With the recent heavy snow and ice we have had this past week, a goodly number of my autumn planted garlics and onions have had their tops bent over.
Will they recover or will I need to replant again?
Ed (Herts, UK)
The garlic will likely recover, though perhaps at some energy and size cost.
Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G
"Ed" wrote
Your garlic will recover unlike ours which has had the tops all eaten off!!
Yikes! What kind of wildlife eats garlic tops?
Here, the deer will eat the leftover Brussels Sprout plants, and any leeks I've left in the ground, but they're not their first choice. Kale, on the other hand....
Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G
"Gary Woods" wrote after "Bob Hobden" moaned on...
We have never ever had anything damage our Garlic before and thought them impervious to attack, not this year. The first tops to show all disappeared within a few days and I can see where they have been eaten off. A few late developers are coming up again and I've put a couple of rodent bait boxes out to try to kill the culprits. Last thing we want is rodents getting a taste for garlic!
Garlic and onion sets shouldn't sprout until early spring... (same as other allium), you obviously planted way too early... if anything the early cold/snow may be a gift.
BALONEY, you get growth until the ground is frozen hard, how many garlic crops have you brought to market? The original poster should have no problems but should monitor his crop a bit earlier than normal harvest by using a few plants so he can time everything before the cloves open. If you have extra stock go ahead and plant right up until the ground is hard.
The conventional wisdom here is that garlic should be planted 6-8 weeks before ground frost, so the roots get well established before the ground freezes hard, preventing the cloves from getting heaved up during thaw/freeze cycles. To that end, a light mulch after things have started to freeze is a Good Thing. I'm happier if I get little or now _top_ growth before the freeze, since that gets damaged and costs the cloves energy better spent the next spring. Full disclosure:
I am NOT a commercial grower; only a somewhat obsessed amateur. I grow something around a hundred pounds of garlic, using what my Sweetie and I don't eat to donate, trade, etc. I'm in the Northeastern U.S.; conditions elsewhere vary. Mine certainly do!
Yours in bad breath,
Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G
"beecrofter" wrote
[...]for a strong start, plant 4 to 6 weeks before the ground freezes.
do NOT cold store or plant cold stored cloves, it will cause the clove to sprout prematurely, before it establishes good roots. This is trouble because it allows winter heaving. And no, properly planted and cared for garlic usually does not sprout or grow much green until a warm spell during winter. And then when it does, it's time for a high nitrogen feed, followed by several more through May. (experienced in zone 5/6).
prolly more than years you've trekked Terra Firma
a couple of fun places to visit & learn:
Steve Young
Rubbish! Garlic has to be planted before winter sets in if you want decent sized heads. I try to get a good growth before they slow for the winter cold. Spring planted stuff is almost a waste of time the heads are usually so small. It's a tough plant and won't bother about the winter in the UK at all. There are autumn planted onions (as well as the usual spring planted) although I've found they are not as tough as garlic.
"Bob Hobden" wrote
Nobody is talking about spring planting, we are talking about when it sprouts.
If garlic has not been mistreated, very little sprouting/(above ground growth) occurs between Fall planting and ground freeze. Now if it gets very cold after planting and then a warm spell occurs before finally freezing, an unusually large number may sprout. Here in NE Ohio probably less than 20% sprout before a winter thaw. What confounds this timetable is if garlic has been stored in a refrigerator anytime prior to planting. It will sprout almost immediately after planting, long before strong roots are established. Not a good thing.
Steve Young
Yup, obviously some of these folks don't read very well, the OP didn't really mention a time frame, or even a locale, but from context it seemed pretty obvious to those with intelligence that he meant planting very recently, like now, as in this fall. I don't grow garlic anymore (used to), haven't for like five years now because my next door neighbor grows garlic and onions in great quantity, like 500 pounds of each, he supplies the entire neighborhood and attends the local garlic festivals. I used to grow garlic in sets of 100, not a lot but was more than enough for me and to share. I only take like
6-10 heads from my neighbor because I don't use it up fast enough and it's a shame to let it rot, but I take 20 pounds of red and yellow onions and 20 pounds of his spuds, russets and Yukon golds. Anyway, my neighbor is a real garlic maven, he has quite an operation, grown in very neat raised beds filled with soil he is constantly amending with all sorts of composted manures, leaves, and a huge variety of plant waste. I've learned a lot more about garlic growing from him than I already knew. One thing he is very careful about is watching the weather (I assume all agri people do) so he'll know the most advantageous time to plant. He waits until we've had a few light frosts and then plants as close as he can to four weeks prior to the first hard frost. He mulches heavily with straw (about 8") that's held down from wind with plastic deer fencing, which also keeps birds off. He already has his garlic planted, this is the sixth season since I've lived here and I've never seen any of his garlic sprout before spring... you can set your clock on its sprouting because it sends up green on the same day as daffodils. I don't know about growing garlic in warm climes but here in NY's northern Catskill region (zone 5/6) if garlic is planted too early prior to the first hard frost it will sprout, and if sunlight can get to the sprouts it will grow very rapidly, especially if there're a few day's warm spell.I have a clear view of his garlic bed from my window as I sit here:
"Steve Young" wrote
To Steve and Sheldon. This is a UK newsgroup and over here we don't get your sort of winters, this is a maritime climate not a continental type climate so we get perhaps a frost then some rain them some sun and the temperature goes up so you work in your shirt. Sometimes in a week sometimes all that in one day. So any garlic planted in the autumn will sprout in a UK garden and in most winters will continue to grow through the winter. To get garlic to sprout in the spring over here you would have to plant in the spring.
Actually this thread was CROSSPOSTED to three different Newsgroups (uk.rec.gardening, rec.gardens, rec.gardens.edible). Usenet is international, but had the OP wanted to keep his query UK sensitive he should not have crossposted. And you, Hobden, are obviously a newbie.
On behalf of U.S. gardeners not too far north of Sheldon, I wish to apologise. People ought not to AssUMe. I did notice the crossposting, though most of the information is international. The climate in the UK is _different_ than mine, which I'll have pointed out in February when you folks have spring flowers, and I'm on first-name terms with the fuel oil delivery man! FWIW, my garlic sprouts at the same time as the crocus, though I will be using some hay mulch this winter, which will likely delay it a bit.
Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G
If you look right up there, indeed the poster did give a locale. What do want? his mailing address???? Emilie
Actually this thread was CROSSPOSTED to three different Newsgroups (uk.rec.gardening, rec.gardens, rec.gardens.edible). Usenet is international, but had the OP wanted to keep his query UK sensitive he should not have crossposted. And you, Hobden, are obviously a newbie.
No I am certainly not a "newbie" either as a gardener or on Usenet. Just didn't notice the crossposting, like you didn't notice the original posters locale and proceeded to be adamant about a way of growing garlic for your totally different/foreign conditions. So we both got caught out.
No need to apologise, it was just a mistake on both sides.
Unless someone was a local they'd not know that "Herts" is ghetto/slum speak for Hertfordshire.
The UK includes England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Isles... that covers a few different bios... don't need (or even want) an address, but a bit more specificity would help. It's only southern England that has relatively mild winters, most of the UK is just as cold and snowy as NY's Catskills.
"Sheldon" wrote Unless someone was a local they'd not know that "Herts" is ghetto/slum speak for Hertfordshire.
It's actually the normal accepted short version, even the Queen would use.
The UK includes England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Isles... that covers a few different bios... don't need (or even want) an address, but a bit more specificity would help. It's only southern England that has relatively mild winters, most of the UK is just as cold and snowy as NY's Catskills.
Not true, we are a Maritime climate you are a Continental type climate, totally different. Our climate is governed by the seas around us, yours by the land around you. The effect is your winter comes, stays for a few months then goes and spring comes... ours changes constantly and is all mixed up. Whilst it is colder the further North one travels it's still not constant like your weather and even then there are exceptions like the effect of the warm Gulf Stream on the West of Scotland. It's why we don't talk in zones.
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