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| I started harvesting garlic today - a friend said they should be. I have only about 45 or so planted. I thought that the leaves are supposed to be drying/falling over. Is it too early? I didn't put anything in the photo for size reference, will take another pic tomorrow if necessary. TIA. Rina |
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| No, it is not. When leaves are falling over it is too late - the heads will split by that point. You start picking when bottom leaves turn yellow and scraps skin starts to split. I usually leave 1-2 scraps on the plants when I cut the majority of them off in order to watch for the skin split. |
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| Thank you galina. Good tip on the scapes. So the rest is going too...Rina |
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| I harvested all but one variety of my garlic two days ago. According to some of the web info---you can harvest when the bottom two leaves have gone yellow. Rina, yours looks to be at the same stage that mine was. In years past, I've harvested later and the garlic has been OK. One problem though is that some varieties mature earlier and it can be tough to find all the bulbs especially with the less robust growers. And, too, you have the clove split problem--much more so with the earlier maturing types. Oh, and I cut off all the scapes just as they curl. They're yummy used in stir-fries, potato dishes, etc. Again, according to some info that I've read, the reason for cutting the scapes is that you want the plants' energy to go to making the underground bulb and not into making babies. I use the largest cloves from the largest bulbs for seed stock when I replant in the fall. |
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| ci-lantro I did cut off the scapes since I was trying to taste them. Probably too late, since they were pretty hard (I read that they should be picked before the '2nd curl' or so). Rina |
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- Posted by theforgottenone1013 5b/6a MI (My Page) on Wed, Jul 23, 14 at 9:43
| The only thing you lose by harvesting too early is size. If you harvest too late the bulbs will be at their biggest but the bulb wrappers will rot away and they won't store as long. It's better to harvest garlic earlier than later. I would have let one more leaf brown before I harvested those in the pic but that's just me. The size difference would have been negligible so you pulled them at the right time. Rodney |
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