Key Technical Points and Management Methods for Single-Clove Garlic Cultivation

When we peel the skin off garlic, we can usually see many small cloves. One garlic bulb generally contains 4 to 5 or even a dozen cloves. However, sometimes after peeling, there is only one clove inside, and this is called single-clove garlic. Today we will introduce single-clove garlic cultivation techniques.

I. Single-Clove Garlic Cultivation Techniques

1. Land preparation and bed making

Choose sandy loam or light loam. Avoid continuous cropping. After harvesting the previous crop, apply 2500 kg of decomposed barnyard manure and 50 kg of superphosphate per 667 sq m as base fertilizer. After shallow plowing and harrowing, make flat beds about 1.4 m wide, requiring the bed surface to be level.

2. Variety selection

The seed cloves used for producing single-clove garlic must be small cloves, so they are generally selected from garlic varieties that have more cloves and smaller cloves. However, even when the cloves are equally small, different garlic varieties show obvious differences in the percentage of single-clove garlic and single-bulb weight, thereby affecting the yield and quality of single-clove garlic. Therefore, before engaging in single-clove garlic production, variety comparison trials should be carried out to select varieties suitable for local planting with a relatively high single-clove rate and relatively large single-bulb weight. According to reports, when early-maturing garlic varieties such as Ershuizao, Pengxian Zaoshu, and Wenjiang Hongqixing are used with cloves weighing 0.5-1 g as seed cloves, the single-clove rate can reach 76%-92%, and the single-bulb weight is 4-6 g.

3. Selecting seed cloves

The size of the seed cloves for producing single-clove garlic is related to the yield and quality of single-clove garlic. Only by choosing cloves of suitable size as seed garlic can a high single-clove rate and single-clove garlic of moderate size be obtained. If the seed cloves are too large, small bulbs with 2-3 cloves will be produced, reducing the single-clove rate; if the seed cloves are too small, the single-clove garlic produced will be too small and lose commercial value. Generally, the single-bulb weight of single-clove garlic is required to reach 5-8 g. In order to produce single-clove garlic with a high single-clove rate and suitable size, trials on the relationship between seed clove size and single-clove rate and single-bulb weight are needed. According to production experience in Hubei, when small cloves from the local white-skinned garlic variety (also called “wolf-tooth garlic”) are used as seed cloves, a 100-clove weight below 90 g is appropriate.

4. Sowing and production

The suitable sowing period for single-clove garlic must be determined through staged sowing trials locally. If sown too early, the vegetative growth period of the garlic seedlings is long, more nutrients are accumulated, and small bulbs with 2-3 cloves are likely to form; if sown too late, the single-clove garlic will be too small. In autumn-sowing areas, sowing is generally delayed by about 50 days compared with garlic bulb cultivation. The seeding rate is generally about 100 kg per 667 sq m.

When sowing, first open furrows at a row spacing of 15 cm, with a furrow depth of about 6 cm, then sow the cloves at a plant spacing of 3-4 cm, and immediately cover with soil to a thickness of 3-4 cm. After sowing the whole bed, evenly broadcast small radish seeds, using about 0.5 kg of seed per mu, then rake the bed surface level and irrigate. The purpose of mixed sowing with small radish seeds is to use the characteristic of small radish germinating and emerging quickly to inhibit the growth of garlic seedlings, thereby increasing the single-clove rate and reducing split-clove garlic.

5. Field management

After the small radishes emerge, thin them in stages so as to maintain a spacing of 6-8 cm. After all the small radishes are harvested and marketed in early spring of the following year, the garlic field is managed by cultivation, weeding, topdressing, irrigation, and other operations. During the garlic bulb expansion period, an adequate water supply must be ensured.

6. Harvest

In autumn-sowing areas, around the Beginning of Summer of the following year (early May), when the pseudostem becomes soft and most of the lower leaves have withered, dig the garlic promptly. If harvested too early, the single-clove garlic is not plump; if harvested too late, the garlic skin becomes hard and is not easy to process. For single-clove garlic used for processing, after digging, promptly cut off the pseudostem and fibrous roots and transport it to the processing plant, preventing exposure to sun and rain. For fresh garlic sold on the market, after digging, dry it in the sun for 2-3 days to prevent mildew and rot. Generally, the yield is about 300 kg per 667 sq m, and high-yielding fields can reach 500 kg.