The Latest Garlic Planting Techniques and Methods Tutorial

Garlic was introduced into China from the Western Regions during the Qin and Han dynasties. Through artificial cultivation and breeding, it has anti-cancer effects and is widely loved as a food. Garlic grows vigorously, has strong cold resistance, a high bolting rate, and stores well. It is suitable for autumn planting. The garlic planting techniques are introduced as follows.

Growth Habits

Garlic has string-like fibrous roots; its ability to absorb water and nutrients is relatively weak, and the bulb grows and swells in the soil, so garlic should be cultivated on plots with loose soil, good drainage, and rich organic matter. Although garlic has broad adaptability, sandy loam is still preferable. Because sandy loam is loose, it is suitable for root development, with early greening, early bolting, large bulbs with a strong pungent flavor, and easy harvesting.

1. Temperature: It prefers cool conditions, with a suitable temperature of -5-26°C. Garlic seedlings have the strongest cold resistance at the 4-5 leaf stage, which is the most suitable seedling stage for overwintering.

2. Light: Garlic that has completed vernalization begins flower bud and bulbils differentiation under long-day conditions of more than 13 hours and relatively high temperatures, while under short-day and cool conditions, it is only suitable for stem and leaf growth.

3. Water: It likes moisture and fears drought.

4. Soil and nutrition: It has no strict requirements for soil, but fertile loam rich in organic matter, loose and breathable, with strong water retention and drainage performance is more suitable.

Planting Preparation

The plot for planting garlic should be plowed and sunned immediately after the previous crop is harvested, and the land should be prepared and beds made again before sowing. Base fertilizer should be applied before plowing. Because garlic has a long growth period, high population density, and high fertilizer demand, generally 5000-8000 kg of high-quality organic fertilizer such as manure and barnyard manure per mu; combined with 20-30 kg of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer. Organic fertilizer must be fully decomposed. If raw fertilizer is used, it will burn the garlic roots during fermentation and also cause underground pests, especially severe damage from root maggots.

1. Land preparation. The plowing depth is generally about 20 cm. It should be finely plowed, leveled, and compacted, with no obvious clods, achieving “neat, loose, fine, clean”. Determine the length of the beds according to the water source. Beds can be 80-100 m long and 4.2-4.4 m wide; or 40-50 m long and 4.2-4.4 m wide.

2. Seed selection. Manually peel off the skin and separate the cloves, remove the tray and stem plate of the garlic, and grade them by large, medium, small, and central cloves. Small cloves should be handled according to specific circumstances. The seed selection requirements are pure white with no red streaks, no wounds, no sugaring, and no glossy skin. In principle, each clove should weigh about 5 g. Seed size is the key to obtaining high yield.

3. Timely sowing. Garlic should be sown at the right time. The planting time is from the end of White Dew to the beginning of Autumn Equinox (late September to early October), with a temperature of about 17°C. Before sowing, sun-dry the garlic cloves for 1-2 d.

4. Reasonable close planting. Generally, the row spacing is 20 cm, the plant spacing is 16-17 cm, and about 20,000 plants per 667 square meters. The method is to open furrows with a rake or furrow opener, with a furrow depth of about 5 cm. After planting, cover the garlic with about 1 cm of soil. Remember to water when planting.

Field Management

1. Irrigation

Garlic has a relatively large water requirement, and generally needs watering 4 times throughout the growth period.

① Film-covering water: After garlic is sown, it should be watered promptly, sufficiently and thoroughly, without missing a single plant, with 100 cubic meters of water per 667 square meters. This watering both meets the needs of garlic planting and facilitates covering with plastic film.

② Strong seedling water: Generally watered around early April or when the ground temperature is above 15°C.

③ Bolting water: Water with this as soon as the garlic scape just emerges.

④ Bulb-swelling water: Water with this right after pulling the garlic scapes.

2. Plastic film mulching. Plastic film mulching is the key to increasing garlic yield. It can raise ground temperature, accelerate organic matter decomposition, reduce water evaporation, and satisfy garlic's environmental needs. After watering with film-covering water, when the ground has slightly settled, cover with film using a film-covering machine or by hand. Whichever method is used, the film must be pulled tight and the edges pressed firmly to prevent the wind from lifting the film in autumn and winter.

3. Releasing seedlings. When the garlic sprouts just break through the soil, promptly poke holes in the plastic film to let the seedlings emerge. Generally, use the early morning or evening, when the temperature is low and the film is less elastic, to lightly pat the film with a new broom or lightly rake it with bamboo rake teeth.

4. Manual weed control. During the garlic growth period, the temperature is relatively low, and weed damage mainly occurs after the Spring Festival. Because of plastic film mulching, manual weed control is used. The method is to bend thick iron wire or 8 mm steel bar into a small “7”-shaped hook, make a small opening in the film, and remove small weed seedlings.

5. Pulling garlic scapes. When the upper part of the garlic scape begins to curl upward from below, it is the best time to pull the garlic scapes. The method is to gently pull by hand every day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

6. Fertilization

The fertilization principle for green food garlic is mainly organic fertilizer, with a small amount of chemical fertilizer in a balanced formula; mainly base fertilizer, with topdressing as a supplement.

① Base fertilizer: In late September, apply 5000 kg of high-quality farmyard manure (fully decomposed barnyard manure, compost, cake fertilizer), 20 kg of urea, and 10 kg of potassium sulfate per 667 square meters. It should be spread evenly, then the land should be deeply plowed.

② Topdressing: In early April of the second year, combined with watering for strong seedlings, apply 10 kg of quick-acting urea per 667 square meters. In mid-April, dissolve 0.5 kg of potassium dihydrogen phosphate in 50 kg of water and spray it per 667 square meters.