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Winter garlic harvesting: how to determine the harvest time
Timely harvesting of winter garlic is the main condition for the safety of the crop. Planting garlic for the winter is done in mid-autumn 2-3 weeks before the first frost. And since the first shoots appear in early spring, they begin to dig out winter garlic earlier than spring garlic. To correctly determine this moment, the gardener must know the signs of the ripening of this culture.
Factors affecting the harvest time of winter garlic
On average, the growth period of garlic from sprouting to harvest is 100 days. However, depending on climatic conditions, this period can be adjusted in one direction or another. In a dry and hot climate, the ripening process occurs somewhat faster, so the difference between the beginning of harvesting in Siberia and in the southern regions can be up to 10 days.
Winter garlic is harvested only in dry weather
Most growers remove the garlic arrows in order to speed up its ripening. But experienced gardeners advise leaving a few arrows intact. Subsequently, this will help determine the maturity of winter garlic.
As a rule, winter garlic harvesting begins after July 20, and ends in early August. In this case, one should be guided by the weather conditions – it is not recommended to dig out garlic in wet weather. And also late harvesting is extremely undesirable: being late by only a few days can lead to a deterioration in the quality of the harvested crop and its deterioration during further storage.
Determine the harvest time – signs of ripening winter garlic
Experienced gardeners can even determine when to start digging winter garlic by the condition of the garlic bed. As the heads grow, the earth around the garlic stalk begins to crack and rise. But, in addition to this, there are a number of external signs of its maturation:
- wilted and yellowed lower leaves;
- the seed pod on the arrows is fully opened;
- the garlic head is covered with a tight-fitting shell and has a pronounced relief of the lobules.
Late harvesting can cause the head to split into separate cloves. Such garlic dries quickly during storage and becomes unusable.
Cleaning should be done in dry and warm weather, and 2-3 weeks before that, you must definitely stop watering the garlic. If weather forecasters predict the onset of bad weather, it is better to harvest the crop 1-2 weeks ahead of schedule. Following these simple rules will help avoid crop losses and prolong the use of this extremely useful product until next summer.