Production Method and Cultivar Effects on Garlic Over-wintering Survival, Bulb Quality, and Yield

Abstract

Garlic (Allium sativum) is a popular specialty vegetable sold at many local market venues. Recently, the demand for high-quality garlic has prompted grower interest in producing this crop for direct markets. A 2-year study was conducted at the Southern Illinois University Horticulture Research Center in Carbondale to evaluate eight currently recommended garlic cultivars on a silty loam soil, as well as compare garlic produced on bare soil during the winter and wheat (Triticum aestivum) straw mulch in the spring to black plastic. ‘Idaho Silverskin’ (softneck, silverskin type) and ‘Persian Star’ (hardneck, purple-stripe type) were the best cultivars of those evaluated for the lower midwestern United States based upon various yield and quality characteristics. ‘Idaho Silverskin’ and ‘Persian Star’ had 100% winter survival (regardless of production method), high bulb quality, low amounts of foliar disease, high marketable yields with low cull production (>96% of bulblets developed marketable bulbs), and low amounts of bulb rot (<7%). Black plastic provided greater winter protection for garlic (95% survival rate) compared with bare soil (85% survival rate). Greater marketable weights and bulb diameters (50% and 23% increase, respectively) resulted when garlic was grown in black plastic compared with the bare soil/wheat straw mulch treatment.