The garlic bed has worried us now for a few weeks.I thought it was due to the wet weather and it would perk up once early summer weather arrived.The outer leaves are yellow for the past few weeks I thought they were dying off prematurely but on closer inspection and after reading
Cazaux Food farm blog I think there are what looks like rust spots on the leaves they are not just uniformly yellow.Cazaux has researched the causes and cures?!
I pulled one of the plants today to check what was underneath, they look like large spring onions that smell of garlic, the bulb has no sign of producing a clump of bulbs and is quite soft.
A close up of one of the leaves with the rust spots on it.Has anyone any ideas if it is garlic rust?The outer leaves on each plant is like this and the other leaves are not the healthy green of some of the garlic growing on other plots.We planted garlic last year and put it in in April which was way too late and it died off before developing into bulbs.We had white turnips on this bed last year.I will put the photos on the forum in Irish gardeners and see what the response is as there are some very knowledgeable gardeners contributing there.
A little good news, the mushrooms have produced spores which look like tiny white worms, Kathryn says it takes about 10 weeks from this stage to produce mushrooms and then they should stay producing mushrooms for about 2 to 3 months.I put on a permanent cover instead of the plastic which was falling down on top of them whenever it rained (every day!). It is weed suppressing fabric held in place on top with batons and held down for now with rocks until I think of a more aesthetic solution.
The garlic bed has worried us now for a few weeks.I thought it was due to the wet weather and it would perk up once early summer weather arrived.The outer leaves are yellow for the past few weeks I thought they were dying off prematurely but on closer inspection and after reading Cazaux Food farm blog I think there are what looks like rust spots on the leaves they are not just uniformly yellow.Cazaux has researched the causes and cures?!
I pulled one of the plants today to check what was underneath, they look like large spring onions that smell of garlic, the bulb has no sign of producing a clump of bulbs and is quite soft.
A close up of one of the leaves with the rust spots on it.Has anyone any ideas if it is garlic rust?The outer leaves on each plant is like this and the other leaves are not the healthy green of some of the garlic growing on other plots.We planted garlic last year and put it in in April which was way too late and it died off before developing into bulbs.We had white turnips on this bed last year.I will put the photos on the forum in Irish gardeners and see what the response is as there are some very knowledgeable gardeners contributing there.
A little good news, the mushrooms have produced spores which look like tiny white worms, Kathryn says it takes about 10 weeks from this stage to produce mushrooms and then they should stay producing mushrooms for about 2 to 3 months.I put on a permanent cover instead of the plastic which was falling down on top of them whenever it rained (every day!). It is weed suppressing fabric held in place on top with batons and held down for now with rocks until I think of a more aesthetic solution.
Comments
there is several things you can do.
First is remove the infected leaves.
Second is apply sulphate of potash at a rate of 20/25g per sq/mtr, this helps harden tissues and improves resistance.
I can't tell how close your plants are from your photos, but they need to be at least 20cm apart so you may need to thin them out a bit.
next you can spray your plants and the surrounding soil with a sulpher based fungicide or zineb every two weeks or after rain.
Last, spread a fine dryish mulch over your soil to help stop any rust spores reinfecting your garlic.
Good luck Peggy and I hope you can still get a crop from them.
Let me know how you get on.
And definitely no extra nitrogenous fertilizers.
Stewart thanks for that. I must check how far apart they actually are.I have now removed all the infected leaves and binned them.I will look for the fungicide but it needs to be organic too.
I have been contacted by somebody by email who told me that you can actually use a spray made with asparin as an organic solution.
Crush three into a sprayer filled with water and spray, repeat when its dry enough.
I'm going to give it ago. Thats the rust.
Fortunately only one of my beds has been affected.
I'd be happy to send you some of mine if you would like a few chunky provencial heads.
Thanks for the backlink.
Regards,
Marcus
I also, found rust developing on my garlic. I must have planted them too closely last fall. I'm growing 4 different types of garlic (different area of the garden) and only one variety seems to be effected. I'll try the aspirin idea and report back in 4 weeks.
Thanks found your website informative
Regards
John
Thanks Stewart about the tip about not using nitrogen. I have been applying a little fertilizer high in N every 2 weeks. Will stop that now.
Regards
Stephen in Japan