Recently somebody told me the either bent over or broke off their garlic plants in order to drive more energy down into the bulb, Does this in fact work? How much do I break off/ how many leaves should I leave on the plant and when should I do this?
I'm in zone 5 ( I think), Spokane, Washington.
TIA, Bob
Bob,
Do not bend or break the garlic plant. If you are growing soft neck garlic, do nothing. If you are growing hard neck garlic, the only thing you may want to remove is the "scape". The scape is the flower stalk that appears only on hard neck strains of garlic. I've conducted experiments in past years comparing bulb size between plants where I've removed the scape and those I've left intact and found little if any benefit to removal. If you do decide to remove the scape, do it while it is still in full curl and that way they are still somewhat tender and useful in salads, stir fry dishes, etc. Do a Google search on "garlic scapes" for more ideas.
Ross. Southern Ontario, Canada. New AgCanada Zone 5b
43º17'15" North 80º13'32" West To email, remove the obvious from my address.It is onions that you bend over when about 75 percent of them have turne3d brown and started falling over. You do the rest and harvest them within a week or 10 days. Then you clean them off, and lay them somewhere out of the sun, where the air can circulate around them. They prefer 80 degrees F for this process. Leave them for 10 days, then put them in your cool storage place. I also cure my garlic the same way.
Dwayne
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