When and why should you tie garlic leaves?

To get high-quality garlic, gardeners use the old “grandfather’s” trick. Garlic leaves are tied a few days before harvesting, imitating a peculiar, not very tight knot. Similar nodules made from garlic tops can often be found in the garden beds of grandmothers, who believe that after such a procedure the bulbs will be better stored. There is no scientific data on whether it is possible to extend the shelf life of garlic in this way. But knitting garlic before harvesting remains a tradition that can be explained.

Important! Garlic, due to its biological characteristics, grows its feathers even during the formation of the bulb.

Why tie garlic?

Such techniques have a logical explanation.Why waste energy on a useless process? Perhaps, initially, in this way they tried to protect the bulb from infection during the period of its active formation. As a result, the quality of the tied garlic was higher. The bulbs were stored better. This result is quite understandable.

Unlike onions, in garlic the transition of substances from the above-ground part to the bulb occurs much more slowly.

The dying off of leaves is not as intense. The process of formation of cloves and bulbs occurs for some time simultaneously with the continued growth of the feather. Tying garlic into knots affects the green part of the plant, which is responsible for a number of important functions, including photosynthesis. Biological stress triggers the process of intensive outflow of nutrients to the bulb. The leaves begin to quickly dry out, from which protective scales are formed. The bulb is the storage organ of the plant; it loses the ability to germinate, but acquires the ability for long-term storage.

Of course, the quality and size of the bulbs are largely influenced by the composition of the soil and proper care. But a simple and completely free technique has a right to exist. Everyone has the right to decide for themselves whether it is necessary to spend additional effort on its implementation.

Note! Harvesting dates for winter and spring garlic differ significantly.

When to tie garlic?

It is customary to tie the tops 3–5 days before harvest. Therefore, you need to determine the cleaning time for yourself as accurately as possible. Why is this so important?

1. This is due to the fact that spring and winter garlic differ in the timing of planting and harvesting. It is the moment of harvesting that determines when to tie the garlic leaves.The winter variety ripens in the first half of July, and the spring variety, depending on the variety, a few weeks later. For late-ripening spring varieties, the growing season can last until the end of September or the first days of October.
2. There are situations when there are several varieties on the site with different ripening periods, what to do in this case. You need to understand that if garlic is not harvested on time, it outgrows and is divided into cloves. So you need to approach the harvesting process taking into account the characteristics of the variety. Collect the bulbs as they ripen, without waiting for massive feather lodging.
3. Also, the start of harvesting is affected by abnormal weather conditions. What to do if the summer is rainy or dry? Increased temperatures or prolonged periods of rain change the growth rate and quality of the bulbs. So, in abnormal situations, it is better to remove the garlic earlier than to be late in harvesting.

The main signal for harvesting is yellowing of the tips of the feathers and cracking of the husks on the inflorescences. All these signs indicate that the process of bulb formation has begun, and you need to prepare for harvesting.

Note! Timely removal of flower shoots increases the yield of bulbs by 3 times.

How to tie garlic?

Before tying the garlic feather, pay attention to the flower arrows. If your garlic is throwing out flower shoots, then the question arises whether you need to trim the shoots, which by this point are becoming very tough. Of course, the arrows are removed, and ideally not before cleaning, but much earlier. About a couple of months after germination, garlic begins to form flower arrows. The tough stem must be cut as early as possible at a level of 2–3 cm.If you did not have time to do this, you will have to remove the arrows at this stage. This procedure applies to winter varieties. Cultivated spring varieties do not produce shoots.

After removing the shoots, the garlic tops can be easily tied into any knots.

1. The procedure is simple, but it is advisable to tie the garlic while wearing work gloves. By the final stage of growth, garlic feathers become stiff. It is easy to injure your hands with rough feathers. Fresh juice is quite toxic and can leave burns on the skin.
2. At the first stage, from plants that have a flower arrow, remove it in any convenient way. The arrow is quite rigid. The stem can simply be broken off with your hands, but not pulled out. As a result of a careless break, the bulb can simply be torn out of the ground, but what’s worse is that its integrity can be damaged. I trim the stems with pruning shears, but pruning shears or a sharp knife are suitable for pruning.
3. After you cut the stem of the peduncle, start tying the feather. Wrap your hands around the garlic foliage and twist it slightly to form a rope to avoid breaking off individual feathers when tying. Proceed carefully; do not crush the leaves. Tie the feather rope into a regular knot.
4. If the height of the feather is not sufficient, twist the leaves into two strands and tie them with a straight knot. Too tall feathers from neighboring plants can be tied together to speed up the work. In the case when the feather turned out to be too short, I simply tied a pigtail out of it.

It is clear that there are many ways of dressing. In each specific case, the most suitable node is used. When the procedure is completed, the tied plants are left in this form until harvested. During harvesting, the plants are dug up, carefully pulled out of the ground and placed under a canopy to dry.The feather is not trimmed, since the process of ripening the bulb is still ongoing. Only after the leaves have completely dried do they trim the roots and remaining feathers.

Of course, with a large planting area, it will not be possible to tie feathers on all plants. But in a small area this is quite possible. Shortly before harvesting, it is customary to loosen the soil and rake away the soil from the bulbs. This is convenient to do after the feather is tied in a knot and does not interfere with the processing of row spacing. Of course, such work requires additional time. Here everyone has the right to make a choice. After all, no one can give guarantees that garlic after such pre-harvest preparation will become of better quality and will be stored longer.