Don't Throw Away Sprouted Garlic - Learn How to Grow It Hydroponically

After purchased garlic sprouts, many people think they might as well just plant these garlic cloves, and this is actually feasible, and you can also try the hydroponic method. So how do you grow sprouted garlic hydroponically?

1. Characteristics of Hydroponic Garlic

Hydroponic garlic refers to a soilless cultivation of garlic in which most of the garlic's root system grows in the nutrient solution layer, with the nutrient solution providing water and nutrients. Specific characteristics include:

1. The root system consists mainly of milky-white fibrous roots, used to absorb water and nutrients;

2. The root system adapts to the aquatic environment, with some aerial roots on the outer part to absorb oxygen;

3. The growth cycle is short, allowing you to eat the garlic leaves sooner.

2. Methods for Hydroponic Garlic

1. Variety Selection

For garlic variety selection, choose “red-skinned garlic” or “white-skinned garlic” that has good yield performance, strong stress resistance, robust growth, strong cold tolerance, a high bolting rate, good storage quality, excellent quality, large market demand, and is suitable for hydroponic cultivation.

2. Seed Treatment

Select fresh garlic bulbs with large heads, large and evenly sized cloves, and bright color as seed. Generally, a 100-clove weight of more than 400g is preferred. 1 to 3 days before sowing, manually peel and separate the garlic bulbs into cloves, remove the base plate and stem plate of the garlic head, and grade them by seed size to facilitate uniform emergence after planting and convenient field management; one day before planting, spread the garlic cloves evenly and dry them in the sun. Sun-drying can effectively kill fungi and is beneficial for rooting.

3. Choosing a Hydroponic Container

Because garlic cloves are relatively small, a filter layer is needed when choosing a hydroponic container to prevent all the garlic cloves from being submerged in the water and causing hydroponic failure. In addition, it should be noted that the “water” used for hydroponic vegetables is a nutrient solution, not ordinary “water”. It contains various nutrients needed for vegetable growth and can be recycled in place of soil.

4. Sowing at the Right Time

The most suitable period for sowing garlic is to have the plants grow 5 to 6 leaves before overwintering. At this time, the plants have strong cold resistance, will not be frozen to death in severe winter, and lay a good foundation for the plants to successfully pass vernalization.

Sowing too early results in a low emergence rate and easily produces multi-clove garlic. The seedlings grow too vigorously before winter, consume too many nutrients, reduce overwintering ability, and may undergo vernalization again, reducing garlic yield and quality. Sowing too late means a short growth period before winter, and the seedlings are too small before overwintering, with tender tissues, weak roots, and less accumulated nutrients, resulting in low cold resistance and a high mortality rate during overwintering, thus affecting garlic yield and quality.

5. Daily Management

Generally, seedlings emerge 7d after sowing. At this point, you only need to let the hydroponic garlic get plenty of sun and replenish the nutrient solution in time.