How should garlic seed be handled when planting garlic?
How should garlic seed be handled when planting garlic? Please explain. Garlic seed degrades every year, so it must be replaced every 2~3 years and needs purification and rejuvenation. It is best to exchange garlic seed with a different location, as this can effectively promote the recovery of the garlic's seed vigor and give a strong yield increase. When exchanging seed with a different location, the distance should not be too far, and the temperature difference should not be too great. In addition,...
How should garlic seed be handled when planting garlic? Please explain.
Garlic seed degrades every year, so it must be replaced every 2~3 years and needs purification and rejuvenation. It is best to exchange garlic seed with a different location, as this can effectively promote the recovery of the garlic's seed vigor and give a strong yield increase. When exchanging seed with a different location, the distance should not be too far, and the temperature difference should not be too great. In addition, farmers who grow garlic on sandy soil, clay soil and loam soil can exchange seed with one another every year, and this can also achieve a very good yield increase.
Keep garlic heads that are large, firm and solid, with large, uniform and glossy cloves, for use as garlic seed. Do not drop or knock the garlic seed, and do not step on the garlic bags, so as to avoid injuring and spoiling the cloves. After the garlic seed is sun-dried, store it in a ventilated, shaded and dry place. Before breaking apart the cloves, spread the garlic heads on a plastic sheet and expose them to the sun for about 1 hour.
When breaking apart the cloves, first peel off the outer skin of the garlic head to reveal the 8~9 cloves around the outside of the head, and break the cloves off at an angle to avoid damaging the root eye of the clove. If the root eye of a clove is peeled off, the clove will not be able to take root and grow. When breaking apart the cloves, if the stem plate comes away with the clove, peel the stem plate off so that the root eye of the clove is exposed, which helps it absorb water and oxygen. Be careful not to peel off the outer skin of the clove, otherwise its water and nutrients will be lost quickly, and it will easily be infected by pathogens; the milky white clove will slowly turn yellow and develop spots, or even rot.
Do not break apart the cloves too early, otherwise the cloves will lose water and nutrients and pathogens will invade, resulting in slow emergence and thin, weak seedlings after planting.
If the planting area is large and the cloves must be broken apart early, then use the outer cloves of the garlic head as seed cloves, grade the seed cloves into grades 1, 2 and 3, spread them out by grade on a plastic sheet, and expose them to the sun for about 30 minutes. Then put them into garlic bags by grade (do not fill them too full, and do not press the garlic bags down firmly) or spread them out on a plastic sheet, and store them in a ventilated, shaded and dry place; after about 15 days, expose them to the sun once more.
Sun exposure can prevent pathogens and pests such as mites from invading through the root eye, and sunlight can also kill pathogens on the seed cloves.
Click to get more garlic growing techniques
Click to get more vegetable growing techniques