Garlic sprout cultivation techniques in winter greenhouses help regulate off-season vegetable supply

Greenhouse garlic sprouts

    Cultivating garlic sprouts in winter-warm greenhouses can not only regulate and make up for off-season vegetable supply, but also greatly improve land utilization and allow garlic production to obtain relatively high returns.

    I. Building the rack beds

    The rack beds are built with wood, straw, plastic film, wire and red bricks. The greenhouse is low at the front and back and high in the middle; 2 layers of rack beds are set up in the front and rear sections, and 3 layers in the middle section. A 10 cm high wall is built with single bricks, with a spacing of 1.2-1.6 m between walls, and then wooden poles are used to build rack beds 1-3 m wide and of unlimited length, with a spacing of 20-30 cm between poles. On the basis of the first layer, wooden poles are tied at 80-100 cm from the surface of the first layer to form a bed 80-90 cm wide. A layer of plastic film is laid on each layer, and 5-6 cm thick sandy loam soil is placed on the film and tamped firm. During the process of setting up the rack beds, they must be buried firmly and tied tightly to prevent the rack beds from collapsing.

    II. Cultivation and management methods

    Selecting garlic seed: choose varieties with large and numerous cloves, high yield, a short dormancy period, and fast sprouting and growth.

    Pre-sowing preparation: soak the garlic seed in warm water at 30°C-50°C for about 30 hours so that the garlic bulbs absorb water and swell. Then remove them, drain the water, pile them up and cover them for about 12 hours, and then remove the garlic stems. If the sowing area is large and the amount of soaked seed is great, they can also be sown one week earlier without removing the stems.

    Arranging garlic and pressing soil: place and bury about 15 kg of garlic cloves per 1 sq m. The tighter the cloves are placed against one another, the better; fill larger gaps with smaller cloves. After the garlic cloves are arranged, cover them with 3 cm of fine sandy soil and tamp firm.

    Water management: water the garlic sprouts with water at a temperature not lower than 15°C. After planting until the early growth stage, water heavily; at the middle stage when the seedlings are about 15 cm high, water moderately; at the late growth stage 3-4 days before harvest, water lightly. The number of waterings should depend on the dry and wet condition of the soil on the rack beds.

    Temperature control: keep the greenhouse film surface clean to improve light transmittance so as to obtain more sunlight hours. The temperature requirements for the rack beds are: before full emergence, 24°C-26°C during the day and 20°C-22°C at night; after full emergence, 22°C-24°C during the day and 18°C-22°C at night; when the seedlings are about 15 cm high, 16°C-22°C during the day and 16°C-18°C at night; at harvest, 18°C during the day and 12°C at night.

    Timely harvesting: when the garlic sprouts grow to a height of about 35 cm and the seedling leaves tilt slightly, this is the suitable harvest time, and they should be harvested promptly. After the first crop of garlic sprouts is harvested, the same management methods above are used, and new garlic sprouts can grow again after 20 days. When the new garlic sprouts grow to about 30 cm, they can be harvested and sold again. With such cyclic management and harvesting, 3-4 crops can be harvested continuously.