Key Points 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 and high-quality cultivation trials. Through 4a of production practice, they worked out a set of high-yield and high-quality cultivation techniques suited to this variety.

I. Characteristics and traits

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, and total leaf number 11. 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 purple-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 667m2.

II. Key cultivation points

1. Select the plot and avoid continuous cropping. Choose a plot where garlic, onion, Welsh onion, 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 deeply plow and prepare the soil. After the previous crop is harvested, plow and sun the soil early, and apply sufficient base fertilizer at one time in combination with plowing. Use more than 6000kg of decomposed pig manure or cattle and horse manure per 667m2, or 1500kg of pure chicken manure, plus 50kg of ternary Sakacfu compound fertilizer. Then deep-plow 20cm and harrow finely 2-3 times to prevent visible and hidden clods.

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 firm with feet, and rake the bed surface level or with a slight slope to facilitate watering.

4. Select and soak seed. September 25 to 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, not moldy, not sprouted, plump, and not dehydrated as seed. Use scissors to cut off the pointed skin at the tip of the garlic cloves to promote germination. Then soak the garlic seed in clean water for 24h.

5. Sowing. Because American boltless garlic heads are relatively large, the plant and row spacing should be slightly larger than that of ordinary garlic. Row spacing 20cm, 7 rows per bed, plant spacing 10cm, sow 30,000-35,000 plants per 667m2, and the sowing depth should preferably place the top of the garlic clove 1cm from the bed surface.

6. Watering, spraying, and film mulching. After sowing, roll along the bed once with a stone roller to make the ground level and firm, so as to facilitate watering and prevent "jumping garlic" (garlic seed being pushed out of the ground when rooting). 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 every 2-3m in the middle to prevent strong wind from blowing off the film.

7. Field management

(1) Water for overwintering. Water once for overwintering at the end of November or the beginning of December.

(2) Break 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 garlic seedlings that have not naturally broken through the plastic film.

(3) Watering. After breaking the film, the first spring watering can be given, and apply 15-20kg of diammonium phosphate per 667m2 with the water. In April, the soil should be kept 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 667m2 with the water. After that, keep the soil alternately dry and moist until watering is stopped 1 week before harvest.

(4) Timely control of pests and diseases. May is the adult occurrence period of onion maggots, which can be controlled by spraying 1000-fold dilution of 75% phoxim, spraying once every 7-8d, for 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 onset, 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 promptly. Place the harvested garlic in a ventilated, rain-sheltered place to dry. At the time of purchase, cut off the false stem, trim off the fibrous roots, bag it, and sell it.