Do you know how to prepare garlic for planting
Agree that peeling large garlic cloves is much more convenient and faster than tinkering with small cloves. This crop is planted by all gardeners, but in order to grow a good harvest, it is important to know how to prepare garlic for planting. Preliminary preparation of planting material is a mandatory procedure. Indeed, without it, even in fertile soil, you can not only get small fruits, but completely lose plants due to damage by fungal diseases or pests.
How to prepare garlic for planting
In this regard, preparation for landing should include 3 stages:
- stratification
- calibration;
- disinfection.
Features of stratification
At least a month before planting, or better - 2 months, the garlic is sent for hardening. It should take place at a temperature not exceeding 5 ° C heat, for example, in a refrigerator or pantry. Garlic is folded directly into the heads in a cardboard box and sent to a cool place for 4-8 weeks.
Only spring garlic, which is planted in early spring, is subject to stratification. This will help it develop and mature faster, which means it will extend the shelf life of the crop. Unseen garlic can still grow in the fall, and is stored worse.
Calibration - selection of planting material
Immediately the day before planting, they start disassembling the heads and rejecting them. All heads damaged by rot are completely thrown away, and the remaining healthy ones are taken apart into teeth. They are also examined for accidentally damaged ones (cut with a shovel during digging, for example).
Experienced gardeners are advised to immediately calibrate the teeth by size. If you plant cloves on one bed of the same size, then they will have the same germination. But a couple of large plants formed from large cloves will shade the rest of the smaller garlic.
How to disinfect garlic before planting
Disinfection is another important procedure that will allow you to "kill two birds with one stone." First, the garlic, aged in liquid (soaked for a certain time), grows faster and larger. And secondly, certain preparations are added to the water for disinfection. They will help protect plantings from fungus and pests.
For disinfection, use one of the following:
- Potassium permanganate. Withstand a quarter of an hour in a weak pinkish solution.
- Wood ash. Pour 0.5 kg of ash completely with water, leave for 20 minutes and bring to a boil. Then it is diluted with water (0.5 l of solution per 1 l of water) and garlic is soaked for a day.
- Copper sulfate... In 1 liter of water, dilute 1 tsp. preparation, soak the garlic for 30 minutes.
In addition, special fungicide preparations (Fitosporin, Maxim-M) can be used for disinfection.