Detailed Explanation of High-Yield Cultivation Techniques for American Boltless Garlic
In 1998, Dawangzhuang Village, Yaogezhuang Town, Gaomi City, together with Weifang Changjiang Agricultural Products Development Co., Ltd., jointly introduced American boltless garlic and conducted high-yield, high-quality cultivation trials. Through 4a of production practice, they developed a set of high-yield, high-quality cultivation techniques suited to this variety.
I. Characteristics
American boltless garlic does not bolt, or the bolt is extremely thin and weak. Plant height is 68.4cm, stem diameter 1.8cm, leaf length 47.2cm, leaf width 3.9cm, with a total of 11 leaves. The bulb has a total of 15 cloves and belongs to the multi-clove type. The garlic heads are large, with an average diameter of more than 6cm and a single weight of more than 65g. American boltless garlic has purplish-red stripes on the outer skin, a light purple inner skin, thick garlic juice, a strong pungent aroma, and a high dry powder yield. It is an excellent variety very suitable for processing garlic flakes and garlic powder for export. American boltless garlic has strong growth vigor, strong disease resistance, and high yield, with an average yield of 1700-2200kg of garlic heads per 667 sq m.
II. Key Cultivation Points
1. Select plots and avoid continuous cropping. Choose plots where garlic, onions, scallions, or Chinese chives have not been planted within two years. It is required to select fertile soil, convenient irrigation, good water and fertilizer retention, and loam or sandy loam rich in organic matter for cultivation.
2. Apply sufficient base fertilizer and deep plow and prepare the land. After the previous crop is harvested, plow and sun the soil as early as possible, and apply sufficient base fertilizer all at once in combination with plowing. Use more than 6000kg of decomposed pig manure or cattle and horse manure per 667 sq m, or 1500kg of pure chicken manure, plus 50kg of Sakefu three-element chemical fertilizer. Then deep plow 20cm and harrow finely 2-3 times to prevent clods both on the surface and below.
3. Make beds. Use flat-bed planting, with a bed surface width of 1.2m, ridge width of 30cm, and ridge height of 10cm. Tread the bed ridges firmly with the feet, and rake the bed surface smooth or slightly sloped to facilitate watering.
4. Seed selection and soaking. September 25-October 10 is the suitable period for planting garlic. Before planting, do the work of seed selection and soaking. Select outer cloves that are large, white, free of mildew, ungerminated, plump, and not dehydrated as seed. Use scissors to cut off the pointed skin at the tip of the cloves to promote germination. Then soak the garlic seed in clean water for 24h.
5. Sowing. Because American boltless garlic has relatively large heads, the plant and row spacing should be slightly larger than for ordinary garlic. Row spacing 20cm, 7 rows per bed, plant spacing 10cm, sowing 30,000-35,000 plants per 667 sq m, and the sowing depth should preferably place the top of the clove 1cm below the bed surface.
6. Watering, spraying, and mulching. After sowing, roll once along the bed with a stone roller to make the ground level and firm, so as to facilitate watering and prevent "jumping garlic" (when the garlic seed roots, it pushes the seed out of the ground). After the water infiltrates, spray herbicide. Herbicides such as acetochlor, isoproturon, and metolachlor can be used. Then cover with 0.04mm plastic film close to the ground, press both sides of the film tightly, and scatter a shovel of fine soil on top every 2-3m in the middle to prevent strong winds from blowing the film away.
7. Field management
(1) Overwintering water. Water once for overwintering at the end of November or the beginning of December.
(2) Breaking the film. Around March 15, garlic has begun to grow and the temperature has already risen. If garlic seedlings continue to grow under the film, the leaves may be scorched, so at this time use your hands to pull out the garlic seedlings that have not naturally broken through the film.
(3) Watering. After breaking the film, the first spring watering can be given, applying 15-20kg of diammonium phosphate per 667 sq m with the water. In April, keep the soil alternately dry and moist, with moderate moisture. May is the peak growth season for garlic. During this period the weather turns hotter, water evaporates quickly, and the plants need a lot of water, so watering should be frequent, generally once every 6-8d with a heavy watering. To promote garlic head enlargement, while watering, apply 15-20kg of potassium sulfate and 15kg of urea per 667 sq m with the water. After that, keep the soil alternately dry and moist until watering is stopped 1 week before harvest.
(4) Timely pest and disease control. May is the adult occurrence period of onion maggots, which can be controlled by spraying 75% phoxim 1000-fold solution, spraying once every 7-8d, and using it 2-3 times continuously. May is also the period when garlic diseases occur, including leaf blight and purple blotch. In the early stage of disease, fungicides such as Copper Master can be used for control.
8. Harvest. In early to mid-June, garlic leaves turn from green to yellow, so harvest and dig them promptly. Place the harvested garlic in a ventilated, rain-sheltered place to dry. When selling, cut off the false stem, remove the fibrous roots, bag them, and deliver them for sale.