Secrets of effectively growing garlic at home and on an industrial scale as a business

Garlic is one of the most popular crops for growing among summer residents and gardeners. And professional gardeners turn this process into a profitable business. In the article we will analyze in detail the intricacies and secrets of growing garlic, and also tell you in detail how you can start a business selling garlic from scratch.

Winter and spring varieties of garlic

What does the structure of garlic look like? It consists of a bulb (aka head), bottom (short stem coming from the bulb), leaves, shoots, inflorescences, bulbs (or aerial bulbs, they are formed in an inflorescence in quantities from 2 to 500 or more).

Garlic is divided into winter and spring according to the time of planting. Winter varieties are planted in autumn, and spring varieties in spring. Let's look at their features and differences between themselves.

Winter varieties:

• garlic bulbs are larger and smoother, contain fewer cloves - no more than 9 in one head. They are located evenly around the central rod;
• more productive;
• the growing season is shorter;
• shooters (with few exceptions) - throws out shooters with air bulbs;
• does not have a long shelf life, it is better to use fresh or preserve.

Spring varieties:

• there is no central core, the teeth are larger in number, they are smaller, arranged in a spiral, smaller inside, larger towards the edge;
• less productive;
• the growing season is longer;
• non-shooting;
• stored until the next harvest.

You can test the varieties yourself by choosing a few you like and growing them. You can also buy from friends. There will always be gardeners who are great at growing garlic. A few bulbs are enough for planting.

Varieties adapted for planting in the middle zone:

1. Winter crops: Podmoskovny, Dobrynya, Yubileiny Gribovsky.
2. Spring: Elenovsky, Sochinsky-56, Gulliver.

Before planting, you need to sort out the cloves and make sure that they:

• dry, strong (discard soft ones);
• there is no infection on them;
• they are large.

Plant garlic with the base down and the sharp tip up. Carefully separate the cloves from the garlic head without damaging the base, otherwise they will not grow.

Opinions vary regarding pre-planting treatment. If you have chosen planting material whose properties you are confident in, you can skip this step. It is better to treat an unfamiliar one with a fungicide.

Optimal time for planting

Time for landing depends on varieties, weather conditions and soil characteristics.

Planting garlic before winter - timing

It is recommended to plant winter crops 20-25 days before the soil freezes.

Due to the unpredictability of the weather, the garlic may become damp or freeze. The likelihood of getting a good harvest increases if you plant in two approaches, at the end of September and mid-October. Planted to a depth of 6–7 cm. In regions with harsh winters, to prevent garlic from freezing, the holes are deepened to 10 cm.

Planting in spring in open ground

Spring crops are planted towards the end of April, and even earlier in sunny beds. This is done when the snow has already melted, in slightly moist soil with a stable temperature of at least 5 degrees. Planted at a depth of 3-5 cm.

Growing and caring for garlic in open ground

Let's take a step-by-step look at how to properly grow garlic and care for it.

Selecting soil for planting

The principle of choosing a landing site - sun or partial shade. The soil should be crumbly and well-drained.

Important! Garlic loves the sun. The more it is, the more abundant the harvest.

Garlic prefers neutral soils. Acidity is reduced with dolomite flour or slaked lime, and increased with ash.

Winter varieties like airy sandy loam. Spring prefer slightly acidic loam.

Garlic loves to “move” from place to place. If you plant it in the same bed more than once, it begins to get sick and wither. The soil is allowed to rest for 3-4 years (if infected with rot - 6-7 years) and only then is it planted again.

It is important to know what grew at the planting site before the garlic and what grows next to it:

• It is good to plant after legumes, cabbage, melons, cucumbers, lettuce;
• bad - after onions, potatoes, tomatoes;
• gets along next to lettuce, beans, tomatoes, parsnips and kohlrabi;
• does not like proximity to radishes, beets, carrots, asparagus and spinach.

Reference. Roses protect garlic from aphids.

Preparing a bed for planting garlic

If the land is not developed, make raised beds with at least 25 cm of loose structured soil enriched with organic matter. In the first years, it is better to loosen the soil with a pitchfork without turning the layer, add organic matter only from above and entrust loosening the soil to living organisms, the roots of weeds and green manure.

Attention! You cannot fertilize a garlic bed with manure.

Garlic does not do well in beds fertilized with fresh manure. The soil under it should not be too dense so that it does not push it to the surface. But too soft too - it can pull down and the heads will grow small.

Caring owners prepare the beds in advance.

Under spring: one to two weeks before planting, dig up the ground, making sure that there is no wheatgrass and other rhizomatous weeds, lay a layer of compost about 10 cm thick and cover it with film. On the day of planting, the soil is loosened, furrows are prepared and planted.

For winter: In the spring it is better to plant peas or other crops, after which garlic grows better. Pea greens can not be removed from the garden, but left as organic fertilizer. Before planting, cover the bed with compost, etc.

Landing rules

Standard: 25–45 cm between rows, 10–20 cm between large winter plants, 7–10 cm for spring plants. Depends on the variety - you can calculate it by looking at the size of the ripe heads in the description.

Attention! Be sure to mulch and loosen the soil - this will preserve moisture and oxygen in the ground.

For mulching, hay, grass, sawdust or straw are used. The top of the beds of winter garlic is covered with compost. Under a mulch of 5 cm of dry leaves, garlic will not be afraid of harsh winters. But before germination, the leaves must be removed, otherwise it will be difficult to fight weeds.

Caring for garlic after planting

After planting, steps follow such as loosening, weeding, watering, and mulching with organic matter.

During the third leaf phase, mulch with rotted manure and water abundantly; loosen the soil for a couple of days. Garlic cannot be grown without oxygen.

Most of the regrown arrows are removed as soon as a loop appears. Inflorescences with large cotyledons are left for growing bulblets.

Fertilizer and feeding

They feed it with organic matter. The plantings are regularly mulched with it - the first time after 2 weeks, then after a month, the last time - 2-3 weeks before harvest.

If there is not enough organic matter, potassium salts and superphosphates are introduced into the furrows next to the plantings.Additionally, you can powder the plantings with gypsum.

Important! Garlic needs less nitrogen and more potassium and phosphorus.

Watering

It is carried out once a week if there is no precipitation.

As a rule, rain is sufficient - especially for plants planted in partial shade.

Garlic does not like moisture, but heat is also dangerous for it. If the leaves droop from lack of moisture, a rich harvest will not work.

Common diseases and pests

The most common diseases:

1. Bottom rot (or fusarium). Signs of damage: yellowing of leaves, death of roots.
2. Bacterial rot. Signs of damage: the formation of brown ulcers on the teeth, which become glassy, ​​“frozen.”
3. Downy mildew (or downy mildew). Signs of damage: the appearance of a gray coating on the leaves and arrows, drying of the affected parts of the plant, immaturity of the bulbs.

Of the insect pests, the greatest damage is caused by onion flies and their larvae, which feed on the tissue of the bulbs.

By carrying out selection and planting no more often than once every 3-4 years, pesticides can be eliminated, and ACC can be used for prevention.

Harvesting

Garlic is harvested in dry, sunny weather. If this is not expected, a film canopy is constructed and the earth is raked away from the bulbs.

Winter garlic collected after the arrows straighten.

Spring – when the upper leaves turn yellow and the lower leaves begin to adhere to the soil.

You can extend ripening by two to three weeks by tying the leaves in a knot. The weight of the bulb will be much greater.

Attention! If the neck is not ripe, moisture will get through it - this will lead to rotting.

To check the ripening of the crop, dig up a couple of heads:

• first the bulb is young;
• then the teeth begin to take shape, they can already be separated;
• then the husk dries, the onion is covered with a thin shell without breaks;
• after a week, bulbs appear with a rupture of the shell and the decay of overripe cloves;
• Garlic must be harvested at the stage of dry flakes without breaking.

Storage

Thanks to phytoncides, garlic is resistant to diseases, pests and various temperatures. However, there are some rules for storing it.

After harvesting, the garlic is dried in the sun in a ventilated place. (you need to shake it periodically). Drying time is 10–15 days. The leaves and roots are not cut off immediately - they will provide nutrients for the ripening of the garlic. It is better to cut them after drying. An indicator that the garlic is well dried is dry husk and bottom.

After drying, it is sorted and left in a dry, ventilated area. You can store it at any temperature above 0, the humidity should not be higher than 80%, otherwise the teeth will lock up and begin to rot.

Garlic is stored in nets, cardboard boxes and wooden boxes - loosely or braided with leaves. Old nylon stockings or pillowcases are suitable for hanging.

Winter garlic does not last long. Already in the summer it is used in home preparations. You can simply clean it and fill it with oil or vinegar.

Important! Planting material requires special storage. It must be protected from changes and average temperatures, otherwise it will begin to germinate. Either stable heat (18–25 degrees) or stable cold (1–5 degrees).

How to grow garlic from bulbs?

Garlic does not have seeds. Garlic is a crop with a three-year cycle: from a bulb to a single clove, then to a clove, and from a clove to the same bulb again.

The arrows are cut off as soon as the outer wrapper holding the bulbs begins to burst. They are tied into bunches and hung in a cool, shaded place to ripen.

The material is calibrated by selecting formed, dense bulbs with a diameter of 3 mm or more.

When sowing bulbs 5x5 cm per 1 sq. m will grow almost 400 one-toothed, they are enough for a bed of 10 square meters. m. When planted 20x20 cm, heads of 100 g or more will grow.

Using seeders, sow to a depth of 2–4 cm at the same time as winter garlic.

After sowing, the beds are mulched with humus or compost with a layer of 8–10 cm.

Growing bulbs in the second year will reduce the cost of seed. Plants from sets are more viable and productive.

How and what to feed garlic after winter so it doesn’t turn yellow

If the leaves turn yellow, the root system is damaged. This may be due to increased acidity of the soil, lack of nitrogen, potassium, watering, as well as damage by diseases or pests.

The problem can be solved by applying insecticide and fertilizing, loosening the soil and increasing watering.

Why does garlic shrink and how can it be avoided?

Garlic is a crop that loses its qualities over the years, even to the point of degeneration. It is necessary to annually revitalize the planting material by a quarter, or better yet, by a third. This will have a beneficial effect on the quality, rejuvenation and health of plants.

Growing garlic as a business

When the technology for growing garlic is well studied, you can think about making a profit.

Garlic as an industrial crop has advantages:

• the culture is relatively unpretentious;
• grows in open ground;
• does not require complex agricultural work;
• costs are minimal, no large start-up capital is needed;
• is in constant demand, distribution channels are easy to find.

Profitability of growing garlic

Let's figure out how to calculate the possibility of growing garlic on a large scale.

Attention! The result directly depends on the size of the plot, the selected variety, etc. Average figures are used in the calculations.

Depending on the variety, you can get from 10 to 50 tons of crop per hectare. A well-chosen variety will increase the yield 5 times.

Business payback

Large volumes cannot be sold to small resellers and cannot be sold on the market yourself; you need to enter into an agreement with a large wholesaler. This is reliable, but not always profitable (the wholesale price will be 35–50 rubles per kg, or 35,000–50,000 rubles per ton). This is due to the fact that the intermediary assumes all risks for further storage and sale.

A nearby cannery or other food industry enterprise will increase the wholesale price - for example, a chain of restaurants.

By selling the harvest from 1 hectare at the minimum wholesale price, you can not only recoup costs during the season, but also receive at least 115,500 rubles in profit.

It’s easy to sell the harvest from 1 acre to small grocery stores. The selling price will be higher than the wholesale price, but not significantly, 50–60 rubles per kg. If you sell it yourself on the market, it will increase to 110–140 rubles, but in this case the risks increase.

If it is necessary to purchase equipment and seed, the minimum income from sales (5,000 rubles for a harvest of 100 kg per hundred square meters) is not enough to recoup the costs. Profitability will appear on a plot of 7 acres or more.

Where to start a garlic business?

First you need to determine your capabilities and draw up a business plan.

It’s better to start with a small area and manual labor. If the business pays off — you can expand the area and rent/purchase equipment.

Do not forget that a large area is more difficult to process. Find sales channels first and only then expand plantings.

Tips and tricks

Growing crops can be a rewarding, albeit labor-intensive, endeavor. The main thing is to adequately assess your capabilities, remember to alternate garlic with other crops, choose varieties wisely, engage in health improvement and take care of plantings.

Conclusion

Garlic is indispensable in cooking. For centuries, people have been using the plant as part of potions and ointments to treat migraines, poisonous bites, burns, wounds, pain relief, strengthening the strength and protective properties of the body. Garlic benefits the garden; its bactericidal properties protect plants planted nearby from infection.

Thanks to the variety of varieties, garlic can be grown in almost all climate zones.With minimal investment, you will make this activity also profitable.