As mentioned in a previous post the Garlic I planted last year was a mixture of heads purchased on a week’s holiday to Provence - France, plus a gift from my parents who live in sunny Spain. The holidays a distant memory now, but the Garlic plants, which until now have looked a picture of health, have served to remind me of that fantastic family break.
They where planted in the middle of September last year in the bed I had used to grow Maris Peer Second early potato’s and another bed that was used to grow Broad beans. Can’t remember the type of broad beans that they where as they where shop bought plants.
The soil is in good shape! The cultivation of the potato’s and the added compost and sharp sand for added drainage for both beds has changed the structure of the soil remarkably for the better.
We have had a stinking cold winter, but dry by all accounts which by most internet references suggests ideal conditions for getting the garlic off to a flying start and providing the conditions that are needed to split the bulb into several cloves rather than one large onion like bulb.
I haven't watered them directly this year, which should be fine as there is plenty of moisture below surface. So my question is what could have encouraged them to develop early signs of Garlic rust?
Spacing certainly isn't the issue as I have followed the 10 centimetre on rule and added a bit more for good luck
Could it be that the fat cloves of garlic which I planted were infected with this fungal infection and I should heed every seed sellers advice and only use certified virus free stock? I hope not.
Could it be that the water tank just up from me broke a few weeks ago pouring water through my plot for days on end caused the fungal infection?
Or maybe everybody that grows garlic suffers from rust and I'm rantign for nothing. I know Peter and a couple halfway down grew it last year and both theirs developed rust too but we had a very soggy spring in 2008 so I put it down to moist conditions, but maybe there’s more to it.
This is one of the painful moments of keeping a plot, the disappointment and realisment (yankism) that something you have had high hopes for is going to shit.
This is an extract from the most useful page I found whilst googling that answers most of these questions.
Puccinia allii (or rusty garlic): This fungus has caused major epidemics in California and some losses in Arizona. California isolates did not infect leek, shallot or elephant garlic. However, P. allii in Europe is extremely damaging on leek.
This fungus may over winter on dead plant material, in soil, or on wild hosts. When seed cloves collected from rust-infected garlic plants were planted in studies by the University of California, none of the plants that grew from these cloves developed rust (Counts out the infected bulb theory).
The rust is autoecious and same-season re-infection by urediospores is common. Severe losses are reported when excessive rain, fog, or irrigation are present (Looks like the water-tank maintenance fault then).
Highest infection rates occur at cool temperatures (50-59° F) and 100% relative humidity. Temperatures below 50° F and above 75° F inhibit the disease.
Symptoms: Initial symptoms include small white to yellow flecks and spots. The spots enlarge and become oval to elongate or diamond shaped and take on an orange cast as uredia develop. Later in the season, black oval to elongate telia develop. These telia may or may not break through the epidermis. Telia of a related species, P. asparagi, found occasionally on onion, tend to be dark brown rather than black. Heavily infected plants have an orange cast, outer leaves may yellow and wither prematurely, and bulb size may be reduced.
No resistant garlic lines have been identified.
More to the point, what can you do about it?
Organic control:
Nada, nil, zilch. You can try cutting back infested leaves which will have an impact on the size of the end product but it won't cure it. - I was hoping nature had the answer. Sounds like athlete’s foot for Garlic! Maybe I'll get some talcum powder and put clean socks on them daily......
Chemical control:
Dithane F-45 Rainshield at 2.4 quarts/A on a 7-day interval. The addition of a Latron surfactant will improve performance. Do not apply more than 24 quarts/A/crop or apply to exposed bulbs. Do not apply within 7 days of harvest. 24-hr re-entry.
Manex at 1.6 to 2.4 quarts/A on a 7-day interval. Do not apply more than 24 quarts/A/season or apply to exposed bulbs. Do not apply within 7 days of harvest. 24-hr re-entry.
Quadris at 6 to 12 fl oz/A on a 7- to 14-day interval. Do not apply more than one (1) foliar application of Quadris or other Group 11 fungicide before alternating with a different mode of action. Do not apply more than1.5 lb a.i./A per season of azoxystrobin-containing products. May be applied the day of harvest. 4-hr re-entry.
So this leaves me with four options, one of which I deplore as it uses a non-organic approach.
1) Napalm them with a cocktail of Dithane/Manex/Quadris - Not even sure if this stuff is available to average Jo – Occasional allotment gardener. Sounds more like the makings of a Molotov bomb than an answer to my problems.
Verdict: B"$%^ks to that, Id rather eat a creamed slug sandwich.
Who in their right mind would treat their crop with this poison? To me it’s like saying I have a sore throat and somebody advising you to drink turpentine as that’s what they give camels in Morocco after they have travelled through a sand storm. Sure your sore throat will go away, but you liver will pack up and you may get stomach cancer but what the hell, if its good enough for them camels why not give it a go?
Don’t believe me? Check this out on the Chinese grower’s choice Dithane.
2) Dig them up and consign them to a bonfire.
Verdict: To early to tell how bad its going to get.
3) Cut all the affected leaves off and hope for the best
Verdict: I want fat bulbs, cut the plant cut the chances of a decent crop and they won’t store.
4) Do nothing, leave them be and possibly mulch with potash -Bonfire soot and hope for the best. The chances are it will have little effect on the final crop other than reducing the size of the bulbs slightly and you won’t be able to braid them.
Verdict: Do nothing – Live in Hope – Stop stressing – Cazaux Likes.
The question is…..What would the infamous garlic farm on the Isle of Wight do in a situation like this?
Your advice would be very much appreciated.
Tuesday 5 May 2009
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Bloody hell! You have made my hair stand on end! Our garlic has yellow outside leaves which we thought may be the plant naturally dieing back maybe a bit early but they were planted in September. Other garlic on the site is green and healthy looking. I will take a photo the next day I am out and we can compare?
ReplyDeleteSounds to me like your garlic may just need a pick me up peggy. Garlic rust showing on a few of my plants shows dark orange frekkles on the leaves which really does look like a rust you see on tools you leave outside.
ReplyDeleteIve read up a lot on this problem now, I will be nursing them with foliar comfrey tea. (natures antibiotic). any that look like they are getting worse may be pulled early and used as green garlic. I have pulled a few already, they are about the size of clementines and great for cooking with. Ideally I want them the size of a tennis ball.
Your yellowing leaves are most likely the plant switching from leaf to bulb mode and drawing energy from the leaves - Blood fish bones and chicken manure should be all they need.
Have you given them a spring boost? The garlic farm website recommends this about now.
Heres a link to Garlic rust. Mines nothing like this.
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/images/rust_garlic.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/techniques/pests/rust.htm&usg=__cOL2xPVmszklMn6iHrS_cAKWrCQ=&h=567&w=678&sz=317&hl=en&start=16&um=1&tbnid=2RJwZBtW-rJJkM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=139&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgarlic%2Brust%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rlz%3D1G1GGLQ_ENGB264%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1
If it's only a few of them infected with rust, I'd pull them up. Otherwise, unless it's going to trash them I wouldn't worry about them too much. The size sounds OK me already, mine seem to be much smaller so far this year, not quite sure why? Some of mine developed rust late on last year, but they did OK and stored well - still got some of them. Could be that they're just not suited to growing in this country?
ReplyDeleteThanks Rob, That’s reassuring to know that it won’t ruin the harvest.
ReplyDeleteI’m going to "wait n see".
Have pulled a few, which was more to do with needing garlic for a barbby marinade but they where the worst affected.
Green garlic is totally different to cured don’t you think?
I don't have any advice I'm afraid, but I was very interested in this post as I planted "Isle of Wight" and "Cristo" about 32 in all back in September and so far they are doing great, but I will watch out for the rust now just in case. I hope mine get as big as yours.
ReplyDeleteoo er matron :o)
ReplyDeleteI hope they do too ;O)
Thanks for the comment, glad to hear others are growing garlic themselves and good luck with your harvests.
I have this problem, too, and I've never found an answer. Every year, rust kills my crop and I end up with tiny bulbs. Sorry. No help whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteIf you have to pull them early - try making pickled garlic ... Means you can keep them and eat them anyway for the rest of the year:
ReplyDeleteHi CFF,
ReplyDeleteIt's now a year later for you, so maybe this is a bit academic. I have had, in my opinion, quite a bit of luck with the following:
Use no fresh manure or high nitrogen fertilizer on your garlic bed! This is really important, because it causes the green tops to grow at the expense of the roots and makes the plants much more vulnerable to the rust. I just add normal compost when planting them, and that's enough. By the same token, I wouldn't add potash either if I were you, because you don't want to promote unnecessary growth and potash is very high in available potassium.
The other thing I do is starting about this time of year, I spray the plants with dilute nonfat milk. I buy the milk in liter boxes, and have about 1000 bulbs of garlic, so I dilute it accordingly so the milk is used up, about 1:5 or 1:10. It's important to cover all surfaces of the leaves, and repeat about once a week or after rain.
This is a common treatment to prevent fungal diseases on pumpkins and related plants, and it seems to work for garlic rust too.
Last year was the first time I tried this, and it's hard to say a lot for sure, but while my plants did get rust it was not very serious and a nearby friend also growing garlic had a much more serious infection. I will certainly be doing this again this year.
No one seems to know why this works, but some people suspect it somehow coats and protects the plants from infection or boosts the immune system of the plants in some way.
I'll give it a go. Thanks for your advice.
ReplyDelete