Growing garlic through bulbs: mistakes and working on mistakes

Growing garlic from bulbs is more of a necessity than an indulgence. Experienced and experienced gardeners understand that such agricultural technology makes it possible to preserve the seed fund and protect it from the accumulation of genetic mutations. If you constantly, year after year, plant garlic cloves obtained on your plot from a previous winter planting, then nothing good will come of it. As a result, the seed material will accumulate a large number of mutations, due to which the yield will sharply decrease. The penetration of fungal, bacterial and viral infections will not allow the cloves to be preserved until the next harvest. They will rot already in October-December.

Planting garlic bulbs is a great opportunity to save money and get material that is absolutely healthy from a genetic and infectious point of view. The most important thing is to know when and how to properly compress in spring and fall. The article also talks about the rules for organizing a hoopoe during the growing season.

Bulbs for planting are selected in advance

Advantages of the method

This method of sowing garlic is becoming increasingly common among summer residents. The method has its undeniable advantages if you follow the technology and know how to plant garlic bulbs correctly.

Advantages of planting garlic bulbs:

• To obtain one two hundred seed samples, only one plant is needed. The main criterion is strong, stable garlic arrows.
• Aerial tubers are characterized by high resistance to fungal and bacterial diseases. Thanks to this property, seeds are used as a source of rejuvenation and renewal of varieties and prevent the degeneration of vegetables.
• The seeds have a high survival rate.
• High yield.

Features of garlic agricultural technology

Depending on the time of planting, garlic is divided into spring (spring) and winter. At the same time, autumn is the ideal time for planting bolting varieties. Otherwise, the yield and size of the heads are significantly reduced. The remaining varieties can be used for both spring and autumn planting.

For planting garlic, a well-lit, flat area is selected. Rain or melt water should not linger on it. The growth and development of this crop is negatively affected by both waterlogging and severe drying out of the soil.

Garlic antiseptic

It is best to grow garlic on highly fertile land with a high content of organic fertilizers, located on a hill. Loamy soil and sandy loam are suitable. In lowlands, the plant rots or dies out. Soil preparation begins 1.5 months before the intended planting of garlic. The area is dug up and regularly cleared of weeds.

The correct choice of location for a given crop requires mandatory adherence to the rules of crop rotation. It is best to plant garlic after:

• greenery;
• cucumbers;
• early cabbage.

You cannot plant the crop after the onion or in the same place earlier than 4 years later. Garlic's root system is located close to the surface and develops very quickly. At first, you should take care of sufficient moisture and nutrients. At the very beginning of the growing season, soil moisture should be increased, and from the moment the heads begin to form, it should be reduced. A couple of weeks before the expected harvest, watering should be stopped altogether.

For prevention purposes, it is recommended to promptly treat plantings with special preparations or folk remedies against major pests and diseases. You should try to cut off the arrows that appear on garlic, except in cases where you plan to collect seed material from them.

Garlic propagation

Before you start such a useful and necessary crop in your garden, it will be useful to know how garlic reproduces. This is done with teeth or bulbs. Each head can contain up to 10 individual cloves, which can later be used as seed. If the needs are small, then this is quite enough. But what to do if you need to plant a large area or restore the varietal qualities of a favorite species? In this case, you can resort to an unusual technique and propagate varietal garlic with bulblets.

Reproduction by bulblets

Another important advantage that planting with seeds provides is the inability to transmit diseases. For example, if all the plantings died from a fungal disease, then a matured and preserved bulb will make it possible to grow absolutely healthy planting material for the next season.

The main advantages of planting garlic seeds:

• the ability to independently prepare homemade healthy seeds in large quantities;
• seeds are not exposed to diseases and pests;
• the variety does not degenerate;
• ease of planting in the ground;
• excellent germination.

Disadvantages of propagating garlic by seeds:

• it will take more than one year to obtain a full harvest;
• risk of seed spoilage in the ground due to low temperatures.

However, the last drawback can be almost completely eliminated if all recommendations and planting dates are followed.

Sowing garlic bulbs

To obtain high-quality seed garlic from bulbs, you need to properly grow and collect the source material. There is no special wisdom in agricultural technology; the seeds themselves form on the arrows. It is much more important to collect them correctly. To do this, you need to wait until the protective capsule bursts and the seeds appear on top of it. This happens around mid-July, however, depending on the region and time of planting, the timing may shift slightly. After ripening, the seeds are carefully trimmed using scissors or pruners, placed in a cardboard box and sent for storage.

Attention! Certain varieties of garlic do not shoot shoots and do not form seeds, so they cannot be propagated by bulblets.

In exceptional cases, the bulb may not open, but this does not mean that it is not ripe. You also need to be guided by the color of the leaves. If they turn yellow, then the arrows can be safely cut off. You can store seed in a barn or other dark room with a temperature not lower than +18°C. For a couple of months before the intended sowing, the seeds are kept at lower temperatures (about +7°C). This promotes hardening and prevents the seeds from spoiling during the first frost.

Garlic sprouts

You can plant garlic seeds not only before winter and spring, but also in the so-called non-transplant method. Most often, planting is done before winter. It is worth focusing on weather conditions. In the middle zone and the Moscow region, planting time falls in November, but the Urals suggest earlier dates. The soil should not cool below +5°C by the time of sowing. In the prepared bed, grooves should be made, no more than 5 cm deep, with a distance of about 40 cm between them. Seed material is evenly laid out in them and sprinkled with earth, after which they are mulched.

Spring planting is not much different from winter planting, but there are still some peculiarities. First of all, these are timing. As a rule, garlic is sowed in spring in early March, which causes certain difficulties. The soil has not yet warmed up enough, it is quite hard, and it is difficult to make beds in it.

Attention! It is better to prepare a bed for spring planting of garlic in the fall and cover it with film.

After the first shoots appear, the plant must be properly cared for and protected from diseases and pests.

The direct route, at first glance, may seem complicated and intricate, especially for beginners. But in reality, it's not all that scary. The plant should grow in one place for two years, after which the full-fledged heads are harvested. For this method, garlic bulbs are cut off before they have time to open. They are kept in the sun for a couple of days and allowed to dry. After this, you can begin planting in open ground, which is absolutely no different from what is done in autumn or spring. By mid-autumn, a young head of garlic with one clove will have already formed. There is no need to dig it up. An important condition: the bed must be properly insulated so that the cold winter does not harm the plantings. With the onset of spring, the site can be opened. If everything is done correctly, then by mid-summer you can already harvest a full harvest of large heads.

Deadlines

When to plant garlic seeds in bulbs in the ground? Seed material is planted in the soil until the temperature decreases steadily. As a rule, this is the end of September, beginning of October . All planting work must be completed by mid-October. This is due to the fact that before the onset of cold weather, the seeds must strengthen in the ground.

This method is optimal for regions with temperate climates. Severe frosts can destroy seeds. For Siberia and the Far East, it is better to plant tubers for growing seed samples with the onset of spring, when relatively warm weather sets in and the air warms up a little after a harsh winter.

It will be possible to obtain complete samples for sowing only after one or two seasons.

Why is it necessary to renew garlic with aerial bulbs?

Bulbs are mini-onions that form in garlic inflorescences instead of seeds. They are used to renew seed material. This is necessary when:

• signs of illness appeared;
• the garlic began to shrink and degenerate;
• a larger amount of planting material is required (for example, you wanted to propagate a certain variety to grow on your plot).

The bulbs are left for the whole summer, they ripen, then open, giving a signal for harvesting. They are stored this way until planting, right with the arrow.

How to grow bulbs from seeds

To get selective, large bulbs, you need to select the largest cloves. The selected samples must be healthy, without visible signs of plant diseases. The material for sowing is grown in compliance with all the rules.

How to grow bulblets:

1. Selected samples are placed in growth restrictors.
2. In the spring, the seeds will begin to germinate, and arrows will appear in early summer.
3. The resulting arrows are curled into a spiral.
4. Once the spiral threads are straightened, it is time to collect the seed material. This is evidenced by yellowing of the green part of the plant.
5. For harvesting, you need to dig up the tubers along with the roots.
6. After collection, drying is necessary.
7. To do this, summer residents hang them on the fence. To avoid drying out, hanging in the hot sun is not recommended. An attic with good ventilation is suitable for high-quality drying.

Everyone can make height limiters with their own hands using unnecessary couches and folding beds. They are tubes made of metal and plastic. The diameter of the tubes approximately corresponds to the size of the clove. Such devices do not allow earthen bulbs to grow. All nutrients are directed to the growth of flower threads. In this case, the arrows grow much larger and more powerful than with traditional crop cultivation.

Bulbs are grown similarly to ordinary vegetable tubers. They require watering, loosening the soil, and periodic fertilizing with minerals.

Collection and storage of bulbs

Propagating garlic by bulbs in the fall allows you to collect high-quality material for planting. To get a good harvest in the future, you need not only to grow it correctly and collect it on time, but also to be able to save the seeds.

It is necessary to collect the tubers when the stem is completely straightened and slightly yellowed. At this point, the head begins to crack and expose small teeth. When opened, they acquire a color scheme that determines their belonging to a particular variety. It is important not to miss this moment and collect samples at the initial stage of disclosure. Otherwise, when fully opened, all the samples will simply be lost.

The tubers must be dug up with roots, and the stems must be cut off at the branching point. If several variations of a vegetable are planted at the same time, collect identical varieties together to avoid confusion.

Collect the collected inflorescences in bunches and hang them on the fence in a shady place or under a canopy. A place where the seeds can dry. After drying, put the bunches in a dark place with good ventilation. The optimal storage temperature is +2 – +15.

When to collect garlic bulbs for seeds

First of all, you need to select in advance the plants from which you plan to collect seed material. They must be well developed and completely healthy. The arrows that they produce must be left, and on all other plants cut off with a knife, leaving a small stump of 2-3 cm, otherwise their heads will be small or there will be none at all.

There are no exact dates for collecting garlic bulbs. It all depends on the timing of the ripening of the variety and the climatic conditions of the area. But you can be guided by the fact that the inflorescences are considered ready for harvesting when the garlic leaves turn yellow and the thin film that protects the seeds begins to burst. At this time, the bulbs have already reached a sufficient size and acquired the color characteristic of the variety. There is no need to wait until the inflorescence opens: the seeds may become dry and crumble.

To harvest plants with garlic arrows, it is better to choose clear, dry weather. All you need to do is pull them out of the ground and put them in a garden bed if the weather is sunny or take them to a warm, well-ventilated place to dry. Then select all the seeds from the inflorescences, select the largest ones with a characteristic shape. They cannot be used for planting; very small ones are not suitable for this purpose.

Garlic inflorescences need to be collected at least 1.5-2 months before the planned planting of the bulbs in the fall.

Planting bulbs before winter

Planting seeds in open ground is carried out in several stages. The process begins with site preparation.

Soil preparation

First you need to choose a place for the garlic bed. It is better if it is a flat piece of land where access to sunlight is not difficult. The culture does not really like excessively wet soil. A few weeks before planting, dig up the bed, add humus and mineral fertilizers.

In a few weeks the soil will settle, and you can safely plant the seeds without fear of making a mistake with the depth. You can add wood ash at the rate of 1 cup per 1 square meter.

Before planting the tubers, it is recommended to treat them with a fungicide solution. This is necessary to prevent disease.

Planting scheme

Before sowing the crop, it is necessary to sort it. Separate all seeds according to variety and seed size. The most optimal clove size is 3-4 mm.

There are several schemes for planting tubers.

Gardeners recommend lightly compacting the soil with a board or hand after planting. Water the planting area on top again and sprinkle with straw and peat.

Deadlines

When should you plant winter garlic bulbs? Compliance with planting dates directly affects the quality and survival of tubers. If you plant them too early, they may sprout. If, on the contrary, it is late, they will freeze and will not germinate in the spring. The best option is the end of September, beginning of October.

How to plant in spring

Deadlines

When to plant garlic bulbs in open ground? The best option is early spring. The crop's resistance to winter cold will not interfere with germination; humidity will allow the seeds to take root in a timely manner.

Soil preparation

The garden is being prepared for planting seed cloves in the fall. The soil is loosened, humus and fertilizers are added to it. In spring, the top layer of soil needs to be loosened and wood ash added.

Scheme

Several options are used.

1. In ordinary rows, similar to planting before winter.
2. Wide stripes. The width of the strip is 5-7 centimeters, the distance between the strips is 40-50 centimeters.
3. Ribbon fit. Each tape has 6-9 rows. The distance between the lines is 60-75 centimeters.

Preparation for storage

Seeds are removed from ripe flower stalks and sorted. The smallest onions that have sprouted, dried out, or are damaged are discarded.

The bulbs will be better stored if they are kept in an infusion of wood ash. Take 2 tbsp. l. ash, pour 2 liters of boiling water, allow the solution to cool. The seeds are immersed in the infusion for 10-12 hours. The treated onions are laid out in one layer on a paper towel and dried for 5-7 days.

Before storing, the seeds are calibrated by size. The best planting material is the largest bulbs, from which full-sized heads of garlic grow in the second year. Medium-sized onions are used only when there is a shortage of seed material.

Caring for Garlic

To be able to grow winter garlic from bulbs, you must follow the rules of caring for the crop.

Watering

The culture does not like excessive moisture. In case of drought, it is enough to water it once every 7-10 days.

Loosening

With the onset of spring, it is necessary to remove straw, peat, or humus from the garden bed, which was used to cover the garden bed. Loosen the top layer of soil using gentle movements. There is no need to go deep so as not to damage the tubers. It is necessary to loosen the soil after the seeds have sprouted and after each watering or rain.

Top dressing

Over the entire season, it will be enough to feed the vegetable twice. The first time the crop is fed is after the first shoots appear. The second time - 10-14 days after the first. Chicken manure (concentration 1:20) or mullein (concentration 1:10) can be used as fertilizer. The bed is fertilized at the rate of 2 liters of fertilizer per square meter. You can also use saltpeter, nitrogen for the first feeding and wood ash for the second as fertilizers.

Advantages of using bulbs

This method has several advantages:

1. There are dozens of bulblets in one inflorescence, and therefore only a few inflorescences will be enough to obtain the required amount of seed material.
2. They retain all varietal characteristics and remain completely healthy, uninfected by any fungal diseases and not affected by pests, for example, stem nematodes. Therefore, garlic bulbs can be used to improve the health of planting material if the heads are infected with something, and also to prevent degeneration, which happens after several years of growing garlic in the traditional way.
3. Bulbs can also be used to preserve and propagate a rare variety if there are not enough cloves. In addition, planting material planted before winter does not need to be preserved at home until spring, which is not always successful.

The only drawback to growing garlic from bulbs is that you can only get a harvest after a year or two, and not in the year of planting. In the first year, you can only get single cloves, which will need to be planted in the ground in the fall, and only the next year will they grow into full-fledged heads of garlic, divided into cloves.

Collection

Harvest occurs when the foliage begins to turn yellow and dry out. You need to collect on a sunny, not rainy day. The plant is dug up by the roots. After this, the tubers are cleaned of sand. Then the vegetable is dried and the dry tops are cut off. Dried garlic is placed in wooden boxes, rag bags, and wicker baskets for storage.

If you know when to plant garlic bulbs before winter, care for them properly, and harvest in a timely manner, you can grow a high-quality and very healthy vegetable. Growing in this way always allows you to get healthy tubers. With its help, you don’t have to worry about the fact that high-quality, rare varieties will simply degenerate in your garden. The only caveat is waiting for two seasons until you can produce healthy, strong seeds ready for planting.

Secrets of growing garlic culture

The heads of winter garlic have a very simple structure. There is a rod in the middle, surrounded by up to 10 teeth. The fruits of this type of vegetable are stored for up to 5 months, after which they dry out. How to grow garlic from bulbs largely depends on the method chosen. In the first option, the bulbs are planted for the winter. In the middle zone, due to severe cold and freezing of the ground, a large number of seeds die.

To renew the variety of winter garlic, the bulbs are sent to the soil in the spring, then in February they are sorted out, soft and empty bulbs are thrown away, healthy ones are put in the refrigerator or taken to the cellar, placed in boxes with straw.