Undersized garlic

[Stokkers]

Hi all,

I grow virtually everything in tubs and containers and this year, my garlic has been VERY small and as I am preparing my 35Ltr tubs for next seasons garlic, onins and shallots ready for next seasno. However, I am very disappointed at the size of my garlic and looking for advice as to how to rectify this.

This is not the first year this has happened. They have been purchased from a reputable supplier, who I have been happy with for all my plants.

I have just lifted the last of the cloves set last year and none of them are more than 1" in size and that was from 3 tubs. They have been set in decent reputable compost, growing in full sunlight, well drained and fed every couple of weeks.

Before I set them in a week or two, so any advice will be greatfully recieved.

Many thanks.

[TrixC]

How close together did you plant them? Have you had success growing garlic in containers before? I haven't grown it in containers but have found consistent watering to be important in the last few months while the bulbs are maturing, I can imagine in containers this could be an issue.

[Bigmallly]

Hello Stokkers & welcome to the Jungle............PS, we may be old & daft but we're not blind & deaf............

[Bill HH]

Welcome, when you find the answer let me know because my garlic was just the same. Mine is in containers as it was last year and they were small too, the year before that they were ok! Must be a weather thing i guess. The good news for me is that i don't particularly like it anyway.

[bearded bloke]

we may be old & daft but we're not blind & deaf............

By the power invested in me stoker is no longer .. bold & shouty BM

[Bacchus]

Mine was grown in the ground and was a bit small this year too - not disastrously so - just a little on the small side.

[bearded bloke]

Did they grow as "rounds" or did they split into cloves ?

[chilli_grower]

mine was also small.

Going to add some sand to my beds soon, and then try these two varieties:

province wight

purple wight

[Kirk]

Only really ever had one "good" year, first year I tried them. The garlic came from one of the supermarkets and before that probably somewhere warm. So why it grew well I have no idea. Since then nothing really of significance or real use.

This year the weather was plain ood which hads upset a large amount of vegetables, and I would expect that to be a major factor.

[Bill Door]

Time to experiment me thinks.

two things really. Where did you keep your pots/tubs? If outdoors that is ok, if in a shed or greenhouse then I would move them outside (I expect most of you have thought about that already).

How deep did you put the garlic in the pot? If just under the surface then that is not deep enough. The bulb needs to be twice its depth from the surface. So if the bulb is an inch long the bottom of the bulb needs to be at least 2 inches below the surface.

Instead of just compost try stones at the bottom of the pot/tub and then a good layer of shredded newspaper with chicken pellets or growmore interspersed, topped up with a mixture of soil and compost (whatever you like really). Try to water from below rather than from above, but don't over do if it is in the "rain". Don't feed too much but don't allow weeds to compete.

Your experiment will entail changing the depth of the bulb and the spacing of the bulb with in the pot/tub. You could also experiment with planting now and in the spring. Let us know how you get on.

regards

Bill

[bearded bloke]

Depth is a good point Bill (^^^) I was always told by an old gardener friend to use my thumb as a dibber (if the soil is too compacted to do that then the bed needs more preparation), another thing he said was to push the clove in so that the base made a firm contact with the soil, he seemed to think any air-space between the clove & the soil severly slowed root development).
These points may of course be a load of old "tosh" but they seem to work for me over the last several years

[Stokkers]

How close together did you plant them? Have you had success growing garlic in containers before? I haven't grown it in containers but have found consistent watering to be important in the last few months while the bulbs are maturing, I can imagine in containers this could be an issue.

Hi,

I usually plant the 5-6" apart and knowing that wtering can be problem with containers, I usually add a liberal amount of water retention crystals to each tub, along with slow release fertiliser. This year, I have put it down to the erratic weather conditions, but my onions and shallots did well.

[Stokkers]

Depth is a good point Bill (^^^) I was always told by an old gardener friend to use my thumb as a dibber (if the soil is too compacted to do that then the bed needs more preparation), another thing he said was to push the clove in so that the base made a firm contact with the soil, he seemed to think any air-space between the clove & the soil severly slowed root development).
These points may of course be a load of old "tosh" but they seem to work for me over the last several years

Will make sure I do that this time.

[bramble]

I have grown in containers as well.
The main thing for good results as far as I can see is to plant them deep.
I plant them into half barrels and they seem to do well.

[Chris11]

Stokkers, I've also been growing garlic in containers, and have been getting good results.

You said 'fed every couple of weeks', and it's a bit counter-intuitive to start off with, but that could be a factor. I don't think the onion family are heavy feeders, so you could try reducing that. If there's too much food available, you might be getting more green growth above ground, and less energy going in to swelling the bulbs.

You get the same problem with potatoes sometimes if they've been over fed, especially with a high nitrogen feed. Lots of lush green foliage, then disappointing results when you lift.