Germination temperature
Cloves root in cool soil; most varieties need 1-2 months at 0-10 °C (32-50 °F) to form good bulbs.
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Garlic almost never grows from true seed: what is planted is a clove, or sometimes a bulbil from the flower head. Plant cloves in the cool season, give them a cold spell and lift the bulbs as the leaves start to yellow.
Cloves root in cool soil; most varieties need 1-2 months at 0-10 °C (32-50 °F) to form good bulbs.
Clove tip 2.5 cm (1 in) below the surface; 5-7.5 cm (2-3 in) deep in light soil.
Roots form in autumn and winter; leaves grow fast in spring.
Full sun.
Split bulbs into cloves just before planting; keep the skins on.
Plant cloves direct; module starts in autumn on heavy soil.
Garlic is planted as cloves. Break clean, disease-free bulbs into cloves just before planting and choose the largest cloves, leaving their papery skins on. Bulbils (the tiny bulbs that form in the flower head of bolting garlic) are clones too and can be planted, but they are much smaller and give small bulbs at first.
Not needed. Cloves are not seeds and have no hard coat.
Not applied to the clove, but the growing plant needs a natural cold period of one to two months at 0-10 °C (32-50 °F) to form well-divided bulbs. This is why garlic is planted in autumn or in the cool season.
Not needed. Plant dry cloves into moist soil.
Cloves root in cool autumn soil. Roots develop through autumn and winter before the tops grow quickly in spring; spring-planted garlic misses this and gives smaller bulbs.
Plant pointed end up, flat end down, with the tip about 2.5 cm (1 in) below the surface (RHS). In light, sandy soil plant deeper, 5-7.5 cm (2-3 in); in heavy soil keep it shallow.
Well-drained, fertile loam. On heavy or winter-wet soil grow on raised beds or start cloves in modules.
Moisten the soil before planting and mulch to conserve water and reduce weeding. Avoid waterlogged ground.
Choose an open, sunny bed.
Autumn-planted cloves root during autumn and winter; top growth speeds up in spring. True botanical seed from breeding lines germinates poorly at first: early seed generations gave only 10-35 percent.
Space cloves 10-15 cm (4-6 in) apart in rows 15-30 cm (6-12 in) apart. TNAU plants cloves 10 cm apart in furrows 15 cm apart.
On heavy or wet soil, plant cloves in modules in autumn with about 2.5 cm (1 in) of compost over the tip, overwinter them in a cool, sheltered spot and plant out 15 cm (6 in) apart in spring.
Keep beds weeded or mulched. Side-dress with nitrogen fertilizer in spring as growth speeds up; Utah State gives two light doses, in mid-spring and late spring.
Cause: too little cold, usually from late spring planting, or drought while bulbs swell. Fix: plant in autumn or in the coolest season so plants get one to two months at 0-10 °C (32-50 °F), and water in dry spells in spring.
Cause: onion white rot, a serious fungal disease of garlic and onions. Fix: plant only clean, disease-free bulbs, lift and destroy affected plants, and rotate garlic and onions to a different bed.
Cause: leek rust, which also affects onions and chives. Fix: water the soil, not the leaves, and plant clean stock.
Cause: thrips. Fix: mulch, keep plants well watered and wash thrips off with a strong water spray.
Cause: neck rot. Fix: stop watering as leaves yellow and cure bulbs fully before storing.
Garlic needs relatively cool weather. TNAU lists June-July and October-November planting, using 500-600 kg of cloves per hectare. In temperate climates plant from mid-autumn to early winter.
RHS advises against planting supermarket garlic: it may be a variety unsuited to your climate and can bring in disease. Buy certified or clean planting bulbs.
Hardneck types send up a flower stalk (scape). Cut it off when it appears so the plant puts its energy into the bulb; the scapes are edible.
Stop watering when the leaves begin to yellow. Lift bulbs when the lower leaves have yellowed and before the whole top dries, dry them in a warm, airy, shaded place for 1-2 weeks until skins are papery, then trim roots and leaves and store cool and dry.
A few garlic lines flower and set seed, but in most bolting garlic bulbils form instead of flowers, and breeders remove bulbils by hand to let seed develop. Home growers should plant cloves.
Plant garlic cloves in the cool season for well-divided, long-keeping bulbs.
Very rarely. Almost all garlic is grown from cloves because most garlic plants do not flower properly or set viable seed. True garlic seed exists only from specialist breeding lines and germinates poorly compared with planting a clove.
Yes. Bulbils are small clones of the parent plant. Plant them like small cloves; they are much smaller than cloves, so expect small bulbs at first.
Usually the plants did not get enough cold or went short of water while the bulbs swelled. Most varieties need one to two months at 0-10 °C (32-50 °F), so plant in autumn or the coolest part of the year and water in dry spells.
In the cool season. TNAU lists June-July and October-November; choose the window that gives your crop the coolest growing months.