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Garlic Issue

Hello everyone,
 
I got started late planting garlic.  Ordered some cloves from Filaree and put them in dirt in December.  Southern Cal temps average 70°.  I think you are supposed to harvest when lower leaves are brown and 6 leaves remain green?  Anywho, they did not grow very big now 7 months later.  Watered weekly.  Full sun.  Planted Tosh, Music and Spanish Rojo.  What the hell?  Should I have given them another month?
 
 
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First year growing for me and I pulled one bulb this week just to see it. It was not as large as I would have thought. I am going to let mine go another couple of weeks.
 
Yes, should have waited longer.
 
Try replanting and see what happens. 
 
Next time only pull one or dig around the bulb to inspect it, without disturbing the roots.
 
Did you stick your seed in the refridgerator to get them jump started? If you don't have any freezing days, hardnecks won't get as big as they would if they did. They need vernalization (cooling off period). Here's a website that tells about it... notice that it mentions lengthening the time in the fridge, according to how warm your springs are:
 
http://greyduckgarlic.com/Southern_Garlic_Grower_Guide.html#Cold
 
Also, I've seen a few different opinions as to when to harvest. One is when there are 4-5 leaves still green; and one was when 40% of the leaves are still green. If you didn't know, each green leaf corresponds to the number of skins the bulb has. Too few skins =  the cloves will start separating, resulting in a short shelf life.
 
     It's hard to tell in your pics, but some of your bulbs look like they may have lesions on them. Peel the skin off one of them and take a close look with a magnifying glass. See if you have bulb mites. I lost my crop to them last season. 
 
Did they get scapes - the long flower stem that grows from the middle of the plant? The Music and Rojo should have scaped. If you left them on, it draws energy away from enlarging the bulb and into creating a flower and seeds. In NJ, I start harvesting scapes some time in June, depending on how the winter went.
 
ako1974 said:
Did they get scapes - the long flower stem that grows from the middle of the plant? The Music and Rojo should have scaped. If you left them on, it draws energy away from enlarging the bulb and into creating a flower and seeds. In NJ, I start harvesting scapes some time in June, depending on how the winter went.
 
I see at least two scapes in the pic.
 
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