Five Key Points for Winter Garlic Management, Breaking the Film Is Crucial
Anyone who has ever cooked in a kitchen has used garlic as a seasoning. In daily life it is like an indispensable side ingredient, always complementing every dish and adding the perfect finishing touch. Garlic is now very widely grown, and the income from it is quite high. As the temperature drops, the management methods for garlic are certainly different from those in summer. So what are the winter garlic management methods?
Winter Garlic Management Methods
1. Early Winter Management Methods
Just as winter begins, the first thing to do is ensure a good seedling emergence rate for the garlic, so the garlic seedlings will not freeze to death from the cold. Any garlic seedlings that have not broken through the film need to be dealt with promptly by hand, so they do not die from lack of oxygen after being trapped under the film for too long. In early winter weather, the main issue is strong wind, so you can weigh down the plastic film with heavy objects and not let it be blown open by the wind.
2. Breaking the Film
Garlic generally begins to sprout and emerge about a week after sowing. Many seedlings will break through the film on their own, and some seedlings will fail to break through by themselves, so human help is needed. Staying under the film for a long time will damage the garlic stems. Breaking the film mainly means poking a small hole in the film over each garlic seedling. There is no real technique to breaking the film, but be careful not to damage the plastic film, and check the field more often every day for any that were missed.
3. Watering and Fertilizing
During the growing stage, garlic has a relatively high demand for fertilizer. In autumn and winter, because of the cold weather, you can topdress according to the growth rate of the seedlings. If you find yellow or withered leaves on the garlic, remove these dead and diseased leaves promptly so the nutrients go to the healthy seedlings. Watering garlic is mainly done with light, droplet-style irrigation; do not water heavily and frequently. After each rain, pay attention to field drainage, and adjust the amount of water up or down according to the weather.
4. Loosening the Soil and Clearing Up
Because garlic is grown in the field, too much water will cause the garlic roots to rot and trigger pests and diseases. Every winter, promptly clear the garlic drainage ditches and loosen the soil, making sure every ditch is connected to the others, so the garlic roots can grow healthily.
5. Keeping Warm
Plants, like people, need to keep warm. When winter comes, garlic may also freeze to death because of the temperature. At this time you can appropriately spray some stress-resistance agents; stress-resistance agents can improve the garlic's resistance and let it get through the cold winter safely.
That is the summary of the key points for winter garlic management. For plants in winter, the most important thing is keeping warm; everything else can be handled based on your own experience.