Garlic - hellpp!

Hi Everyone,

I planted some autumn planting garlic - bought from Wilko's in October. I planted it as normal and nothing has happened. I dug a clove up today, to see if they had rotted with the wet weather, but they look perfect, just as they did when i put them in, no roots whatsoever!

Is it too late for these to form? Should i take them out and plant another type quickly? Anyone with experience of this?

I so love to grow garlic and I also planted bulbs from my own grown last year, and these are growing like mad So, at least i'll have a few to eat! I had hoped to increase my yield this year, so that i didn't have to buy next year. Typical!

 

Possibly the garlic heads had been 'treated' somehow to aid storage and this has affected their growing ?

Just a thought. Cheers, Tony.

 

They do that to supermarket garlic Tony, but they wouldn't do it to seed cloves.

Its a bit odd, guess its just been too cold for them to start. You can leave them in if they haven't rotted, they'll get going once the ground warms up, the bulbs won't get so big though.

 

Thanks, i'll just leave them, and see what happens, i'll call it a learning curve and buy from a different supplier in future. I may buy some now also, just to make sure, even if they are small, at least i'd have some to plant next year

 

This pic shows the roots on some autumn planted garlic I accidentally dug up last year on 26/1/2011, so I'd be starting to get concerned if they had no roots at all nearing the end of February. Shoots from garlic planted as late as December last year are now showing. I'd be inclined to have a careful poke around and checkout a few more of your cloves.

 

I wouldn't panic too much!

Like you I planted some new stock in October, to replace my old stock which I have grown on for many years, and I too thought I had lost them!

But no I have just noticed this week they are just beginning to surface so hopefully all is well!

My thoughts are: could it be something else to put down to the 2012 fiasco ( in gardening terms)

Were the cloves I planted mature enough before I planted them?

I don't know??? but in comparison; the ones I selected from my own stock are romping along, but then again I saved the best I grew last year for this purpose m

Whereas the ones I purchased may not have been 'selected' stock, that is; I got just 'run of the mill stock'

I'm only guessing!

But with your stock I would give them just a little bit longer and who knows? They might yet appear........fingers crossed and all that!

 

Autumn planted garlic needs a period of cold as that is what causes the cloves to divide and split, so the fact they have been in the ground in the cold is a good thing

Agree with the others about growth though ... fingers crossed

 

Yep, they've had plenty cold, i'm tempted to take a couple out and stick them in a pot somewhere warmer, ie my blowaway greenhouse and see if they come on faster, if at all. I don't want to end up without! Those i grew myself last year, and planted this year, are looking fab along with my elephant garlic, so just need to decide what to do!

Thank you for your thoughts and ideas! I'm off to have a poke about!