Harvest Considerations for Garlic
Crystal Stewart-Courtens, Extension Vegetable Specialist
Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture
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If leaves aren't the best indicator of maturity, how else can you tell? The best indicator is how the cloves are filling the wrapper leaves. Take a couple of average looking plants from each variety, and cut them in half perpendicular to the stem so that you are cutting through all of the cloves. Each clove should be tight in its wrapper leaves. If there is any give when you squeeze the bulb, or the wrapper leaves seem a little loose around the cloves the garlic will continue to expand for a little while longer (figure 1). A few of the outer wrapper leaves will probably be breaking down. That is normal.
You can also look at the shape of each clove. Cloves start out being more or less round, and expand to more of a wedge shape (figure 1). As garlic reaches full maturity, the cloves will pull very slightly away from the scape on hardneck varieties.
If you let the garlic stay in the ground too long, too many wrapper leaves will decay and the cloves will continue to expand until the garlic actually splits open. At this point the garlic becomes virtually unmarketable. Make sure that you check your garlic every few days, especially as we move into another warm stretch of weather.
As you are harvesting, keep in mind that you want to reduce the amount of water that you bring into your drying area and you want to avoid scalding your garlic during harvest. If you can harvest early in the morning (before 11 or so, depending on how hot the day is) on a dry day, then clean in the shade during the afternoon, you should have the best results possible. Allowing garlic to sit out in the field exposed to the sun can result in sun scalding, which will cause affected cloves to break down. If you have to harvest in wet weather try to remove as much mud as possible and to get any foliage you leave on the plant as dry as possible before moving it into the curing area. The higher the relative humidity is in your curing area, the slower the garlic will dry down. The slower the garlic dries, the more potential there is for disease. Dry garlic means lower relative humidity right from the start!
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Upcoming Events
ENY Orchard Soil Health and Beneficial Fungi Meeting
August 15, 2024 : ENY Orchard Soil Health and Beneficial Fungi Meeting
Peru, NY
Join the members of CCE ENYCHP and the Cornell Soil Health Program for a field meeting on the basics of soil health, the potential benefits of mycorrhizal fungi, and an update on the current project status of our SARE grant on orchard mycorrhizal products.
This meeting is intended for farmworkers, young and beginning orchardists, and experienced orchard managers wanting to learn about the basics of soil health and mycorrhizal fungi within the orchard.
North Point Community Farm Twilight Meeting
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August 19, 2024 : North Point Community Farm Twilight Meeting
Plattsburgh, NY
North Point Community Farm Twilight Meeting
Monday, August 19th 4-7 pm (rain or shine)
2172 Military Turnpike, Plattsburgh, NY 12901
$10 per farm
Join us for a tour of North Point Community Farm, a diversified vegetable, berry, and flower operation in the North Country. Farmers Marisa and Mike will give us an overview of their decision-making as they expand their business, increasing their high tunnel production, investing in new tillage equipment, and transforming an old dairy barn into an efficient wash-pack shed with food safety in mind. We'll end the evening with local food refreshments and an opportunity to network with growers from NY and VT.
DEC credits: 1.5 credits in categories 1A, 10, 23
Late Summer Orchard Meeting
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August 21, 2024
Fonda, NY
Join us for our last get together of the summer before we're in the thick of harvest. At this meeting, we will tour Sand Flats Orchard with manager Mitch Hoffman, and we will then discuss late season pest management tasks with our experts from the HVRL and Cornell AgriTech.
DEC Credits: 1.5 credits in categories 1A, 10, and 22.