Vampires Beware Growing Garlic in Wisconsin

1
Vampires Beware!Growing Garlic in Wisconsin

• Karen Delahaut
• Fresh Market Vegetable
• Outreach Specialist

2
History of Garlic

• Egyptian Indian cultures referred to garlic
  5000 years ago.
• Chinese writings suggest garlic was grown 4000
  years ago.
• Only a few thousand original garlic varieties.

3
Garlic Crescent

• Extends from the Black Sea through the Caucasus
  Mountains and beyond the Caspian Sea through
  Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Krygyzstan,
  Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.

4
Botany

• Garlic cloves are actually swollen leaves called
  fleshy scales.
• Asexual reproduction.
• Effects on leaf clove number size
• Planting time,
• Day length,
• Clove size, and
• Genetics
• Doesnt affect leaf clove number size
• Air soil temperature
• Light intensity
• Bulb storage time temperature

5
Taxonomy

• Allium sativum
• Hardneck subspecies ophioscorodon
• Rocambole
• Purple Stripe
• Porcelain
• Softneck subspecies sativum
• Artichoke
• Silverskin

6
Rocambole

• Off-white bulb skin
• Easy to peel
• 2-2½ inches dia.
• 6-11 cloves/bulb
• 2 clove layers
• Cloves are brownish dull
• Perform well in cold climates
• Mature slightly later than artichoke types
• Storage 3-4 months
• Best flavor of all garlic
• Spanish Roja Killarney Red

7
Rocambole Cultivars

• Belgian Red
• Brown Saxon
• Carpathian
• Czechland Race
• German Brown
• German Red
• Gigantus

• Iowa
• Killarney Red
• Pitarelli
• Russian Red
• Spanish Roja
• Yugoslavian

8
Continental Porcelain Purple Stripe

• 1½-2½ inch dia.
• 4-12 cloves/bulb
• 2 clove layers
• Buff brown cloves with purple streaks
• Matures after artichoke rocambole
• Performs well in cold climates
• Storage 4-8 months
• Best baked garlic
• Porcelain is less common

9
Porcelain Cultivars

• Armenian
• Blazer
• Georgian Crystal
• Georgian Fire
• German Extra Hardy
• German White
• Leningrad
• Music

• Music Pink
• Polish Hardneck
• Romanian Red
• Rosewood
• Vostani
• Wild Buff
• Zemo

10
Purple Stripe Cultivars

• Brown Rose
• Brown Tempest
• Chesnok Red
• Chinese Red
• Giant Siberian
• Korean Red

• Persian Star
• Pskem
• Purple Glazer
• Red Czar
• Red Rezan
• Siberian

11
Artichoke

• Off-white to yellow-white bulb skin
• 2½-3 inches dia.
• 12-24 cloves/bulb
• 4 clove layers
• Milky white cloves with pink tinge
• Most widely adapted to climate of all garlic
• First to mature
• Storage 6-9 months
• Mild to hot flavor
• Inchellium Red Polish White

12
Artichoke

• California Early
• California Late
• Early Red Italian
• Himalayan Red
• Inchellium Red
• Italian Late

• Lorz Italian
• Lotus
• Polish White
• Purple Cauldron
• Sicilian Artichoke
• Transylvanian

13
Silverskin

• White with copper veined bulb skin
• Difficult to remove
• 1½-2¼ inch dia.
• 8-40 cloves/bulb
• 5 clove layers
• White or blush pink cloves
• Matures after all other varieties
• Storage 6-12 months
• Mild to hot flavor
• Silver Rose

14
Silverskin

• Idaho Silver
• Mexican Red Silver
• Mild French
• Nootka Rose

• Sicilian Silver
• Silver Rose
• Silver White
• St. Helens

15
Elephant Garlic

• Allium ampeloprasum
• Type of leek.
• Bulb consists of 2-6 large cloves several
  smaller cloves.
• Milder flavor than true garlic.
• May develop a bitter taste in cold climates.

16
Planting Stock

• Large seed bulbs (2-2½ dia.) have the greatest
  number of desirable-sized cloves.
• Seed cloves from bulbs 2½ have a lower
  survivability.
• Weight size of bulb is more important than
  weight size of individual cloves.
• Choose cloves that weight 6-9 gm. (0.2-0.3 oz)

17
Planting

• Planting cloves derived from a different regions
  may take time to adapt to your soil some may
  never adapt at all. Biological elasticity.
• Plant in fall, 6 weeks before ground freezes.
• Promote root growth but not top growth in fall.
• Generally 50 cloves per pound youll need 100
  lbs/1000 ft2
• Pop cloves within 2 days of planting.
• Plant 1-2 deep and 6 apart within the row with
  rows 1 foot apart.
• Mulch with 6 inches chopped straw once ground is
  frozen.

18
Culture

• Full sun, well-drained soils with high organic
  matter.
• Prepare the soil before planting by tilling well.
• Best to begin preparing the soil at least 1 year
  prior to planting.
• Remove mulch in spring when top growth appears.

19
Culture - Fertilization

• Apply nitrogen at planting and again in spring
  when plants are 4-6 inches tall.
• Yellowing of leaf tips indicates insufficient N.
• Wont affect yield if occurs early in the season.
• Soils high in sulfur produce the best-tasting
  garlic.
• Soils with pH between 6.5 7.2 have the most
  sulfur.

20
Bulb Initiation

• Stimulated by long days and warm temperatures.
  Typically around the summer solstice.
• Must have suitable weather to promote maximum top
  growth before bulb initiation begins.
• Once the plants begin to bulb, no new leaves are
  produced.

21
Popping the Tops

• Remove flower stalks 7-10 days after they coil
  for best size and storage life.
• Most important for Porcelain and Purple Stripe
  varieties.
• Up to 30 yield reduction if tops not removed.
• Remove just above the topmost leaf.
• Rocambole types will lose ¼ diameter for every
  week popping is delayed.
• BUTRocambole varieties may store better if not
  topped despite the reduced bulb size.

• Garlic seed stalks develop from the tip of the
  main stem.
• No further leaves are produced.

22
Harvest

• Leaf dry down signifies the outer bulb wrappers
  are beginning to decay.
• Want to retain 3-5 wrapper leaves.
• Harvest when 25 of leaves dry down.
• Artichokes harvested 1st 5 green leaves remain.
• Ophios harvested when 6th leaf is starting to
  turn brown.
• Silverskins harvested next.
• Harvest planting stock last.
• Over-mature garlic bulbs emit a sulfur odor.

23
Harvest cont.

• Dig bulbs with shoots attached.
• Remove excess soil and 1-2 wrapper leaves.
• Prevent sunburn by getting bulbs into warehouse
  ASAP
• Cure at 75F for 3-4 weeks. Roots shoots will
  become dry.
• Remove tops at ½-1 above the bulb.
• Cut roots close to the bulb.
• Use a toothbrush to remove excess soil.

24
Storage

• Store in a cool, dry place.
• Rocambole stores only 3 months.
• 32 will increase storage life of rocamboles.
• Purple Stripe Porcelain store 4-8 months.
• Artichoke stores 6-9 months.
• Silverskin stores 6-12 months.

25
Resources

• Growing Great Garlic by Ron Engeland
• www.filareefarm.com
• Organic Garlic Production by ATTRA at
  www.attra.ncat.org
• Garlic Seed Foundation at www.garlicseedfoundatio
  n.info