

Typically, garlic is dried in a room protected from rain: on a summer veranda, under a canopy, in a barn or attic. The selected location must have good ventilation. The bulbs are laid out on a wooden table or on the floor - on a newspaper. It is not necessary to pre-wash them, although some do.

After 1-2 weeks, the resting cloves are subjected to such manipulations as trimming roots, tops and leaves. This is done with a special pruning shears so as not to damage the mature bulbs. When stored in a warm room, especially in a city apartment, improperly trimmed cloves may germinate. The roots are cut as follows:

If garlic plants are sold, a minimum beard of 1-3 mm is left on their bottom or the roots are cut off completely, leaving a depression.
Otherwise, it is allowed to cut off the roots, leaving about 3-5 mm in length. This garlic stores well.
When it is planned to use part of the crop for further planting, the acceptable root size is 5-10 mm.

An effective, albeit time-consuming way to protect teeth from sprouting: seal the roots and bottom with hot wax. Such garlic plants are not suitable for further planting, but they have good shelf life and will overwinter well even in less than ideal conditions.

Incorrect feeding

At the stage of preparing beds for planting garlic, it is usually necessary to ensure sufficient application of fertilizers necessary for this crop.

But sometimes gardeners do not take into account that garlic requires nitrogen only at the beginning of the growing season, and then excess nitrates have a detrimental effect, causing the bulbs to rot.

To protect the crop and obtain the required yield, it is recommended not to add rotted manure to the soil under garlic and to limit the share of nitrogen in the mineral complex.

Correct choice of seed material

It should be taken into account that planting material (both cloves and aerial bulbs, the so-called bulbs) can be infected. Therefore, they should be disinfected before planting. Teeth that show the slightest signs of damage (rotting, mold, simply mechanical damage) are immediately rejected.

It is better not to take planting material from your garden bed at all if there were any problems with growing garlic last season, and even more so if there was significant rotting of the plants.

There are many options for neutralizing cloves and bulbs before planting, but most often they are soaked in a pink solution of potassium permanganate for half a day or in a solution of copper sulfate (1 teaspoon per bucket of water) for several minutes. It is somewhat more reliable, but more expensive, to use modern fungicides, for example, Fitosporin, which are used according to the instructions.

Errors in care and inappropriate location

Garlic prefers sunny, elevated areas with fairly low aquifers, which ensures that there is no waterlogging and stagnation of water, which causes rotting of the heads.

Slight shading is allowed, but in such a situation it is important to properly organize the irrigation regime.

Select soil for garlic that is light and well-drained. If the site has clay or heavy loam, add sand. At high acidity, crushed dolomite, chalk, and slaked lime are added.

Often the cause of rot in garlic is non-compliance with agrotechnical standards for caring for this crop. Timely loosening of the surface of the soil crust and weeding are required. Flower shoots, which can weaken the development of the plant, are removed in time. Be sure to monitor the appearance of signs of diseases or the settlement of harmful insects.

How to save garlic from rot. Protecting garlic from rot

Crops growing underground are often susceptible to the pathogenic influence of various mold fungi. It is important to recognize and stop the disease in time.

Garlic. The illustration for the article is used under the standard license ©dachnyedela.ru

Signs of defeat

It is difficult to determine damage to fruits in the ground, but it is possible based on some symptoms:

when a head of garlic rots, the foliage immediately begins to deteriorate, and the upper stems turn yellow and dry out;
the appearance of spotted rust indicates the presence of an infectious disease;
if you dig up garlic, the head breaks into cloves;
the appearance of blue, pink and gray spots on the heads indicates the occurrence of mold;
the presence of a green color at the base near the ground is a symptom of a fungal infection;
if there is mold on the bush and the leaves gradually die, this is a sign of sclerotinia (white rot).

Sources of infection

The main organisms that attack onions and garlic are fungi. They live for a long time in the soil, which becomes a source of disease. If crops are planted in contaminated soil, after a while the fungal infection will begin to progress and the plants will rot.

Garlic is often affected by the following fungal infections:

Botrytis allii Munn, which causes neck rot. This is a disease that affects onions and garlic during storage, although the microorganism clings to the head while still in the soil.
Fusarium. It causes fusarium, which most often “eats” the root system during drought.
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum causes sclerotinia. Just like other pathologies, it affects the cloves, between which mold grows.
Onion yellow dwarf virus causes yellow dwarfism. The first symptoms are the appearance of red stripes on the leaves. Spread by aphids eating the crop.

The cause of the disease in the garden can be fruits or infected seeds.

Excess moisture

Considering the sensitivity of ripening garlic to waterlogging of the soil, excessive watering or the presence of high-lying aquifers should not be allowed.

If it is impossible to select an elevated area, then before cultivating the lowland, it is necessary to provide for the arrangement of high ridges. The most convenient method is the construction of a wooden box, which is filled with fertile light soil mixture. Such measures eliminate waterlogging and avoid rotting of the garlic.

Viral diseases of garlic

These diseases cannot be treated. If you find affected plants on your site, they should be removed and burned directly with a lump of earth. Once the virus enters plant cells, it destroys them. Viral infection is dangerous because the pathogen is not removed from the cells. Diseased garlic cannot be cured - you can only slow down the development of the disease. The virus, while in the teeth, remains viable for a long time, but when propagated by bulblets it is not transmitted. Vegetable growers use this to clean and renew garlic.

The main measure to combat viral diseases is their prevention. Crop rotation with a period of 3-4 years is used as a preventive measure. When the virus enters plants, the cells are inevitably destroyed and die. Soil and contaminated seed are sources of infection. By recognizing the disease in time, its development and spread in the area can be stopped.

Fusarium

The risk zone for the development of fusarium is regions with hot summers. The infection affects garlic cloves in the ground, developing at the bottom, where rotting begins. The heads soften, the stems turn yellow from the top and then dry out.

See also: How and how to feed garlic in July, summer, spring and autumn

Another sign of fusarium is brown streaks on garlic feathers and a pinkish coating in the leaf axils.

Control measures:

Selection of high-quality healthy seed material.
Disinfection of the soil on the site with fungicides.
Destruction of all organic residues in the fall.
Application for disinfection of garlic cloves immediately before planting in beds with the preparations “Fitosporin”, “Hom”, “Maxim”.

Expert opinion

Stanislav Pavlovich

Gardener with 17 years of experience and our expert

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Important! All harvested crops must be thoroughly dried in a sunny place before storing.

To prevent infection, do not cut off the garlic feathers after pulling the heads out of the ground in green form. They must have time to dry in order to preserve the harvest during storage.

Why does garlic rot during storage?

Garlic during storage can rot from all the same reasons as in the garden, as well as from poor preparation for storage. No suspicious heads should be sent to storage along with healthy ones! Some diseases do not manifest themselves in the garden, but after harvest. These are, for example, neck rot and various types of mold. In order to detect diseases in time, all garlic must be periodically examined, especially in the first 2–3 months. Any softening or spots on the bulb is a reason to remove it.

How to properly store garlic so it doesn't rot

There are many ways to store garlic, including peeling it and filling it with sunflower oil. If we talk about whole heads, then there are two opposite modes. One involves storage in a cellar at 3...5 oC and a humidity of 50–80%, the other, on the contrary, in a warm place (at room temperature and the same humidity).

Properly prepared garlic will keep well in any box.

I consider stories that spring and winter garlic must be stored in completely different conditions not entirely justified: no matter how you store garlic, I have long been convinced that the main thing is to dry it well after digging, and dig it up on time. Then any garlic can be easily stored on the mezzanine until the new harvest, only sometimes it needs to be sorted out.

White rot of garlic

One of the most dangerous fungal diseases that can completely destroy garlic ridges is white rot. The optimal temperature conditions for its development are 11-25 degrees.

White rot can be detected by yellow feathers. A whitish mycelium of the fungus is noticeable on the roots, which infects the bulb through the bottom. Garlic takes on a watery appearance due to rotting.

Ways to fight:

Use healthy, unaffected planting material.
Thermal soil treatment. For this purpose, in the summer, the area where white rot was discovered last year is covered with a black film that allows the radiation of the sun to pass through. They keep it for a month and a half.
Immediately dig up and burn infected plants.

Treatment of plantings with fungicides “Switch”, “Uniform”, “Custodia” helps to save the garlic harvest. You can prepare a pink solution of potassium permanganate and add a glass of ground chalk to 10 liters of solution. Spray the garlic with the product.

What to do if garlic rots

Unfortunately, if garlic is sick, it is impossible to save it: diseased specimens must be removed from the garden as soon as possible. You can and should only make sure that the disease does not spread to still healthy plants. Since rotting occurs mainly due to fungal diseases, various fungicides are used, including the well-known 1% Bordeaux mixture or other copper preparations. Fundazol also performs well. After removing diseased plants, spray the remaining ones, as well as the soil both around them and in the place where the garlic was removed.

It may be possible to hold out until harvesting, but then garlic should not be planted in this place for four years, and the bed itself should be disinfected in the fall during deep digging. Various folk remedies (for example, tobacco and pepper infusion) can only prevent the development of diseases, but they cannot cure diseased plants.

Downy mildew

The development of peronosporosis is characterized by the appearance of a grayish-violet coating on garlic feathers, yellowing of the tops, followed by drying and deformation. Growth is slowing down. The fungus is activated by high humidity.

Control measures:

Before sowing, garlic cloves are heated in the sun for two days.
Treat the cloves immediately before planting in the ground with a solution of the Tiram fungicide (2%) for 25 minutes.
Young garlic shoots are irrigated with one percent Bordeaux mixture.

During the period when the shoots appear, the plantings can be saved by treating them with the fungicide “Polykh” in accordance with the instructions.

Folk remedies for prevention and treatment

If you find green mold and white rot of garlic on your plantings, you can use not only chemical control measures, but also folk recipes. Infusion of poisonous herbs. For this, yarrow and calendula herbs are used. For 1 liter of warm water you need to take 50 grams of chopped greens of these plants. Leave the remedy for a week. Before use, the resulting infusion must be diluted in the following proportion: 1 liter per bucket.

Tip #1. As a preventative measure, treat the soil with infusion before planting and again during the development of garlic greens. The infusion is not dangerous, as it does not accumulate in the feathers or head.

Bacterial rot

Bacteriosis develops on garlic plantings at any stage of the growing season, causing rotting of the affected cloves.

A characteristic symptom is yellowish-brown sores on garlic bulbs, which quickly spread to the entire surface.

Expert opinion

Stanislav Pavlovich

Gardener with 17 years of experience and our expert

Ask a Question

Attention! Sometimes the infection manifests itself in the transparency of the garlic cloves, which then turns into mucus, which has an unpleasant, distinct odor.

Ways to fight:

Planting garlic in one area at intervals of four years.
Application of the preparation “Hom” for soil treatment.
Sufficient application of phosphorus fertilizers.
Deep plowing of the land.

To effectively combat bacterial rot, a formaldehyde solution (1%) is used when preparing to plant garlic cloves.

Measures to prevent garlic from rotting

The measures necessary to prevent garlic from rotting arise from the existing causes of rotting. Preventative work consists of the following.

Compliance with crop rotation rules.
Choosing the right place for the garden bed.
Careful removal of plant residues after harvesting the previous crop.
Use of uninfected planting material and pre-plant disinfection.
Periodically replacing cloves with air bulbs.
Moderate watering and mandatory loosening of the soil, weed control.
Limiting nitrogen fertilizers.

If rotting plants are found, they should be ruthlessly removed, and the soil should be spilled with Fundazol or Bordeaux mixture.

Video: how to prevent garlic from rotting

Growing garlic is not very difficult, but there are problems with it. As a rule, rotting of garlic in the garden occurs when agricultural practices are not followed, including excessive watering. It is possible to avoid an unpleasant phenomenon, but dealing with emerging diseases is much more difficult.

Author: Semyon Vladimirov
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Onion fly

One of the worst pests that damages garlic and causes it to rot is the onion fly.

The damage is caused by larvae that feed on garlic feathers, gradually causing them to dry out. The damaged garlic head begins to soften due to developing rot. The plant dies completely.

See also: When to remove spring garlic from the beds

Fighting methods:

In the autumn, deep plowing or digging up the area is required to destroy the pupae in the soil that have prepared for the winter.
To prevent egg laying in the period from mid-April, it is recommended to sprinkle young garlic shoots with crushed slaked dry lime mixed with tobacco dust in equal parts. Approximately 1.5-2 kg of mixture is added per 10 square meters. Repeat the treatment every week until mid-May. You can add ½ tsp per 1 kg of mixture. ground hot pepper.
Carrots sown between rows will repel onion flies.
For spraying, bring 3 liters of water to a boil. Add ground red pepper - 3 tsp. and tobacco dust - 250 g. Leave for three days to infuse in a warm place. Then pour into a bucket (10 l) with settled water, into which liquid soap is additionally poured - 50 milliliters. Garlic processing begins at the end of April. Practice once a week. It is advisable to perform before the beginning of summer.

In case of extensive damage, to prevent the garlic from rotting, insecticides are used, for example, Thiamethoxam, Enzhio, Ratibor.

Can garlic infect other plants?

It is possible that rotten garlic can infect other plants. For example, if the fungus is in the soil, it can spread to other areas and infect crops such as onions, tomatoes, beets and lettuce, which are often planted next to garlic. The disease is carried by wind from one plant to another.

Important!

Therefore, it is recommended that when the plant can no longer be saved, it is completely destroyed and the area with soil where the garlic grows is treated with medicinal preparations.

Onion root mite

Most often, the root mite penetrates through the bottom, which causes the roots to rot and the garlic bulb to be destroyed.

Ways to fight:

Since pests overwinter in the surface layer of soil and organic residues, it is important to carry out deep plowing, digging, and milling of the soil.
Before storing, garlic is dried for a week at 35-36 degrees Celsius.
Garlic cloves prepared for planting are kept in a solution of colloidal sulfur (0.8%) for 20 minutes.

Attention! The beds where the mite is found are treated (no later than a month before harvesting) with acaricides “Nissoran”, “Apollo”, “Vertimek”, “Keltan”.

Black mold of garlic or aspergillosis

This disease usually affects heads that are stored at high temperatures. First of all, either poorly dried or unripe heads are affected. First they soften, then when the fungal spores mature, a dusty black mass of spores appears between the scales of the head, then the heads mummify. Fungal spores are carried through the air from diseased heads to healthy ones.

How to fight. It is necessary to observe the harvesting deadlines and dry it thoroughly. Store garlic at low temperatures. During storage, diseased heads must be removed to prevent fungal spores from maturing and spreading. Read also the article: → “Effective methods of controlling nematodes on garlic.”

In this photo you can see what a nematode on garlic looks like close up; this disease affects the fruits themselves, after which they are no longer suitable for consumption.