What exactly is the cultivation method for single-clove garlic?

Single-clove garlic, also known as single-head garlic or single-clove garlic, has only one clove. Its allicin content is higher than that of ordinary garlic, and it is also more popular. So what is the cultivation method for single-clove garlic?

What is the cultivation method for single-clove garlic?

1. Site selection and land preparation

Choose sandy soil or sandy loam soil. After deep plowing, sun-baking and soil maturation, apply fully decomposed high-quality organic fertilizer, superphosphate, etc. as base fertilizer. Prepare the land finely, making beds 1-1.2 m wide, and after the fertilizer is evenly mixed, the beds are level and the soil is fine, it is ready for sowing.

2. Seed selection and treatment

Select the main cultivars Hongqixing and Ershuizao, with a single-clove weight of 1-2 g, then place them in a low-temperature cold storage at 2°C-5°C for 50-60 days. After that, take them out and spread them in a cool, ventilated place to dissipate heat, and wait for sowing.

3. Sowing management

For single-clove garlic cultivation, you can choose the dibbling method or the shovel sowing and drilling method. The former is sown at a spacing of 4 cm × 5 cm, while the latter plants about 60,000-70,000 seedlings per mu, with a seed rate of 180-200 kg per mu. The sowing depth of single-clove garlic should be kept at 4-6 cm, and the sowing time is best between the Autumn Equinox and Cold Dew.

4. Field management

Fertilization: Apply more farmyard manure, increase the application of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers, and avoid applying nitrogen fertilizer alone. At the 4-5 leaf stage, do not apply or only lightly apply chemical mother fertilizer, to control excessive seedling growth.

Intercropping: Sow a small amount of small radish, green vegetables, lettuce and other crops in the garlic field, so that the garlic seedlings are properly shaded and their growth is inhibited. After the intercrops are harvested, because the garlic seedlings have a small leaf area and the bulbils do not differentiate, under high temperature and long-day conditions they will grow into single-clove garlic.

Weed control: First, after sowing and before sprouting, spray per mu with 50 g of 60% butachlor + 250 g of 25% chlorotoluron mixed with 50 kg of water; second, when the garlic seedlings are 10-20 cm tall, manual cultivation and weeding can be carried out, which also loosens the soil, prevents soil compaction, and promotes root growth.

Irrigation: When garlic grows to April-May, the garlic bulbs have already enlarged. Do not irrigate too much, to avoid causing the cloves to split apart and reducing the single-clove rate, which affects garlic quality.

In single-clove garlic cultivation, timely harvesting is also a step that helps achieve high yield. Single-clove garlic matures earlier. Generally, single-clove garlic marketed in mid-April or early May of the following year has better maturity.