Many years ago you could put a few cloves into friable, free draining, fertile soil with their points upwards and their bums down, some time around about the shortest day and six months later harvest nice big fat bulbs with new fresh plump cloves inside.
Then about 7 odd years ago Puccinia porri appeared which is the dreaded garlic rust.
Since then gardeners and commercial growers have been battling to grow decent garlic bulbs.
Last season I planted a lot of garlic types that I had purchased from a supplier.
Planted into a raised garden and used the silicon cell strengthening products to try and prevent the rust by fortifying the plants with silica.
The previous season I had used the cell strengthening products and that worked in preventing the rust but because of too many hazy or cloudy days and too little direct sunlight the bulbs were only about half the size they should have been.
Last season’s crop got the rust and the bulbs were small. (They had the silica treatment as they grew).
In another raised garden I planted some cloves from my previous successful crop and I did not treat them with the silicon cell strengthening products.
These plants never showed any sign of rust on them.
I also planted some of my own with the purchased ones and they got the rust along side of the purchased ones.
Thus I have determined that the rust is not only a air borne disease but can be carried on the bulbs and cloves.
That meant that the purchased bulbs in the first raised garden along with my cloves which had been rust free the year before all had rust.
Where these raised gardens are is behind my warehouse which is in a commercial area and thus no gardens any where nearby growing plants or garlic.
Well I have learnt two possible things, one is there is a very good likelihood of garlic spores being on bulbs you buy and the silicon cell strengthening products can help but but is not foolproof.
The previous season which I grew in a different raised garden garlic and used the silicon cell strengthening products I had no rust.
It was from that season that I had some cloves to plant last season.
The year before that with no special treatment on the purchased bulbs I had rust and a very poor crop of small bulbs. (Different raised garden which I have a lot of).
That was why when I used the silicon cell strengthening products the following season and had no rust I thought it was that treatment that did the trick.
It’s a learning curve and gardeners worth their salt will not give up easily and keep battling till an answer is found.
Conclusions: Rust spores can be carried on the incoming bulbs and lay dormant in the soil where garlic was grown previously. (Likely it would take 2-3 years for those spores to suppressed naturally).
So for the garlic bulbs I have purchased this year I made up a solution of potassium permanganate at about a tea spoon full into a litre of water and soaked the cloves in that having removed them from the bulbs.
If you are buying bulbs from a supplier or ones from the Supermarket then when you separate the cloves only choose the biggest, fattest ones to plant and soak them in the potassium permanganate solution.
The smaller cloves take to the kitchen for use in cooking.
Another problem would be for those that do not have a lot of growing area and have to plant into gardens that have had garlic in the past.
To kill any spores in such gardens take a teaspoon of potassium permanganate and a table spoon of Wallys Ocean Solids dissolve both into a litre of hot water and when nicely dissolved add to another 9 litres of water and drench the area you are going to plant your garlic in.
Then prepare the area with a good sprinkling of animal manure or sheep manure pellets plus blood and bone.
Sprinkle Wallys Calcium & Health and Wallys BioPhos over the manures and then cover with purchased compost.
Make up another batch of potassium permanganate and Ocean solids and drench the area again.
In my case I placed two sack fulls of horse manure which was teeming with earth worms over the existing soil of a raised garden that is on asphalt.
Then a good sprinkling of Wallys Calcium & Health and Wallys BioPhos before covering with purchased compost.
Into this I pressed my fat cloves planting about 80mm apart.
A little more compost over the area to ensure that the cloves are covered and then over the garden plastic netting to stop the birds worm hunting and digging up the planted cloves.
I have planted yesterday which is about two months early so that I can obtain good start.
My plan during the growing season is to spray the foliage once a month with the new Wallys Copper Nutrient but also have made up in a trigger spray bottle Wallys Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) which I will spray the foliage about once a week as it grows. On its own, in a Trigger spray bottle it keeps, so leave the sprayer near where the garlic is growing.
Later on when there are good size tops on the plants and before any sign of rust I am going to spray the foliage with Wallys Vaporgard.
This will do two things by having a film over the foliage there is no leaf surface for rust to establish on so that should prevent rust damage.
Secondly Vaporgard acts as a sunscreen against UV which means that the plant can really photosynthesis and the foliage will turn a much richer green.
Plants use the energy of the sun to change water and carbon dioxide into a sugar called glucose.
Glucose is used by plants for energy and to make other substances like cellulose and starch. Cellulose is used in building cell walls.
Its the glucose that builds big fat bulbs in the last couple of months prior to harvest.
As the foliage will keep growing the Vaporgard film will stretch a little bit then bare foliage will appear and new leaves will not have a protective coating.
So dependent on growth of foliage a spray of Vaporgard every two to four weeks will be applied to keep a coating over the leaves as much as possible.
When applying the back up sprays of Vaporgard add to the spray, Wallys Copper Nutrient at the lessor rate and also the MBL.
If you want to spray the copper and MBL without the Vaporgard then you need to add a little Raingard to the spray so the two films (Vaporgard and Raingard) will emerge and the products will pass though to the leaves.
Otherwise they would not get through to the foliage instead sit on the Vaporgard film to wash off in rain or watering.
Ok a bit of work and spraying to follow the program but if it all works out one can take pride in producing home grown, big garlic bulbs, where others try and fail.
Image credit: Sanjay Dosajh
Products mentioned are from Wallys Range of products and can be found in some garden shops or by Mail Order on www.0800466464.co.nz
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