Kitchen Garden Forum

Last year I treated myself to Germidour Garlic bulbs for planting in Autumn rather than using cloves from supermarket ones that I planted in the spring. Tidying the bed this morning and found rust (presumed as it looks rusty!) on them. The onions on one side and shallots on the other in the same bed seem to be free of it though.
Other threads on this topic have mentioned ash and feeding as factors but as I have never had rusty garlic before I would like to know more so as to limit it if possible in future. I have had mild bouts on my leeks, but these were always followed by potatoes so should not have transfered across to a different bed, should it?

Any tips, and should they be dug and destroyed?

I don't think rust is that unusal on garlic, though may vary with variety, conditions & what you've done with them.

I generally get some level of rust every year. No need to dig them out - you'll still get a crop, though it might possibly be smaller than it would otherwise have been.

Others can advise on nutrition (I always thought Potash or "K" was important, so give mine an occaisional feed with tomato feed, or bonemeal in the Spring). The other thing that will exacerbate rust is dampness on the leaves.

You can't do much about rain, but if you need to water your garlic (advisable if we get long dry spells, like recently) make sure you keep it off the leaves, watering gently directly into the base. Not using a rose will also help.


Colin