How to properly grow garlic in a bed?
Growing garlic requires light and loose fertile soil with good drainage. On heavy loams containing a lot of moisture, it will rot or give smaller heads. If the acidity of the soil is high, it is recommended to add a little ash during planting.
In order for the crop to be healthy, and pests do not spoil the harvest, you need to change the planting site. In the place where garlic grew, it can be planted again only after 3-4 years. Before that, it is advisable to improve the soil – plant mustard or calendula in this place. The best precursors of garlic in crop rotation are: legumes, early cabbage and cucumbers.
You should also pay attention to watering, because excess moisture will lead to rotting of the plant, and lack of water will make it yellow and dry.
Pay attention! The main thing is not to violate the planting dates, not to plant garlic too early, but also not too late. You need to pay attention not only to the calendar, but also to the weather. Garlic should be planted 1 month before winter frosts, in this case it will not be able to ascend, but it will take root well.
Garlic is planted both in autumn and early spring. It is better to plant in autumn. Planting for winter includes winter varieties. Use large external garlic teeth. The quantity and quality of the harvest depends on the size of the teeth.
They use folk recipes for fertilizer. Herbal infusion: put grass or any weed in a barrel with water and add wood ash. Insist for 3-5 days and when the solution begins to foam, add garlic roots with this mixture.
Ash can be used as an independent fertilizer. 300 grams are diluted in 10 liters of water, 1 tablespoon of liquid soap is added. It is used for foliar fertilizing or applied to the soil.
Be sure to break off the flowering shoots. It is also necessary to harvest the crop on time, leaving it in the ground longer than necessary is very dangerous. It is better to collect it a little earlier than to be late. The harvest needs to be dried thoroughly, because winter garlic is very poorly stored, and can easily deteriorate if it is not dried enough.
Why does garlic turn yellow in the garden
Most often, garlic planted for the winter turns yellow, and all because it was planted incorrectly.
- In autumn they planted it in warm weather, and it released the first shoots, which froze with the onset of winter.
- Garlic was placed in the already frozen ground or in extreme cold.
- A sharp change of climate in spring or autumn.
- There are few nutrients in the soil for garlic, which is especially difficult to tolerate the absence of nitrogen.
- The lack of potassium or magnesium in the soil is evidenced by small and thin leaves.
- Garlic should be planted to a depth of 6 cm, otherwise during spring frosts it will immediately freeze and the leaves will turn yellow.
- The soil in which garlic was planted was acidic and poor in oxygen.
- Garlic does not like excess moisture.
Incorrect planting time. If planted too early, the garlic will have time to release the first leaves. Low temperatures can easily damage the greens. It is better to plant garlic not earlier than October in the middle zone and not earlier than November in the south.
Increased soil acidity. The plant takes root well in neutral soil. To get rid of excess acidity, lime is added when digging.
Lack or excess of moisture in the soil. Excessive watering, especially after planting, can lead to rotting of the plant. Moderate watering is important for garlic, especially in May and June.
He tolerates excess water worse than its lack. In rainy months, you can not water, and in dry months, they are watered 3-4 times a month. Do not forget to loosen the soil.
Lack of macro-microelements. Most often plants lack potassium, magnesium or nitrogen. Nitrogen fertilizers are responsible for creating a green mass. In the absence of potassium, growth slows down, a bluish plaque on the leaves and a brown burn on the tips may appear.
How to process garlic before planting?
Harmful microorganisms can infect garlic during storage: harvested early, not dried well enough, stored in unsuitable conditions, etc. Winter garlic needs to be prepared for planting.
Processing will help protect the seed material from fungal diseases and the negative effects of the external environment.
- The prepared garlic cloves are soaked in saline solution for 3-5 minutes (1 tablespoon of salt per 1 liter of water).
- Copper sulfate perfectly fights against all fungal diseases, infections. (1 tablespoon per 1 liter of water) is kept for 3 – 5 minutes.
- Garlic cloves are soaked in a rich pink solution of potassium permanganate for 5 minutes.
You can also use phytosporin – a means that disinfects the planting material. It should be diluted according to the instructions indicated on the package.
Diseases and pests of garlic
Diseases and pests can destroy garlic, but it can be saved. The main diseases and pests of garlic: false powdery mildew, rot, rust, mold, nematode, mite, onion fly, moth.
Pay attention! It is known that fungal diseases can ruin crops if they are not noticed in time and treatment is not started. Unfortunately, not all diseases can be saved, but their appearance can be prevented.
Poor ventilation and high humidity in the cultivation of garlic favor the development of fungal diseases such as false powdery mildew, gray rot and rust.
Pollination of leaves with thiochalcin or spraying with an ecological solution of copper and sulfur helps in the preventive treatment of diseases.
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- Black mold appears due to a sharp change in air temperature. It often affects very small garlic, which has not yet had time to get stronger.
- The main rot. The reason is the increased humidity of both air and soil. Unfortunately, this disease is difficult to notice and it is already impossible to save the vegetable. The vegetable in this case only destroys.
- White rot loves soil suffering from nitrogen deficiency.
- The mosaic virus is transmitted through the planting material. The leaves are covered with white or yellow spots. It is necessary to update the planting material to plant garlic.
- Blue mold affects garlic that has already been harvested from the garden, but not dried enough or stored in a damp room. In this case, the affected teeth are removed, thoroughly cleaned, they can be eaten.
- After prolonged rains and cool weather, powdery false dew forms on the leaves. It affects all groups of cultivated plants. A white to gray coating of fungus appears on the surface of the leaves. The affected leaves die off. It is disastrous because it stops the growth of vegetables if the beds are not processed in time.
Fusarium disease often occurs due to high humidity. The leaves are completely withered, and the stem is covered with brown stripes. In order for garlic not to hurt, the beds should be periodically watered with potassium solution, and make sure that there is no excess moisture.
- If the garlic bed is oversaturated with nitrogen, then in humid and hot summers there is a high risk of garlic disease with gray rot, which develops in these conditions.
Not only viruses and fungi can destroy the entire harvest of garlic, but also insect pests.
It’s hard to get rid of them, but you can. Of course, it is better to prevent their appearance than to fight them on the plant.
- If the leaves are drying, inspect the soil around the garlic to see if there are any small insects known as root worms. If found, it is necessary to burn the entire infected crop.
- The leaves of the plant turn yellow very quickly – this is an onion fly laying its eggs in them. It remains only to throw away the infected crop.
- If the leaves of garlic curl, most likely nematodes have started in the roots. This is because garlic has been watered for a long time under the root.
To combat insects attacking garlic, an ecological soap preparation with potassium salt is used.
If the garlic is frozen, spraying with “Zircon” will help. This will help the plant to recover faster and begin to grow actively. Dissolve 1 ml of the drug in 10 liters of water. It should be sprayed about once a week.
Insecticides
If you have tried all the remedies, and garlic is still turning yellow, insecticides are used to control pests.
They are harmful to humans, so the treatment must be carried out in a mask and gloves. Carefully follow the instructions.
Preparations that can be used to control pests that cause yellowing of leaves:
- “Aktellik” – from ticks.
- “Carbation” – from nematodes.
- “Dacha” – from an onion fly.
- Copper sulfate is from “rust”.
- “Polycarbocin”, “Arcerida” – from false powdery mildew.
- “Previcur”, “Fundazol” – from rot and fusarium.
- “Karbofos” – from mosaic.
Important! Remember that the toxins contained in these drugs can accumulate in plants, so you should not get carried away with them.
Prevention of garlic from yellowing of leaves
You can try to prevent unwanted damage to garlic. To do this, the following measures are used:
- do not plant garlic in one place for more than 2-3 years in a row;
- plant winter garlic 3-4 weeks before frost;
- process the seed material with copper sulfate or a weak solution of potassium permanganate;
- regularly loosen the soil;
- watering should be moderate;
- do not plant garlic next to onions, they are bad neighbors;
- to destroy pests, burn the remains after harvesting.
The crop is stored only in a dry place and at low air temperature.
