What to Do When Garlic Bulbs Split Apart? Sharing Practical Countermeasures
Garlic Allium sativum L. (Garlic) belongs to the lily family, genus Allium, and its bulb is used as medicine. Harvest in spring and [purple-skin garlic] summer, tie into bundles, hang in a ventilated place, and dry in the shade for later use. When the leaves wither in June, dig it up, remove the mud and sand, and dry it in a ventilated place or roast it until the outer skin is dry. Garlic is flatly spherical or short-conical, with a grayish-white or pale brown membranous skin on the outside. After peeling off the scale leaves, there are 6-10 garlic cloves inside, growing in a ring around the flower stalk, with a disc-shaped stem base bearing many fibrous roots. Each garlic clove is wrapped in a thin membrane; peel off the membrane and the white, thick, juicy scales are revealed. It has a strong garlic odor and a pungent taste.
Garlic's Growth Habits
1. Temperature: It prefers cool conditions, with a suitable temperature of -5-26°C. Garlic seedlings have the strongest cold resistance at the 4-5 leaf stage, which is the most suitable seedling stage for overwintering.
2. Light: Garlic that has completed vernalization begins flower bud and bulb bud differentiation under long-day conditions of more than 13 hours and higher temperatures; in a short-day and cool environment, it is only suitable for stem and leaf growth.
3. Water: It likes moisture and fears drought.
4. Soil and nutrition: It has low soil requirements, but fertile loam rich in organic matter, loose and breathable, with strong water retention and drainage performance is more suitable.
On normal garlic heads, the tips of several bulb buds all press closely against the central axis of the garlic. If the tips of the bulb buds open outward, the garlic cloves split apart, and the outer skin cracks open, this phenomenon is called split-head garlic, which affects its commercial value.
Causes of Garlic Bulb Splitting
1. Soil covering is too shallow, the garlic head is exposed, and exposed to wind and sun;
2. In the late stage of bulb expansion, if there is too much rain, the soil is too wet;
3. Harvesting is too late.
Countermeasures for Garlic Bulb Splitting
1. Do drainage work well in the late stage of bulb expansion. Drain promptly after rainfall; do not water heavily unless there is drought, to avoid excessive soil moisture.
2. Harvest in time. 18-20 days after harvesting the garlic scapes is the suitable period for harvesting garlic heads. The standard for timely harvesting is when most of the plant leaves have withered, the upper leaves have faded and the leaf tips have dried and drooped, the plant is in a soft state, and when the plant is pushed over to one side from the base it is not brittle and shows toughness; this is the sign of maturity and it should be harvested promptly.
3. After harvest, dry it promptly in the sun, cover the garlic heads with garlic leaves, and focus on sun-drying the garlic stalks and leaves to reduce internal moisture content, so that the leaf sheath base and protective scale skin gradually lose water and dry. During storage, protect against rain and moisture.