[green_lolly]

Whilst weeding around my garlic today some of the stems came out of the ground. Upon investigation the stems of some plants seem to have rotted away just below ground level. I dug for the bulbs and they had disappeared or were small and stunted.

On closer examination I think I have Garlic Rust. Orange patches that stain your fingers when touched.

Is that the cause of the rotted stems and bulbs or do I have more than one problem? 

I only just learned about snapes and trimming them off so is that connected? 

Other info is that I'm not sure of the variety but they were spring planting types.

Oh and I dug up another one and it seems perfect so only some plants are affected.

Any advice would be much appreciated. I have some photos if that would help.   

[compostqueen]

Mine had rust on but the bulbs were ok. Some will rot off, some won't. That's the way of things. They do like free-draining soil so I add some bonfire ash to my bed. I was doing that yesterday    Only from burning natural materials, never rubbish or plastics. Take those home!  The best crop of garlic I ever grew was on the bit where I'd had the bonfire. 

Snapes are perfectly normal and appear on hardneck garlic varieties. These are to be removed and can be cooked and eaten, usually in a pesto, which is lush!  Hardnecks are more suited to our climate so that might be something to consider.  If you grow a range of garlics you will find out which are best suited to your soil.  I buy mine from a good source rather than splitting supermarket unknown varieties from China, which I'm not keen on the idea of. I like to know the variety 

[JayG]

Garlic rust saps the strength of the plant and can therefore affect the development of the bulbs, although I've never found it causes the bulb to actually rot off, although I do have very free draining soil.

On that basis, for me at least a pic or two would help.

The scapes are usually removed (and eaten!) Leaving them on doesn't do any harm but is another diversion of the plant's energies away from bulb formation.

[green_lolly]

[green_lolly]

[green_lolly]

It is pretty free draining soil already but I'll bear in mind about bonfire ash.

They were grown from bulbs for growing not a supermarket one. Got them from the allotment shop.

A couple of things I wondered about was did I plant them too close and I have been fighting a losing battle to prevent them from being swamped with weeds.

I've taken the snapes off and will try using them. Is it just the bulbous bit that you use?

[compostqueen]

Yes, just the bulb bit. Dig them up, don't pull them. Then leave them on the ground for a bit to dry off in the sun 

Then once they're dry you can flake some of the muck and brown foliage off and store them somewhere dry and airy, a well ventilated shed etc

You can eat the scapes if they're in good nick. If they look manky and rusty I'd pass

They look well spaced to me. They're probably fine. They may not all be manky.  You might get some goodly sized ones    Even the small Solent Wight is a goodie, what it lacks in size it makes up for in flavour. 

[Snoop]

When did the scapes appear? A lot of people remove the scapes when they appear and then lift the bulbs three weeks later.

It's not much help for this year, but it might be useful info for next year.

[green_lolly]

Thank you for your advice I shall keep my fingers crossed that I get something in the end and some lessons learned for next year. I'm going to try autumn planting as well.