Small garlic bulbs

[glallotments]

I've just harvested my Solent Wight and Purple garlic and am really disappointed with the size of the bulbs.

I have grown them exactly as last year in a trough overwintered in a cold greenhouse (just to keep the wet off a bit) and then brought out in early spring. The difference is that last year I planted cloves from a supermarket bought bulb brought back from France. Last year the bulbs were great. As this apparently isn't advisable I bought bulbs from a seed company to plant for this year.

A neighbouring plot holder has noticed exactly the same with his garlic and also grew a supermarket bought bulb last year and a bulb from a nursery this year.

I have another batch planted directly in the ground which were started in pots so wil be interested to see what has happened to them - they haven't fully died back yet. I was going to keep a bulb to replant for next year but they are really not good enough.

Has anyone else had this problem or know why it has happened?

[Colin_M]

Hi glallotments, sorry to hear of your plight.

I don't think it's a simple as using seed garlic compared to shop-bought cooking garlic. This year I used a mixture of "official" seed garlic (including the Purple you mention) plus a few cloves of our own harvest from last year.

I have had around 5-10% come out on the small size (down to 4cm across). The rest are as I would expect, with the best up to 8cm wide (~3 inches) across.

Finally, you might want to look at this. It may not be the complete solution but down here in Bristol it's been a very dry Spring & Summer. Whilst this has affected lots of plants, garlic needs moisture in Feb-Apr (assuming you planted yours in the Autumn & overwintered it).

[Tony Hague]

I've grown two varieties this year, Iberian Wight and Purple Moldovan. The former is a softneck, the latter a hardneck.

I've grown both varieties in two locations; the garden plot (sandy, well drained but tends to dry out too much, and nutrients leak away), and the allotment (heavy clay, tends to waterlog).

All were planted in early November. Fertilised in spring with chicken pellets and wood ash.

The garlic growing on heavy clay is good. The softneck is splendid - 3" or perhaps bigger, looks almost like elephant garlic. The hardneck grown on clay is OK, 2.5" supermarket sized bulbs

On sand, they have fared less well. The Softneck is of acceptable size, rather like the hardneck grown at the lotty. The hardneck is probably too small and fiddly to do much with.

So, my conclusion is that it is down to the higher water and nutrient retention of the clay in a dry spring. But the outcome might be different in a wet spring ! Also, softneck varieties seem to produce bigger bulbs than hardneck for the varieties I've tried so far.

[Monika]

I have grown Solent Wight for about the fourth year running and they are smaller this year than before although they were planted the usual time for me, end of October. I think it's a combination of the cold winter (when everything was at a standstill for a long time) and the dry spring and early summer. I have started to use mine although they are not full size but the bulk of them I will leave standing until the tops turn yellow - at the moment they are still green and upright.

[glallotments]

Mine were totally brown but the ones that I have harvested so far were in tubs which were watered so it can't be dryness for them.

[Nature's Babe]

Gallotments even the tubs are drying out very quickly in this heat, I'm watering mine every day but they are very dry before each watering.
I grew some garlic under a straw and grass clipping mulch and that did really well, found its way through the mulch fine, but others planted in a normal open bed were disappointing.

[freddy]

Hi folks.
I have exactly the same thing, very small bulbs (Solent Wight). One or two have not even split into separate cloves. I planted them out in October, as I did the year before (last year I had a very good crop). They came up fine, about 3 or 4 weeks later and seemed to be making good progress. But since March or so, they have looked pretty sick. I've tried watering/feeding, but nothing doing. Some are still showing green, so I'll leave them for a bit yet. Not expecting much !

Cheers...freddy.

[glallotments]

I spoke to soon - today I lifted the garlic growing directly in the ground on the plot - the bulbs look great! These cloves were started off in pots in the cold greenhouse and planted out in March. Maybe you are right Nature's Babe and I didn't water the tubs enough during winter as they were in the greenhouse on the allotment plot and the ones in the pots in the home greenhouse may have been paid more attention.

[Mike Vogel]

I think the problem was caused this year by the dry spring and then the frosts in mid-May. Then dry weather again. Garlic likes cold then wet then dry. It's pot luck what you get when in this silly country!

[Tigger]

Very small bulbs this year and neck rot for for the first time in over 25yrs.

Good flavour though for the cloves that survived.

[glallotments]

I suppose the ones we got outside di get cold wet then dry in a way.