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Very odd, I have no garlic

 
Pearl Sutton
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There are several thousand bulbs of asst types of garlic around this yard, including elephant garlic that was here when I got here and is in a location that can't be dug out.

This spring, the garlic tops died back, which startled me, as I have NEVER seen garlic tops die back, I always heard that's when to harvest though, so I have always harvested whenever, as  they never died back. So they died back, I harvested some of them, and spread more around.

There is NO garlic showing. Not even the elephant garlic that has been amok since we got here.   Not any of the asst varieties I have planted, none of the older ones or the ones I just planted. Nothing. The bulbs are there, look healthy.

Any guesses?
I have never seen the tops die back, like they did this year, so I'm already out of my experience. I have grown garlic for over 30 years and never seen die back, and never seen garlic not grow.

Edited to add:
The walking onions, however, are their usual insane selves, running amok all over.
In general, the garlic and the walking onions are the only things I can be sure will grow.

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Jay Angler
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Here we plant garlic in the fall (early Oct) and are told we can harvest it when the lowest two leaves die back (which is after we harvest the scapes). The plants will totally die back in our summer drought, but you guys haven't had drought.

I'm wondering if your bulbs are waiting for slightly cooler weather?

Have you checked to see if newly transplanted ones are spreading their roots? They may be putting their strength there first, before shoots - that's what mine do in the fall - roots first, shoots second. Even so, the bloody birds see the pretty green shoot and can pull the whole bulb out!

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Pearl Sutton
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Jay Angler wrote:
Have you checked to see if newly transplanted ones are spreading their roots? They may be putting their strength there first, before shoots - that's what mine do in the fall - roots first, shoots second.


All of them, old and new, are just sitting there.

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Mark Reed
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I don't often harvest and plant garlic like what is suggested. I just let it do its own thing like in the wild patches where I found it and I go out and dig or pull some when we need it. Grown like this is it completely normal for it to apparently die completely in the heat of summer but it always comes back with cooler weather and a bit of moisture. My favorite garlic is the clumps of small bulbs in early spring, yum. It's normal for us to be a bit lacking on garlic in hot summer.

If your bulbs are still in the ground and healthy I imagine it will be fine. It is interesting thought that yours always stayed green until now. Has it been particularly hot and dry this year?

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Matt McSpadden
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Hi Pearl that is definitely weird. Garlic is usually pretty tough to kill completely like that... congratulations :)

My only thought is perhaps some kind of virus decided it liked your land? Are you in area where something nasty could have been oversprayed?

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Judith Browning
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We harvest late may into june then clean and store bulbs indoors in a basket until fall.

As mentioned above we plant in october and even as late as december.

Garlic needs cold temps to sprout and warm temps to store well...I think yours is just too warm and will sit there until it's happy with the weather.

It should be fine though as any left in the ground intentionally or not will sprout when the time is right.

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Anne Miller
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At one point in my life I had a lovely patch of Egyptian Walking Onions.

Then one day I noticed that I had none.

I also notice the chicken wire fence that surrounds the garden had been disturbed.

My guess is that feral hogs liked my onions.

I decided not to replant to feed feral hogs.

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Jay Angler
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Anne Miller wrote:... I also notice the chicken wire fence that surrounds the garden had been disturbed.

My guess is that feral hogs liked my onions...

From what I've read about feral hogs, it would take *much* more than chicken wire to keep them out.

Please, please, don't anyone be unkind enough to introduce them to my island. I don't think hogs are good enough swimmers to get here on their own.

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Tanya White
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I'm sorry about your garlic! Hope it comes back to life. I usually plant in October or so after harvesting in July. I think garlic may need a period of colder temps. The garlics left behind don't sprout immediately for us.
 
craig howard
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I lost a crop once.
Planted it when it was too dry and the soil sucked all the moisture out of them.
Kinda selected for drought resistance because I had an 1/8th of a bed left.

Doesn't sound like your soil was too dry.
More like they just went into hibernation for a while.

If I miss some and they stay in the ground. They will start to come back up,
but not until September.
 
Anne Miller
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Jay Angler wrote:

Anne Miller wrote:... I also notice the chicken wire fence that surrounds the garden had been disturbed.

My guess is that feral hogs liked my onions...

From what I've read about feral hogs, it would take *much* more than chicken wire to keep them out.

Please, please, don't anyone be unkind enough to introduce them to my island. I don't think hogs are good enough swimmers to get here on their own.



The chicken wire was not to keep out feral hogs as we did not have them at that time.  the chicken wire was for rabbit and/or maybe raccoon.

Once they show up the feral hogs breed like abbits and I doubt it is an easy task to get rid of them.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
Jenn Lumpkin
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I've had Babbington leeks, that had crossed with some kind of winter-hardy leek I'd planted years ago ... and stopped having bulbils that flowered at the tops of the plants and started putting up ball-shaped flowers.  Many of them!  They've been here FOREVER.  
But oddly they've all disappeared, or so it seems to me.  
I've also got Spanish Roja garlic I'd planted from bulbils several years back.  The tops with more bulbils from the plants that were growing just fine this past Spring are still there, but the plants themselves have disappeared.  
I haven't dug down to see if there are bulbs or not.  
I am also in Ozarks.
I've also noticed a couple other odd things.  
The poke plants that had been growing tall at the side of my garden have collapsed (?) overnight!   was it some animal that did it?  But going to the mailbox, another poke plant leaning sideways ...
Apple tree, supposedly disease-resistant, just totally dead.

Reminiscing Remnant

 
May Lotito
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I see a correlation of the size of garlic plant to survive winter and the bulb harvested. I plant my garlic in several locations whenever the plot turns available. The batch first planted always gets biggest bulbs the next year. Usually for the Asiatic velariety I have, young garlic plants grow about 5 leaves before going dormant for over wintering. Some lower leaves and tips will be killed by cold temperatures so having a bigger seedling matters a lot for winter survival.  Especially for this year when a recod cold temperature of below zero F was recorded.

In my case for leftover bulbs left unharvested in the ground, they come up in late August, weeks ahead of fall garlic planting date. Since your bulbs never rot in the ground, they probably will resprout soon for you.

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