German White Straightneck Garlic

[barefootgardener]

I pulled up my German White Straightneck Garlic today after almost half the stalks leaves turned brown and dry. This is my first successful year planting and harvesting garlic. I tried it once a number of years back and failed. I am so happy I have garlic. I planted the cloves last fall, in a fertile, well composted raised bed. I have the bulbs/stalks drying on a sheet in the garage. Should I hang them up to dry, or should I leave them on the sheet spaced out? Or does it matter? I also planted Spanish Roja and Killarney Red last fall. I am still waiting for the
stalks to start turning brown. I might have planted the bulbs a bit too deep because they took longer to come up in the spring. Thank you

Ginny

[barefootgardener]

Another question, Why do a few of the garlic bulbs have a purple tinted paper/husk wrapped around them when the rest are white?? Just curious..

Ginny

[svalli]

That is great looking garlic Ginny!

This is quite late answer, but I think that it does not really matter if you do not hang the garlic to dry as long as there is enough air circulation.

Some of my Russian hard-neck garlic bulbs have also purple coloring on the wrappers while most are white.

Sari

[Father'sDaughter]

Missed this one too! It looks like a great harvest.

I grow German White every year and some do occasionally show some pinkish-red streaking in the outer wrappers, but usually the inner ones are all white. It's the one variety that gives me a consistently good harvest.

And yes, a cooler environment with good air circulation is key. In past years I've laid it out on the open wire shelves I use for indoor seedlings and run the fan on them to keep the air moving. It took a bit longer than hanging, but it worked fine.

[barefootgardener]

Originally Posted by svalli

That is great looking garlic Ginny!

This is quite late answer, but I think that it does not really matter if you do not hang the garlic to dry as long as there is enough air circulation.

Some of my Russian hard-neck garlic bulbs have also purple coloring on the wrappers while most are white.

Sari

Thank you Sari, I appreciate your response.

I went ahead and hung my garlic up in our shed, and left the screened windows open for air circulation.

I am not sure how long to let it cure, as I have read anywhere from three to six weeks on a few gardening sites, then I read up to a few months for best storage rate. I will let them cure for as long as possible before first frost.

I am really inspired to try to grow even more garlic after seeing your pictures on your garlic harvest.

Ginny

[barefootgardener]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

Missed this one too! It looks like a great harvest.

I grow German White every year and some do occasionally show some pinkish-red streaking in the outer wrappers, but usually the inner ones are all white. It's the one variety that gives me a consistently good harvest.

And yes, a cooler environment with good air circulation is key. In past years I've laid it out on the open wire shelves I use for indoor seedlings and run the fan on them to keep the air moving. It took a bit longer than hanging, but it worked fine.

Thank you Fathers Daughter! I appreciate your response and tips!

Yes, after growing out a few varieties, German White did give me the best harvest!! I will save a few of my largest bulbs for the cloves to plant this fall. I do have Music and a few other varieties on order. I tried to order some last spring, but the garlic companies were sold out early. I hope they do well, but we will see next year!



Ginny

[bjbebs]

Barefoot
I'm a long time garlic grower. Here's what works for me.
My dry down area is in the shade outside. I use wire racks held off the ground. These are loosely tarped. After 2-3 weeks when the necks are dry the bulbs can be cleaned of root and dirt. The necks are cut down and bulbs are stored indoors in a cool area to cure.
Late August the bulbs are sorted for seed stock, using the largest cloves. What's left is for market and personal use.

You mentioned some of your deeper planted garlic was slow to emerge in the spring. Assuming it was planted in Sept., sprouted sometime late Oct. and went dormant in Dec. This should pop in late March or early April depending on hard you mulch.


My garlic is planted 4-6 inches deep in loose well drained soil. It is a bit slower to emerge than garlic planted to 2 inches but comes out of dormancy just the same in March. The garlic I grow is a hard neck that stores well for up to 10 months.

[barefootgardener]

Originally Posted by bjbebs

Barefoot
I'm a long time garlic grower. Here's what works for me.
My dry down area is in the shade outside. I use wire racks held off the ground. These are loosely tarped. After 2-3 weeks when the necks are dry the bulbs can be cleaned of root and dirt. The necks are cut down and bulbs are stored indoors in a cool area to cure.
Late August the bulbs are sorted for seed stock, using the largest cloves. What's left is for market and personal use.

You mentioned some of your deeper planted garlic was slow to emerge in the spring. Assuming it was planted in Sept., sprouted sometime late Oct. and went dormant in Dec. This should pop in late March or early April depending on hard you mulch.


My garlic is planted 4-6 inches deep in loose well drained soil. It is a bit slower to emerge than garlic planted to 2 inches but comes out of dormancy just the same in March. The garlic I grow is a hard neck that stores well for up to 10 months.

Thank you for sharing your tips and methods bjbebs. I planted the cloves in Sept.in a fertile, deep dug raised bed with loose soil. They were planted 6 inches deep. Since I live where we have long cold winters I wanted them to have more protection. I covered the bed deeply with a good few flakes of straw. The GW garlic emerged in early spring, April, while the bed of Killarney Red etc. emerged sporadically weeks later and the KR did not grow well. Half the garlic in that bed did not emerge.

Ginny

[PhilaGardener]

Nice looking garlic! And it sounds like you got great advice too! Sorry we all seem to have missed this the first time around, Ginny. Pick the best cloves to replant and enjoy the rest!

[svalli]

The area where I grow garlic is about USDA zone 4. Last year I planted in end of September and beginning of October. I planted all varieties about 4 inches deep in beds made in the old farming field, which has clay based soil. The beds are covered with black plastic, which has X-shaped slits made for planting. I have secured the plastic on ground with pegs and put some soil and rocks on top of it to prevent it from shifting in the heavy autumn winds. I push holes in the soil through the slits with wooden stake and drop one clove in each and cover them with a bit of soil and fertilizer made out of composted chicken poop. I have not used any other mulch on top of the planted beds, but there was snow on the ground during the coldest time. When the garlic stems are growing, I have to make sure that the stems come through the slits on the plastic. All seven varieties started to come up about same time in end of April when the snow had melted. To my surprise one of the French soft-necks was fastest growing and the Russian hard-neck was slowest. Each variety had only few cloves, which failed to emerge.


I have grown garlic only two successful seasons, so I am still a novice, but my method has seemed to work fine in the hard winter area.


Sari

[barefootgardener]

Thank you for the advice.

Sari, your method is definitely working as the proof is in your results and harvest. Great job. I can learn a lot from your posts.. Thank you.

I mulch with straw to help protect the cloves from freezing and thawing, especially in the spring. We can get up to three to four feet of snow most winters, if not more.

I have a few new varieties of garlic bulbs that I ordered in early spring to make sure I got a good selection. I have my raised beds ready and prepared. I will be planting some cloves of my saved garlic bulbs from my German White Straightneck to replant also.

Ginny