Garlic Growing in South East Wales

Pests and Diseases

Onion pests and diseases also affect garlic. There are only 4 serious problems

White Rot. Land infected by this disease should be avoided.
Stem Eelworm can devastate crops and reduce yields. It is transmitted vegetatively in the cloves, so clean stocks should be used for planting. Hot water treatment can control the problem in planting stocks.
Virus spread by aphids can be serious. Three or four viruses are typically found, usually Onion Yellow Dwarf Virus. Plants may be killed but stock can also be symptom-less carriers. Some “cleaned-up” stocks may be available via Dr David Walkey at HRI Wellsbourne, which gives superior yields to non-cleaned stocks.
Penicillium fungus attacks bulbs and cloves in store. The slightest damage or bruising allows disease entry which can spread rapidly in humid conditions.

Varieties and Stocks

Good stocks of garlic for planting are crucial to production of high yields of high quality garlic. There are two main types of garlic variety.

Broadleaved, early, e.g. Blanc de la Drome.
Narrowleaved, e.g. Fructidor.

Fructidor has always proved the most reliable and consistent variety giving good yields and quality. Better French stocks of this and other varieties are now available, which have been partly cleaned up. Other useful varieties are the early types, Messidrome and Thermidrome and the later types, Rose du Bar and Printanor. Stocks for climates further away from Northern France may not be suitable as they will not be acclimatised to UK conditions. (“Cleaned-up” garlic has been available from Dr David Walkey, HRI, Wellsbourne, Warwick CV35 9EF, telephone 0789 470 382)
Certain Seeds Merchants can provide garlic, e.g. Nickersons, Vegetable Seeds Department, Joseph Nickerson Research Centre, Rothwell, Lincoln LN7 6DT, telephone 0472 371 531. They supply “Solent Wight” strain as bulbs, also seed. About 200kg of bulbs is required per acre. Suppliers in France who may be able to supply:

Company Name & Address	Telephone
Groupement Producteurs Region Montelimar “Les Boulats” La Laupie 26200 Montelimar	75 46 74 79
Gie Val Drone “Les Pues” Grane 26400 Crest	75 62 70 25
UCCS Selectionneurs Silo de Puygiron La Batie Rolland 26160 La Bugude de Mazenc	75 53 81 69

Harvesting

Harvesting begins in late July. For market, bulbs are lifted as soon as the top leaves turn yellow, because skin cut quality deteriorates if delay occurs and the weather turns wet. Skins are also subject to staining once the bulbs are mature.

For processing or splitting for replanting, the bulbs can be left longer to increase yield and to allow the outer bulb skin to split.

Harvesting is the most difficult operation in growing garlic. It grows 50mm below the soil surface and bruises extremely easily. Machine lifting trials have failed to find anything gentle enough to carry out this operation so the usual process is to under-cut, followed by hand lifting.

Topping by mechanical means is possible, but for the fresh market, final trimming is done by secateurs.

In both USA and New Zealand, machine lifting for processing is carried out but there are no details available. Experimental lifters have also been developed in Russia and Czechoslovakia. These uplift the bulbs by belt-pullers following under-cutting, with soil separation and topping done by disc cutters. About a quarter of a hectare per hour can be carried out by this type of machine and up to 4% of the crop can be damaged. Summer rainfall can make the job difficult through soil adhering to the bulbs, enhanced skin staining and development of moulds.

The weather data for west Herefordshire indicates that rainfall levels for the lifting period in south east Wales would probably be similar to those of the Isle of Wight, on average.

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