Garlic Seed Prices, Planting Methods, and Tips for Selecting Garlic Seed

Garlic sprouts, bulbs, scapes and more can all be eaten, and they contain many trace elements, such as vitamins, inorganic salts, sugars and so on, and they also have a distinctive pungent aroma, which is why they are so well loved. So what are the garlic seed prices and planting methods? How do you select garlic seed?

1. Garlic seed prices

The price of garlic seed varies slightly depending on the variety, but is generally around 8-10 yuan/kg.

Garlic is widely distributed in our country, and variety resources are abundant.

1. According to the color of the outer skin of the bulb, it can be divided into two types: white-skin garlic and purple (red)-skin garlic;

2. According to clove size, it can be divided into two types: large-clove garlic and small-clove garlic;

3. According to whether scapes are present or how well developed they are, it can be divided into three types: scape garlic, scape-less garlic, and semi-bolting garlic;

4. According to sowing season and cold hardiness, it is divided into two types: spring garlic and winter garlic;

5. According to cultivation purpose, it can be divided into five types: bulb-use type, dual-purpose scape-and-bulb type, early-scape type, sprout-use type, and processing-use type.

2. How do you select garlic seed?

1. Selecting garlic seed in the field

When selecting garlic seed in the field, you generally want to choose those with large roots and plump cloves, especially the largest ones, but if you are planting on a large scale, you should choose garlic of ordinary size to ensure uniform growth after emergence.

It should be noted that when harvesting, try to keep the roots, so that later when the garlic is dried, the root nutrients shrink back into the garlic seed, and also to avoid damaging the root of the garlic seed. When drying garlic, try not to expose it to the scorching sun, to prevent damaging the garlic seed.

2. Selecting garlic seed at the market

This issue is different. Garlic seed at the market varies in size, quality is uneven, and sometimes varieties are mixed. This requires attention: garlic types are divided by skin color into red garlic, purple garlic, and white garlic, and there is also a kind of single-clove garlic, which is one bulb made of a single clove and is especially pungent.

When selecting garlic seed, try to choose one kind of garlic seed, as this makes management easier. You can also choose several kinds of garlic and plant them separately. When selecting garlic seed, be sure not to choose any that are rotten, sprouted, rooted, or shriveled; choose bulbs that are undamaged, and do not choose individual clove seed.

3. Garlic planting methods

1. Raising garlic seedlings

(1) Choose robust, clean white, firm cloves for planting. Before planting, remove the basal plate and outer skin, then plant them in soil that has been watered thoroughly, at a depth of 3-4 cm and a spacing of about 5-1O cm, keeping the soil moist; they sprout in about 1 week. Note that the back of each clove should face the same direction, so that after sprouting the leaves basically grow in the same direction.

If sprouting needs to be forced, place the cloves in the refrigerator's cold storage compartment, keeping them at about 4°C, and plant them after they sprout.

(2) When the seedlings are about 5 cm tall, apply 1 topdressing of thin decomposed organic fertilizer, mainly nitrogen fertilizer.

2. Field management of garlic

(1) During the stem and leaf growth period, generally water again after the surface of the potting soil is slightly dry, to avoid waterlogging that causes rotting. If you want to harvest garlic scapes and bulbs, then from the time bolting begins you should appropriately increase watering to keep the soil moist, and then control watering before harvest.

(2) Generally, after each harvest of leaves, apply 1 topdressing of decomposed organic fertilizer. Once the stems and leaves age and are no longer suitable for eating, they can be pulled up. If you want to harvest garlic scapes and bulbs, then continue normal management, applying 1 topdressing of decomposed organic fertilizer every 1-2 weeks, and be sure to increase phosphorus and potassium fertilizer.

3. Harvesting garlic

When the plants are about 20 cm tall, the garlic leaves can be harvested; generally leave the smaller plants to continue growing and pull up the larger plants; you can also cut the plants with a knife on a sunny day, leaving about 3-5 cm above the ground, and after the cut surface dries, resume normal management. To harvest garlic bulbs, wait until most of the plant's leaves have naturally withered and the false stem has softened, then dig out the bulbs and dry them in a cool, ventilated place for storage.