What is single-clove garlic and how is it grown?

Garlic is a fine seasoning in our daily life, with many kinds of flavor compounds. For many garlic lovers, single-clove garlic can be called a favorite. So what exactly is single-clove garlic? How is it grown?

1. What is single-clove garlic?

1. How single-clove garlic forms

Single-clove garlic, as the name suggests, is garlic that does not divide into cloves. There is now a theory that single-clove garlic is formed by the degeneration of garlic. Garlic has at most 8 cloves. Assuming degeneration starts from 8 cloves, it first degenerates to 7 cloves, then from 7 cloves to 6 cloves, 5 cloves, 4 cloves…… under gradual degeneration, it decreases to 1 clove, which is called single-clove garlic.

Growers believe that when ordinary garlic is planted, small individual seed garlic, poor soil, a lack of some element in the soil, a delayed planting period, or high planting density can all trigger single-clove garlic.

2. Current state of single-clove garlic cultivation

Generally speaking, when garlic is planted, the year-round rate of single-clove garlic occurrence is 5-10%. Sometimes it appears in large patches in one field, sometimes in large amounts across an entire field, and sometimes in large amounts by year and by region. This not only causes reduced yield, but sometimes even causes total loss of the crop, posing a threat to production development. Therefore, for most garlic farmers, single-clove garlic is not something they are very happy to see.

Although people have always wanted to eliminate the occurrence of single-clove garlic, because single-clove garlic is very mysterious and is favored by eaters and preferred in medicine, in recent years some growers have begun to try growing single-clove garlic. Relatively speaking, however, the yield of single-clove garlic is rather low and the economic benefit is mediocre.

2. How is single-clove garlic grown?

At present, the cultivation of single-clove garlic is all based on regulating factors according to the reasons for its formation, thereby producing single-clove garlic.

1. Choose early-maturing garlic varieties

Practice has shown that the occurrence rate of single-clove garlic in early-maturing varieties and extremely early-maturing varieties is higher than in late-maturing varieties.

2. Delay the sowing time of garlic

As the saying goes, “Plant garlic before the ninth, after the ninth it grows single-clove”. Therefore, if you want to grow single-clove garlic, it is recommended to sow in September (about 20-30 days later than normal garlic sowing time). In early to mid-September, you can broadcast sow on flat beds or open narrow furrows in the beds for drilling.

3. Increase planting density

You can increase the planting density to 80,000-100,000 plants, or even 120,000-150,000 plants is also acceptable, as all of these are conducive to the production of single-clove garlic. In addition, it is best to use aerial bulbils for sowing.

In addition, you can also deliberately choose to plant garlic in relatively poor soil and reduce fertilization, which can increase the probability of single-clove garlic appearing. However, I still want to remind everyone here that if you just want to eat single-clove garlic yourself, you can plant some as appropriate, but for large-scale cultivation of single-clove garlic, you should think twice and act cautiously. You must first gain a detailed understanding of the local market supply and demand before making a comprehensive consideration.