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TomNJ · April 22, 2019

I had the "wispy leaves" (aka "whiskbrooming") rather severely last year with lots of rounds and half the normal scapes. Based on my research this may be due to excess nitrogen. While garlic likes nitrogen to develop lush greens, it only needs about 150 lbs elemental N/acre. My notes indicate I went way overboard last year and applied 550 lbs elemental N/acre. Likewise your post from last year where you added three applications of 10-10-10 at 8 oz/18' row calculates to 360 lbs elemental N/acre (assuming you applied in a one foot width down the rows).

The excess nitrogen issue may be aggravated by the use of inorganic fertilizer which is available quickly. I use only organic fertilizer (Harmony and blood meal) for slower release. This year I am cutting my nitrogen application in half - we'll see if that helps. Also, stop all fertilizing eight weeks before harvest is expected to start.

TomNJ

April 22, 2019	#8
TomNJ Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: Floyd VA Posts: 767	I had the "wispy leaves" (aka "whiskbrooming") rather severely last year with lots of rounds and half the normal scapes. Based on my research this may be due to excess nitrogen. While garlic likes nitrogen to develop lush greens, it only needs about 150 lbs elemental N/acre. My notes indicate I went way overboard last year and applied 550 lbs elemental N/acre. Likewise your post from last year where you added three applications of 10-10-10 at 8 oz/18' row calculates to 360 lbs elemental N/acre (assuming you applied in a one foot width down the rows). The excess nitrogen issue may be aggravated by the use of inorganic fertilizer which is available quickly. I use only organic fertilizer (Harmony and blood meal) for slower release. This year I am cutting my nitrogen application in half - we'll see if that helps. Also, stop all fertilizing eight weeks before harvest is expected to start. TomNJ Last edited by TomNJ; April 22, 2019 at 03:24 PM.