Almost all varieties of garlic can be dried and harvested for the winter. A silver-white variety or creole is best suited for harvesting. Vegetable culture perfectly preserves its appearance, useful properties and taste. The plant is 40% solids. Therefore, problems with how to dry garlic should not arise, but you must still follow certain rules.
Types of garlic
There are two types of garlic varieties, depending on the time of planting:
Winter crops include Sail, Dubovsky, Alkor, Yubileiny Gribovsky and others. All of them land in the winter, that is, in the fall, but with the expectation that before the onset of winter, the teeth could take root in the ground. Depending on the region, the landing period is in September or October.
Spring varieties include Gulliver, Aleisky, Sochi 56 and others, planted in the spring.
Storage conditions depending on the type of variety
You need to know how to store garlic depending on the type of variety:
- It is preferable to store winter species at low temperature, in a room with high humidity. The temperature should be kept stable at a level of 2-4 degrees.
- Spring varieties, on the contrary, are better stored indoors at low humidity, but high temperature, about 20 degrees.
Where is it best to plant garlic?
You should never plant a vegetable crop after onions and potatoes. Best of all, garlic will grow where cucumbers, pumpkin and zucchini were previously planted. The plant loves the land, which succumbed to the abundant application of organic fertilizers.
We determine the degree of maturity
Even knowing all the rules on how to dry garlic, it is still necessary to collect it on time.
Spring or autumn plant varieties at the time of ripening have a yellowed aboveground part, which, as a rule, lies on the ground. Harvesting occurs in about the second half of the last month of summer.
Winter varieties may not produce or, conversely, produce arrows. The degree of maturation can be determined by the following criteria:
- the skin of the inflorescences of the upper part of the plant begin to crack;
- lower leaves turn yellow;
- the onion flakes dry and become thin.
As a rule, the harvesting period falls at the end of July. Harvesting is recommended in dry and warm weather.
If you skip the most favorable time for harvesting, then no rules on how to dry garlic will help. Especially if young roots have already begun to erupt at the bottom of the bulb. Overripe garlic can also be determined by the fact that the bulbs of the bulb begin to decay, and the scales burst.
Harvest
It is best to dig the garlic with a pitchfork, in which case the risk of damaging the bulbs is minimized. After this, the plants are laid out right on the bed to dry. From the plant it is necessary to squeeze the earth, but not to pick the foliage.
If the weather is warm and dry, the garlic does not need to be hidden anywhere, let it dry right on the beds. Naturally, if the weather is rainy, then the plants are hidden under a canopy. If it rains only at night, then during the day the bushes can be carried out in the sun and hidden at night under a canopy. About 5 days are allotted for preliminary drying.
Now you need to clean the garlic from the earth and dirt and leave it to dry for 2-3 weeks. The room where the garlic will be dried should be well ventilated. It is possible to determine the readiness of a plant for further storage by the uniformity of color of dried leaves. The main thing is not to prune the stems and roots until the garlic is completely dry. During the drying period, garlic still additionally gains nutrients and increases in weight. Do not bang your heads against each other so as not to damage them. In no case should garlic be washed, even if it had to be harvested in rainy weather.
These simple rules, how to dry garlic after digging, allow you to prepare the crop as well as possible for future wintering.
Storage preparation
After the garlic has dried, it must be prepared for further storage:
- Sort and set aside the one that was damaged when digging.
- Cut the upper aerial part by 10 cm.
- Cut the roots, leaving about 3 cm.
Temperature mode
Depending on the type of variety, garlic must be stored in different conditions. How to dry garlic in autumn varieties - at a temperature of 16 to 20 degrees. Winter varieties must be stored in cool rooms, at a temperature of 2 to 4 degrees. You should also know that winter garlic is worse stored and more susceptible to disease, quickly loses moisture. Humidity in the storage place should be at the level of 50-80%.
Storage methods
How to dry garlic after digging? If all the rules are followed, you can proceed to the immediate preparation of the crop for winter storage. So what are the ways?
Weave and store
Braids are the most common way that has existed since ancient times. Leaves in this case are removed, leaving only a false stem. All plants are intertwined with twine, so that the “construction” for storage is durable. At the bottom, you need to form a loop that allows you to hang garlic in the basement or cabinet. By the same principle, garlic can be woven into the so-called brooms.
The storage location should be dark, not very damp and always cool.
You can store garlic in nets or wicker baskets.
Salt
There is also a storage technique - in sterilized jars. For this method, only those crops that were prepared according to all the rules of how to dry garlic after harvesting are suitable. Bulbs do not need to be cleaned of scales. Glass jars are well washed and sterilized. The plant heads are laid in jars and sprinkled with coarse salt. The main feature of this method is that salt does not allow “sick” garlic. Instead of cans, you can use wooden boxes with low sides.
Cloth bags
Our ancestors kept garlic in linen bags. Depending on the humidity of the room in which the plant will be stored, it is prepared. If the humidity is not high, then the garlic is simply mixed with dry husk. At high humidity, vegetables are pre-rinsed in sodium chloride concentrate and thoroughly dried. Only after the bulbs have dried, garlic is placed in bags of cloth. Salt does not allow the plant to get sick and does not allow pests to spoil the harvest.
In no case should you store garlic with other vegetable crops.
What problems can arise during storage?
Often people complain that even with all the rules for how to dry garlic after digging, despite proper further storage, problems with the crop appear.
However, if mold appeared, then this already indicates that the bulbs are poorly dried or the crop is frozen. Mold quickly "spreads" if the room is high in humidity and very warm. In this case, it is recommended to dry the garlic in direct sunlight, of course, having previously cleaned it of mold.
If the garlic, on the contrary, dries strongly, then it can be dipped in melted paraffin. The thinnest protective layer forms on the bulb, which will not allow moisture to evaporate. In addition, paraffin will protect the plant from pathogens.