[Livinhope]

I bought a couple of garlic bulbs, proper growing ones not from supermarket, and followed the planting directions exactly, time conditions etc.  Make hole, put in layer of grit and sand in case.....covered the bulb with multi purpose, ground not overly wet, quite normal.  Sat back and waited........nothing.  When I dug one up I was greeted with a gloopy mess, the same with the rest.  Any ideas what I did wrong?

[BenefitofHindsight]

Could be a number of possibilities, but the usual cause of rotting before the cloves have sprouted would be waterlogging/poor drainage, although it sounds like you've got that covered.  If planted in the Autumn, poor overwintering conditions may have had an impact though even with the precautions you've taken.

Garlic pests & diseases tend to be soil borne, have you grown onions successfully in the same spot in the past?

Is it possible that you planted the cloves too deeply?  They may just have given up the ghost before reaching daylight (again, sounds unlikely if you followed the instructions)

Always possible that the cloves were damaged either when purchased (assume you would have noticed some soft spots /discolouration on the cloves?, or attacked in the ground (again - soil borne pests...)

BoH

[mumofstig]

Probably nothing.........just one of those things, and not to be worried about :happy:

[BenefitofHindsight]

Probably nothing.........just one of those things, and not to be worried about :happy:

Mumofstig - I'm loving your outlook! very laid back.  Why get stressed over analyzing the problem - mark it down and move on 

As the Bard sayeth, "What fates impose, that men must needs abide; It boots not to resist both wind and tide”

BoH

[Livinhope]

I wasn't 'getting stressed'  I was just asking if anyone had any suggestions.  I followed John Harrisons' recommendations for growing garlic.  This year it will be in pots then transplant.  I imagine it may have been waterlogging because we did have a lot of rain although our plot does drain well, and the cloves were in perfect condition.  I will persevere this November.

[Trillium]

Even though the soil may be well drained, if the garlic area sits in a bit of low area where water would collect for a while, this is enough to finish them off. While garlic does like some water now and then, it detests a lot and sometimes a lot of rainfall will make them spoil quickly whether in pre-growth or growing season. That happened to my mum's last year - she gardens on flat ground and most spoiled quickly in storage. I always plant mine in mounded beds so there's always good runoff and the roots are free of all standing water; haven't lost a crop yet.

[mumofstig]

They grow them in steeply mounded lazy beds for the winter is Greece, which can be very very wet So perhaps we need to be doing the same in the UK.

Mind you here in the SE the spring has been extremely dry, so you can't win :blink:

[jazzbyrd]

If it was a white gloopy mess with a musty smell than it might be white onion rot which affects the allium family.

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/pp728/sclerotium_cepivorum/Sclerotium_cepivorum.html

Jazz

[Trillium]

TMind you here in the SE the spring has been extremely dry, so you can't win :blink:

My summers are pretty dry here (except this year) and I still mound them - just in case - and they still do well. You never know what the weather will be like the following summer.

[mumofstig]

You never know what the weather will be like the following summer.

Never a truer word spoken 

[Zippy]

If your garlic looked like the pic I have posted, I believe this is white rot. Soft grey and white fungus with the bulb eaten away - not the sort of thing you would want to touch let alone eat!

Only three bulbs in a harvest of twenty all in thesame spot though, so maybe these cloves were not right when they went in or were sitting in the wet for a while. Does ordinary rot look like white rot in onions and garlic - anyone know?

PS: pic shows the three bad bulbs getting worse left to right.  All the rest were fine.

[DavidT]

Livinhope, am I right in thinking you planted them in November? If that is the case, they rotted because they were unable to establish themselves. Plant them in september and they will make enough growth to get them through the winter.

[Livinhope]

No didn't look like the photo, there was no growth at all just this lump of splodge, not the sort of thing you want to get your hands into.  Yes, they were planted in November, that's interesting and I see the reasoning behind September planting.  Thanks for that, I wont be beaten September it will be, just one question - inside or out?

[Yorkie]

Mine go straight into the ground, no faffing around with indoor or pots 

[Livinhope]

And you're up north whilst I'm in the warmer milder south so I should be fine.  Can you explain the soft neck varieties as opposed to the other, I believe the soft neck are best which is what I think I had.  One was the Wight something, beautiful bulbs.