There is some history of it in organic circles. It is cited as a pest control in Rodale Press's "The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control."

Wayne

There may be a reason to use rubbing alcohol as a disinfectant, but as a rule I can think of none. People that do not have a good, healthy soil may need to use this material, but if you work on your soil and make it into that good, healthy then there would be no need to use it.
Baking soda would be a much better solution to use, if you need to use that.

If you are a purist then refer to the OMRI or other organization for their rules.

Otherwise do as you please.

I mean if we think about it, it is rubbing alcohol, big deal. It's not like it is some pesticide the manufactures have lobbied hard to keep on the market despite reports of serious problems.

I do think it is unnecessary though. I have grown garlic for years and never did anything to disinfect a clove. Garlic is pretty resistant to most bad stuff on it's own. Plant and forget is how I do garlic.

I agree with justaguy2. The inner tunic surrounding the garlic bulb is all the protection it needs in my experience.

tj

Garlic is very, very hardy! If you plant it in Fall, it over Winters, withstands frozen ground, and sprouts in early Spring. Any natural soil fungus it may have is not going to hurt it a bit. If it's rotting, that's a different story, and rubbing alcohol isn't going to help. In my opinion, I would lose the alcohol, organic or not.

Ron
The Garden Guy
http://www.TheGardenGuy.org

I've been looking for any benefits of alcohol on garlic and haven't found anything specific. I did see, however that the worst problems for garlic are not in the soil, but can be found on the garlic clove itself. The reason for the alcohol wash is to disinfect the clove, not the soil.

Kimmsr, does the baking soda affect things like blue mold (Penicillium mold) on the clove? I see places recommending the rubbing alcohol and a baking soda soak and they list different diseases of the clove, but they do not specify which soak helps with which problems.

Justaguy, I usually do, but I have been reusing my own seed garlic for a couple years now and would like to attempt to continue. I noticed what looked to be a slight discolouration of the wrapper, spots that could pass for mold, on one of them and threw it out. The others don't seem to have the same problem, but I am still worried that they may be carrying the spores. Thus the alcohol soak as a precaution.

tsugajunkie, yes, unless the wrapper is what is carrying the problem. It's not the soil I am worried about. From what I read, the mold spores do not live long in the soil. Spores carry over in the bulb's wrapper.

Organicguy, I know garlic will overwinter well, even in frozen soil. And it's not the soil that I am worried about, it's the cloves. That's why I am wondering if what I did was best to kill whatever may be hiding on the cloves.

OK, I got it now. Then I would say I can't see anything wrong with rubbing alcohol. I take it this mold continues to grow in the new bulb as the bulb grows. Is this something perhaps commercial growers need to be concerned with? Or someone with a particular mold allergy? In the 20+ years of growing garlic, much of it in the same area, I haven't seen a problem, so this is evidently an issue I haven't experienced.

tj

Blue Mold, or Citrus Green, can be a problem with either garlic or onions that have wounds on them and none of the informaton I have seen indicates that either rubbing alcohol or baking soda is an effective treatment for control. The usual admonition is to not plant infected bulbs. I have not seen any good reason for an organic gardener to use rubbing alcohol, except maybe for a disinfectant in a cut on the gardeners body, but even there better things are available.
Baking soda has been used, effectively, as a fungicide for years and is much gentler than the alcohol would be, but if you have bulbs affected with Blue Mold probably the best thing would be to not plant those.

Then I would say I can't see anything wrong with rubbing alcohol. I take it this mold continues to grow in the new bulb as the bulb grows

As I understand it, yes. It can ruin some of the next year's crops and the cycle runs over again. I don't even know for sure that it was a mold because it was so faint on the wrapper, but I figured extra precautions wouldn't hurt. It sounds like rubbing alcohol is acceptable, at least, to organic gardeners so I'm happy about that.

Baking soda has been used, effectively, as a fungicide for years and is much gentler than the alcohol would be, but if you have bulbs affected with Blue Mold probably the best thing would be to not plant those.

I did throw out the one that was questionable and inspected the rest of them. I planted the ones that didn't look like a problem upon visual inspection, but as I said, I'm just not sure about them.

It's too late now because I've already planted them, but I will keep the baking soda soak in mind for future years if any more problems come up.

If you do a Google search about soaking garlic before planting you will find even big farms soak the garlic in both alcohol and baking soda. They also use fish emulsion and or liquid kelp. I use them all just to be on the safe side and give the garlic a boost.I forget the name of it but garlic can get something that will not only ruin your garlic but will also contaminate your soil for years that's why they soak it in alcohol before planting.