How to prune garlic for storage after harvesting?

Storing garlic is a fairly simple task, but requires some knowledge. If stored incorrectly, the vegetable will deteriorate over time and will have to be thrown away. Therefore, before storing, you need to familiarize yourself with how to properly cut garlic for storage and how to properly process garlic after digging.

When to remove garlic from the garden?

Many inexperienced gardeners know nothing about garlic harvesting. Before you start harvesting, you need to figure out when to harvest and cut the garlic from the garden.

The lunar calendar is often used to determine dates. With it, you can get information about the right time to harvest vegetables.And also determine when to dig up garlic bulbs so that they are better stored in winter. However, it still cannot be used to determine the exact day of harvesting vegetables, since everything depends on the date of their planting.

In order to accurately choose the most suitable time for harvesting in the spring, it is necessary to determine that the garlic is ripe. To do this, pay attention to the leaves of the plant. In ripe vegetables, they gradually dry out by two-thirds. If you collect unripe fruits, they will often get sick and poorly stored in winter.

Also, the timing of the harvest depends on the type of garlic grown:

• Spring. This is a summer-autumn variety that does not shoot and ripens for a long time. Spring garlic is removed from the garden when its foliage begins to wither and turn yellow.
• Winter garlic. From the name it is clear that this variety refers to winter plants. To determine the timing of harvesting garlic heads, carefully inspect the plant. The lower leaves of ripe garlic turn yellow, and the skin on the inflorescences gradually cracks.Most often, this variety will fully ripen by the end of July or by the beginning of August. It is not recommended to delay winter garlic with boron, as this will reduce the quality of the harvested crop. Inopportunely harvested plants overripe, causing their heads to fall apart and deteriorate.

How do I know if garlic is ready to harvest?

It is known that garlic is not cut immediately and before harvesting you need to make sure that it is ready.

To determine the readiness of the vegetable to be harvested during the cultivation and formation of garlic, one control bush is planted in the garden. When the cultivation of seedlings is completed and the vegetable is fully ripe, its arrow will burst and scales and bulbs will be visible under it. This is what indicates the complete readiness of the bushes for digging for further storage.

How to properly clean from the garden?

Many are interested in how to properly collect garlic for storage. To create optimal conditions for collection, site preparation is underway. To do this, watering the bushes and feeding them with organic and mineral fertilizers is stopped in advance. It is also recommended to partially rake the earth from the plants in order to speed up the ripening of the garlic heads. After that, you can start harvesting.

Garlic should be harvested on sunny days so that there is no dirt on the site. During digging, the fruits are carefully dug up with a shovel or fork. Some do not know whether to wash garlic when digging it out of the ground. It is not necessary to wash, but it is necessary to clean the heads of adhering soil. After digging up all the bushes, the plants are carefully stacked for further drying.

Digging garlic bushes, you need to figure out if you need to trim the feathers after digging. This should be done after the collected garlic has completely dried.

How to dry garlic after digging?

Before pruning garlic after harvesting, the plant is dried. To do this, the entire harvest is cleared from the ground and laid out on the street or indoors.

When to cut the garlic when drying?

To figure out how to properly and competently cut garlic, you need to decide on the timing of its trimming. This should be done on the fifth day after the start of drying. The procedure for removing the stem and roots is performed with a sharp and sharp pruner. Cut heads are dried for another 3-4 weeks in a well-ventilated building with normal air humidity.

To understand that drying has come to an end, you need to carefully examine the peel of the garlic. It should have a uniform color and become more brittle than before.

Home storage

Not everyone has summer cottages and therefore some have to store vegetables in apartments. There are different ways to store vegetables in rooms and even in the hallway.

In the fridge

Often, a refrigerator is used to store the crop after drying. When using this method, you will have to place the peeled garlic heads in a saucepan or glass jar and completely fill them with vegetable oil. It will absorb the smell of garlic and can be used to dress fresh vegetable salads.

In paraffin

To make the garlic softer and not spoil, it is stored in paraffin liquid. To do this, each head of vegetable is thoroughly soaked in liquid paraffin for about 10-20 minutes. After that, they are taken out of the paraffin and dried to become covered with a paraffin shell.It prevents the evaporation of moisture, so that the crop retains its juiciness.

In glass jars

With high humidity in the room, garlic is stored in a glass container. When using this storage method, unpeeled garlic heads are added to pre-sterilized containers. When the entire crop is distributed among the jars, they are covered with nylon lids.

In s alt

The most common method of storing garlic heads at home is to use s alt.

Before using this method, it is worth determining whether the roots of the garlic should be cut off before storage. Definitely necessary, because it is because of them that the harvest quickly deteriorates.

To preserve the harvest in winter, a thin layer of edible s alt is poured into the jars, on which the heads are laid out. After the vegetable is distributed among the jars, the final s alt layer 3 cm thick is poured on top.

Garlic collection and storage

Separately, it is necessary to highlight the methods of storing crops in cellars and suburban areas. In this case, gardeners are not limited to the apartment and therefore can use not only the above methods of winter preservation of garlic.

In linen bags

Some don't want to figure out how to process raw garlic before storage and just leave it in linen bags. However, this can only be done in rooms with normal humidity. In damp cellars, before placing the crop in bags, the heads are treated with table s alt or onion peel, which absorbs moisture well.

In wicker baskets

In the cellar, garlic is stored in special wicker baskets, which hold 2-4 kg of the crop. This container is great for storing vegetables, as they never spoil in it.

In braids

Experienced vegetable growers who have been growing and storing garlic for many years prefer to store garlic in braids. Such pigtails are easily placed in the closet, closet or cellar. The shelf life of garlic with this method depends on the room in which the braids will hang.

Conclusion

All gardeners who grow garlic face the problem of storing the harvested crop. In order to properly store garlic heads in winter, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of harvesting and storage methods.

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