Tell Me About Garlic?!

I have been looking for something that I can grow around here, and actually turn a profit on!

Was snooping around online, and last years USDA "Top 10 crops" show Garlic at number 8!

It says:

8. Garlic. The payoff on growing garlic can be big for those who grow “gourmet” garlic. There are 3 types of gourmet garlic, also called hardneck garlic. They are Rocambole, Purplestripe and Porcelain, and once you have experienced their superior flavor, you’ll never want to go back to ordinary garlic again. That’s why customers are willing to pay high prices – as much as $10 a pound – to get their favorite varieties. Another grower and customer favorite is Elephant garlic, whose large, mild cloves bring $6-$8 per pound. In good soil, an acre of Elephant garlic can yield 15,000 pounds. It is very hard to lose a crop of garlic crop, as it tolerates a wide range of soil and weather conditions. That’s why some growers call garlic the “mortgage lifter.”

So, how would I plant the garlic? I am sure that I could plow, disc, harrow, and that would be fine right? But then I would need to plant it!

Would there be a way that I could rig up my 8 foot seeder to plant garlic? Not sure what the appropriate spacing would be, but I would imagine that my Case drill is probably 6 or 8 inch spacing, so if need be, I could plug up every other hole and double that spacing?

Then would I need to cultivate it? Want to be all organic, so no sprays or anything.

Then when it came time to harvest, how would I do that? By hand with a spade and basket I guess?

I am really interested in this, I have the option to do up to 6 acres this year, but if that is what I am going to do, I need to get to figuring this stuff out!

What do you guys think? Bryce

It grows wild in my yard, no fertilizer, drought, monsoon, doesn't matter after a single planting. Planted some years ago and it must produce rhizomes as it comes back on it's own. If you want something that smarts as bad as Horseradish root, grab a growing pod of garlic and have a bite. Your nose will think it is a jet engine and your nostrils the exhaust. Ha!

That's the best I can do. Don't know a thing about commercial production or harvesting techniques to get the pods up undamaged, nor your commercial market. However it's a known fact that it is good for your health, very good. Give some to your partner so you can stand each other. Grin

Mark

You need a market for it first. Other than the initial tillage and seedbed prep it's all manual work. You might be able to cultivate with a tractor for weeds.

You aren't planting seeds, can't plant with a conventional drill or planter. You're planting cloves of garlic in the fall and come spring they grow and in July you harvest. Weed pressure reduces yield significantly (bulb size and weight). Disease pressure and insect pressure can wipe you out and keep you from replanting garlic for YEARS. Once you dig the bulbs you need to peel the outer wrapper leaves to get the dirt off, you can't wash it like potatoes. You'll need curing sheds to keep the bulbs drying and laid out in a single layer to prevent mold. Then you can sell. Hire all your friends for hot, tedious work.

Soil prep is as you described. Garlic I grow is planted in four 8" rows with 8" spacing between cloves. Then I leave 36" unplanted, then back to the 4 rows . All hand labor planting and harvesting. You will need a place to dry the garlic, good air circulation and water tight. Lots of cost to get started, seed is expensive. Also lots of disease problems.

I grow Garlic - the Hardneck variety.

I would suggest you go small to start out with. I plant and harvest mine by hand.

Go to a "Garlic Festival" in your area.
............ and by all means, subscribe to this GARLIC NEWS publication.

I admire your interest in growing this amazing "vegetable"!
Garlic News

We have grown 1800 heads of garlic per year for the last 13 years. In this climate we have to plant in the fall for a summer harvest as there is not a long enough growing season to get it in one year. We are around zone 4/5. It is easy to grow as it has not pests that get after it and we have never had any disease problems. We don't sell it so I can't comment on that.
Zach

Like DLMKA says: identify and confirm your market before you plant the first clove. Decide if this is for fun or for profit. You may have the best garlic west of Italy but if you can't sell it when it's ready, it's a hobby.

I you have a market to sell it, go after it. Growing is the "easy" part. Around here in Ohio garlic is planted in the fall for harvest the following year. I have planted in the spring but results are less than ideal.
Maybe use spring/summer to see if the market is viable in your location for this type of endeavor. Then plan accordingly.

If you want to do garlic, you are either very late or very early to do any figuring. Garlic is very labor intensive and requires a long growing season. Where you live, you should have planted no later than last October. And 6 acres? Better get some help.
Maybe a better crop would be onions. I plant mine through black plastic with drip irrigation. Keeps the weeds down, produces a bumper crop, and they sell well. Also, there are many different varieties of onions. The "gourmet" onions sell for good money at farmers markets. Tropia, Cipollini, and Candy onions do well in your climate, and sell for premium prices.

Bryce.......wanna turn a profit? Try walla-walla onions. Same growing scheme as garlic. .......Dell

Okay, so Garlic may be out then!

Here are the problems I have:

0 Man power, I couldn't think of ANYONE that I could even hire to help me, so it needs to just be me, and maybe my mom/dad.

No processing/storage. Can't have something that needs to be dried, or processed, need it to come out of the field, and go to the buyer.

What other "odd" crops are there that I can grow?

I will still plan on trying for oats this year, for hay, but I don't see hay as being something that I could live off of!

What do you guys think?

What type of planters do you have besides the grain drill? If that's all you have your basically limited to peas, and beans, and maybe corn and vine crops if you block off lots of the cups.
Everything else would likely be to heavy and crowed to grow decent.

Well, they say garlic keeps vampires away. Do you reckon it keeps the government away too? They're a type of vampire right?

I just have an 8 foot seed drill... I don't have a combine though, so right now, harvesting by hand is the only option! Soon, I should have an AC All Crop to at lest borrow, maybe will have my own, not sure yet...

Like I said, for this year I will just mow my oats for hay... Next year, who knows! Bryce

Garlic, a little bit is good (flavoring) and I like a little bit sometimes; but a lot is bad (Garlic breath strong enough to knock over a horse). My second wife used to put it on her food by the truckloads, I couldn't stand to be in the same building with her when she did that. LOL

Might want to try Strawberrys. Everyone likes Strawberrys; besides, if they don't sell, there lots of ways to use them up; on your cereal or ice cream, Strawberry Jam, Strawberry Wine, etc., etc., etc., long list of things to do with Strawberrys.

:>)

I think boutique garlic is one of the latest fad things, everyone thinks they will get rich on it. The only ones that are getting rich are the ones selling the seed stock. Just like llamas, potbellied pigs, mini horses....


A neighbor spent a grand on seed and planted their "get rich" patch this fall, planning to use it to grow the seed for their big patch next year. That grand planted a decent sized garden of raised beds. I guess time will tell.

been planting around a bushel every year, no natural pests but some things they can come down with. Bill
cornell university growing garlic

now that was funny !! I don't care who ya are...

I usually sell sweet corn, tomatoes, melons.
And several years, gladiolus,(cut flowers) THAT was the best seller ! In southern Michigan....

Here is my suggestion....
Pay attention to talk shows, cooking shows and Doctor shows on television. Whatever they are talking about and cooking with, that is what you plant and grow for your local Farmers Market. Blueberries, Cherries, Cucumbers, Zucchini, to name a few.

We have neighbor that grows veggies for their Consumer Supported Agric. CSA. One of the things they offer is garlic. It is planted in fall and harvested in late summer. They use old tobacco sheds with screen racks to dry them. It's all hand labor for them.

what about sweet corn?