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Rust and Garlic

KesKes Posts: 8
in Problem solving

I planted lots of garlic this year, mainly 'cos I like garlic but also as a companion plant for the strawberries. This year all my garlic has succumbed to rust. I have read that you should plant garlic for 5 years if the soil has rust. image as my garden is quite small there is no other area that will be suitable for garlic. Does anyone know any cures for getting rid of rust?

Posts

  • ItalophileItalophile Posts: 1,731

    It's one of the reasons I gave up on garlic. From what I could deduce at the time, there's no getting rid of it except to remove affected leaves early but that impacts on the end result. There was, at the time, no effective spray, organic or otherwise.

  • figratfigrat Posts: 1,619
    I grew garlic very successfully in a container last year. I know it wouldn't get rid of the rust problem, but might be worth trying.
  • Zoomer44Zoomer44 Posts: 3,267

    Kes - This does not answer your Q - my garlic had rust this year but it didn't prevent it from being a good crop although it was harvested early and the bulbs were small. 

    I hadn't realised it can't now  be planted in the same spot for 5 yrs and am about to start next years crop in modules. It'll go in a different part of the garden and I've 24 new bulbs but can bulbs be used from plants which matured from rust infected plants?  I was going to use one of the bulbs from this years crop for next?

     

      

  • SupernoodleSupernoodle Posts: 954
    Re the container idea (sorry stealing someelse's thread again!!) figrat can you let me know best plan. I assume I can pot them up now but need to provide some sort of winter protection? Shall I put them in a cool dark place in the house ( I've a pantry so thinking on the floor in there) and bring them outside when they shoot in the spring?

    And I suppose I ought to buy proper ones for planting rather than what I'm currently eating for sainsburys?

    thanks!
  • figratfigrat Posts: 1,619
    I used sprouted Solent White in modules which I got from my local farm shop in the spring, though I know it is common practice to plants cloves directly about now. Sarah Raven recommends growing garlic from cloves which have been specially bred for propagation, as supermarket garlic is often grown in a warmer climate than ours, and so might not be the optimum variety. If your soil is very wet and heavy, Alys Fowler recommends planting cloves in large Modules about now and keeping them somewhere cool and light, like a cold frame, and planting out the sprouted cloves in spring. I planted 9 sprouted cloves in a square container 30cm deep and wide. Hope this helps!
  • KesKes Posts: 8

    Hmm! maybe it looks like I will have to grow garlic in pots then! so much for companion planting!! Thanks for the info.image

  • Aggy-PantsAggy-Pants Posts: 5

    Hi Kes, I always plant the whole bulb, about now, in a deep pot in the greenhouse until it shoots and the roots are starting to come out of the bottom. I then separate each clove and plant them outside over the winter. I get a really good crop of decent sized bulbs, they still get rust but I think because they've had a really good start they reach a decent size before the leaves need chopping off, by then I've harvested them anyway. It works for me, you never know it might work for you.

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