How can garlic sprouts achieve high yields in greenhouse cultivation?
Garlic sprouts, also known as green garlic (they are called garlic yellow when grown without light). The flower stalk of garlic consists of two parts: the flower stem (scape) and the spathe (spathe sheath). The spathe is the sheath at the tip of the garlic flower stem and contains an incompletely developed inflorescence. Good-quality garlic sprouts should be tender and fresh, with a plant height of about 35 cm, bright green leaves that are neither yellow nor rotting, white fibrous roots that are not withered, and a relatively strong pungent flavor.
Morphology of garlic sprouts
Garlic is a perennial herb with a strong garlic odor. The bulb is large, with 6-10 cloves, covered by a grayish-white or pale purple membranous tunic. The leaves are basal, solid, flat, linear-lanceolate, about 2.5 cm wide, with a sheath-like base.
The flower stem is upright, about 60 cm tall; the spathe has a long beak, 7-10 cm long. The umbel is small and dense, with 1-3 bracts, 8-10 cm long, membranous, light green. The flowers are small, often mixed with pale red bulbils 4 mm long, or completely without bulbils; the pedicels are slender, longer than the flowers; the perianth has 6 parts, pink, elliptic-lanceolate; there are 6 stamens, white, with protruding anthers; there is 1 pistil, with a protruding white style, and a superior ovary, long elliptic-ovate, concave at the tip, 3-locular. The capsule dehisces in 1 locule. The seeds are black. The flowering period is summer.
Growth habits of garlic sprouts
They prefer warmth and have strong cold resistance, and are best planted in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Geographic distribution: garlic is widely distributed in our country, mainly in North China, Northwest China, Northeast China, and other places.
How can garlic sprouts be cultivated in a greenhouse for high yields?
Selecting and building the greenhouse
Choose a site with good irrigation conditions, fertile soil, shelter from the wind and facing the sun, and not a spicy-crop field such as scallion or chive for building the greenhouse. Prepare the growing bed
The growing bed is mainly a frame bed and a general seedbed. First spread 3-4 cm of garden soil on the bed surface. Select garlic seed
Choose the large white-skin variety with large bulbs, many cloves, and high yield; purple-skin garlic and large-clove varieties have low yields and poor garlic sprout quality. Put the selected garlic bulbs into a vat, add clean water, and soak for 2 days so they absorb water and swell. Prepare nutrient soil
Mix 55% high-quality farmyard manure, 5% ammonium sulfate, 6% phosphate fertilizer, and 30% sifted garden soil evenly, and spread it on the garden soil of the growing bed to a thickness of about 4-5 cm. Arrange the garlic
Take out the soaked garlic seed, remove the old roots, dig out the stem plate and stubble column, and place them on the growing bed as densely as possible; fill the spaces between bulbs with loose garlic cloves, with the garlic sprouts all facing upward; place 15-17 kg of garlic seed per sq m; finally cover with fine sand, with the thickness just enough to cover the garlic tips, then press firmly with a wooden board and water thoroughly. Control temperature
4-8 days after planting the garlic, maintain 22°C-24°C; 5-6 days before harvest, maintain 18°C-20°C; during the entire growth period, the night temperature should not be lower than 16°C-18°C, the bed temperature should be kept at 18°C-20°C, and the room temperature should be kept at 25°C-28°C; note that when the temperature is as high as 28°C-30°C or lower than 15°C-16°C, the tips of the garlic sprouts will become yellow and withered. Water appropriately
After the seedlings emerge evenly and grow to 12-15 cm, water moderately; 3-4 days before harvest, water lightly. If the indoor temperature is slightly high, water a little more frequently. Harvest and replant garlic
23-28 days after planting, when the garlic sprouts lean slightly, harvest the first cutting. Every 250 g of garlic seed can produce 1.7-1.8 kg of garlic sprouts; after the second crop of garlic sprouts emerges evenly, spray once with a 5% ammonium sulfate fertilizer solution, then spray twice with clean water to rinse the garlic sprouts, with the other management the same as above; after about 20-30 days, when the garlic sprouts grow to about 30 cm, carry out the second cutting; after harvest, remove the mother garlic and arrange garlic again for production. Generally, 3-4 crops can be produced each winter and spring season.