The following was received via email: We have planted garlic in our garden and it does grow nicely but at a certain point , the garlic becomes "infected" by something in the soil and it rots. The cloves are formed but they are rotten. We think there is some fungus in the soil. We have no problem with any of our other plantings. We now have cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers , sweet and hot, broccoli, eggplant and parsley , string beans and these have been in an over abundance and are healthy. We plant the garlic every year and this occurs every time. Can you offer a solution? Is there something that we can put in the soil that will help grow healthy garlic? Thank you for your help.
You are most probably dealing with a fusarium rot or sclerotinia rot. both are enhaced by damp soils and close planting. garlic is a mediterranian/middleastern plant and so you should be trying to duplicate those conditions. the best thing to do is to buy certified or organic 'seed garlic' not the suff from the local safeway! ammend the sould so that it is atleast 50% sand to encourage good drainage. feed with an even numbered fertilizer such as 6:8:6 and give the plants good deep waterings. plant the cloves at least 3-5 fingerwidths apart. the sand will eventually disappear from the soil due to compaction and the action of water and weather. replace the sand as needed when you are thinning out the crop and/or weeding. rotate the garlic and its relatives from that area for at least 2 years and you should have success
White rot is plaguing the large growers in California and elsewhere, and may well be in your seed garlic, and now your soil. As pierrot mentions, try rotating to a new area, and be careful what seed garlic you use. I know it seems awful expensive compared to just taking some from the grocery store, but once you get good healthy stuff growing then you could carefully save some of the best bulbs for planting next time. Glen
