How Are Single-Clove Garlics Grown? A Detailed Guide to the Planting Method

Select the smaller cloves from the Hongqixing or Ershuizao varieties, each single clove weighing 1-2g, and place them in a low-temperature cold storage for 50-60 days. After removing them from storage, spread them out in a cool, ventilated place to cool down, then sow them. After sowing, once field management such as fertilizing, weeding and irrigation is done, the single-clove garlic is basically grown.

When growing single-clove garlic, note the following:

1. Low-temperature treatment of the seed cloves

Place the selected seed cloves in a low-temperature cold storage at 2°C-5°C for 50-60 days; after cultivation, the proportion of single-clove garlic can reach 50%. Garlic seeds that have undergone low-temperature treatment have already broken dormancy and begun to sprout, and their life activities gradually strengthen.

2. Sowing time for single-clove garlic cultivation

For garlic seeds that have undergone low-temperature treatment, early sowing also gives a considerable rate of single-clove garlic, but because the temperature is high after sowing, the seedlings are very prone to premature aging and collapse ahead of time, and the single-clove garlics formed are smaller with poor bulb shape (farmers call them “caoguo garlic”).

3. Pre-sowing treatment

Before sowing, first divide the low-temperature-treated garlic seeds into cloves and remove the bottom cap (old stem plate), then grade them into large, medium and small for later use.

4. Sowing density and sowing depth

For the dibbling method, use a spacing of 4×5 cm between plants and rows, poke holes in the bed surface with a wooden stake, put in one garlic clove with the root end facing down, and after dibbling cover the bed surface with 1 cm of fine soil, planting about 80,000-90,000 seedlings per mu. For the shovel-sowing or strip-sowing method, use a hoe to make sowing furrows 4-6 cm deep and 15 cm wide, then arrange the seeds in the furrows at a plant and row spacing of 4×7 cm, taking care that the garlic cloves are not placed upside down. In addition, the sowing depth should be kept at 4-6 cm, because on the one hand the seedlings consume a certain amount of energy when emerging, which helps weaken plant vigor and increase the rate of single-clove garlic.

Generally, single-clove garlic matures relatively early, so farmers should remember to harvest it in time. After harvesting is completed, management should be strengthened, and the remaining multi-clove garlic should be harvested after it matures.