How to fertilize garlic as a top dressing? Mastering these tips is key
Garlic seed degrades every year, so it must be replaced every 2~3 years and needs purification and rejuvenation. It is best to swap garlic seed from a different location, as this can effectively promote the recovery of garlic's varietal characteristics and give it strong yield-increasing capacity. When swapping seed between locations, the distance should not be too great, and the temperature difference should not be too large. In addition, when planting on sandy soil, clay soil, or loam soil...
For autumn-sown garlic, top dressing should be applied once each during the seedling stage and before overwintering, and the fertilizer used can be human manure or chemical fertilizer, etc. Generally, apply 1000~2500 kg of decomposed human manure per mu, or 15~20 kg of ammonium sulfate, or 7~9 kg of urea as a top dressing, applied with irrigation water. If the garlic seedlings are growing vigorously, top dressing may be omitted to prevent excessive seedling growth before winter. When overwintering, cover with wheat straw or rice straw and broadcast soil manure, pond mud, etc., applying 5000~7000 kg per mu, which can make the plants bolt early the following year, with large cloves and heavy bulbs. After spring temperatures rise, to meet the nutrient demands of the spring growth stage, apply a spring fertilizer promptly as a top dressing, using human manure or chemical fertilizer. At bolting, apply another 20~25 kg of ammonium sulfate per mu, or 9~12 kg of urea. One month after applying the bolting fertilizer, the garlic's bulbils enter a period of vigorous development and require a relatively large amount of nutrients; at this time, apply a quick-acting fertilizer as a top dressing, using 3000~4500 kg of pig manure per mu, or 18~20 kg of ammonium sulfate, or 8~10 kg of urea, which can prompt garlic to bolt early and improve the yield and quality of garlic scapes and bulbs. When fertilizing garlic, focus on fertilization during two key periods: first, the seedling-promoting fertilizer, to promote garlic leaf growth; second, the bulb-promoting fertilizer, to promote the expansion of garlic bulbs.