Garlic Graveyard

A sorry tale for my garlic plants so what went wrong?

• I planted out my (soft neck) garlic in January this year (Sorry, I didn't note down the variety!)
• The patch was in good sunlight and is on a well-draining sandy loam.
• I applied a small amount of blood fish and bone just before planting.
• All went well with 100% of them growing on and producing good above ground growth.
• After about three months I applied a little hoof and horn fertilizer.
• The plants appeared to mature and start to yellow and dry in June.
• Getting back from holiday in mid-July the plant tops had all died, dried and fallen over.
• On digging up my expected crop, I just found 95% had died and rotted away and the remaining 5% were very small and showing signs of rotting.

We are in Devon and have not had a hard winter but did have some mild frosts,which I understand garlic likes. The Spring has been particularly wet at times but nothing excessive. Any thought as to what went wrong or what I have done wrong?

Many thanks for any posts.

 

Oh dear

Hate to be the bringer of bad news, but it sounds like Onion White Rot

You won't be able to grow anything in the onion family there for 10 years or so....

 

Zigs,

Thanks for the speedy response, if not the news! Right next to my garlic plot, which was created for the first time in 2016, I have some thriving chives. Might these be resistant to Onion White Rot and have passed it on or (I hope!), prove that this is not what you say and might be something else?

ChilliPepper

 

No worries, hope it's not, but it sure does sound like it Damp white mould at the base of the bulbs?

Wiped out 5,000 of my garlic.

Not sure about chives, they should be affected by it too

 

Thanks again, and yes a fine white mould on the few bulbs that I was able to recover but otherwise total obliteration. Sorry to hear of your disaster, which makes my loss look small! I'll try another area of the garden next season. Any tips for growing?

 

I've given up on soft neck garlic and only grow hard neck garlic which crops better in my garden.
A few weeks ago I was reading about the use of water garlic crushed in it to treat areas with Onion white rot. The garlic "tricks" the resting stage of the white rot fungus into growing in the "belief" that there is a suitable Allium nearby. The fungus then dies as there is no host. This has to be done several times.
http://www.kes.talktalk.net/onions/index.html and http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/garlic-diseases-white-rot-zbcz1412.aspx may be of use.
No chemical treatments are available to home gardeners.

 

NigelJ,

Thanks for your reply. I've opted for the soft neck in the past as it was reputed to store better? Thanks for the brilliant links. They offer some hope! I see you are in Devon as well so we have probably experienced very similar weather conditions.

ChilliPepper

 

@ChilliPepper
You are right that the soft neck store better but they just don't do well for me in Paignton. Grew them successfully in Essex. The hardneck are more productive for me and when they begin to sprout around Christmas I peel and freeze them.
I plant my garlic in November about a couple of inches down, they are about 2-3 inches high at Christmas..