How to dry winter garlic after digging at home?
Winter garlic: picky culture, harvest in July. Therefore, how to store winter garlic until spring is a very popular question and has not yet received an exhaustive answer. Most of the heads before this period, if stored improperly, dry out, rot or are damaged by diseases. So, let's try to answer the question and touch on other important topics.
The main condition for long-term storage is harvest time
Garlic is dug up from the beds when certain conditions occur. No rain for three weeks and crop maturity.
The first condition is necessary for long-term storage. Three weeks before harvesting stop watering the plants. If it rains constantly during the ripening of the heads, thorough drying in a dry place is necessary.
The maturity of garlic is checked in the following way. Inspection of plants - when ripe, the scales become dry and thin, the lower leaves turn yellow and dry out, the skin of the inflorescences splits. The tops lie on the bed. Drying such fruits will not take long.
When overripe, garlic loses nutrients, new roots appear at the bottom, the heads are divided into slices, and those, in turn, begin to hurt and rot. Such vegetables are not subject to long-term storage. Therefore, it is important to harvest from the beds on time.
Plant cleaning
Cleaning is carried out in dry, sunny weather with a pitchfork. They damage the garlic less when harvesting. After digging, the soil is shaken off the plants, damaged and rotten fruits are discarded. The rest should be dried. The leaves are dried along with the fruits.
Roots and tops are cut off on dried fruits, when stored in braids and bunches, 30-centimeter tops are left, cutting off leaves and stems to the desired size.
How is winter garlic dried after digging?
After harvesting, before wintering, the plants are thoroughly dried. The following conditions are suitable for this purpose:
- Beds - provided there is no rain.
- Pavilions - always under the roof during the rain, in sunny weather, the plants are taken out into the sun.
- Warm, non-humid rooms. Drying occurs in them when the weather is wet with heavy rains. In humid weather, drying anything is problematic.
Depending on weather conditions, garlic is dried for up to a month. Need to check the heads for rotting, mold, drying.
Preparation for long-term storage
Dried heads need to be prepared for storage of winter garlic at home as follows.Long-term storage will withstand only he althy, not damaged by disease or mechanically, fruits. Three layers of scales should remain on the head - they protect the teeth from drying out and damage. The roots are trimmed, leaving 1 centimeter on the head. We also cut them over gas or a fire. Sort heads by size.
Where to store garlic?
Garlic is stored at home in two ways: cold and warm.
When cold, stored in the basement or refrigerator. At the same time, the optimum temperature is from +2 to +4 degrees. Air humidity 70-80%. Higher humidity will cause it to rot.
Warm storage method - air temperature from 20 to 24 degrees. If there is a very high temperature and dry air, the cloves will simply dry out. The storage place should be dry, but not near heating appliances.The bathroom is not suitable for this purpose. Most often, gardeners hang it in the corridor, in the kitchen, attic and pantries.
How to store winter crops?
Depending on the conditions or place of storage, garlic is prepared in different ways. How to keep winter garlic until spring at home?
The warm storage method is used when there is no cellar, basement or free space in the refrigerator. Gardeners use different tools to extend the life of the heads. Below are the most popular.
With the cold method, dried fruits are placed in the basement, refrigerator or cellar. There, in winter, the temperature is maintained at +2-+4, as in the refrigerator.
Scythe
Before wintering, vegetables are prepared somewhat differently. How to prune correctly? Do not trim the leaves completely. In order to tie the fruits into pigtails, stems are left, 30 centimeters long. Which will subsequently be braided.
For this method of wintering, in autumn, fruits are selected with three non-cracked shells, whole, uniform in color. Garlic is braided into a pigtail for storage, weaving an additional rope into it for hanging. Stored in a dry, warm place in an apartment or house. Often performs a decorative function.
Bunches
The tops are processed, as in pigtails, but then tied with a broom for 10-15 heads and hung in a dry, warm place. It should be noted that the air temperature in the room should not exceed 24 degrees, otherwise the cloves will wither.
Banks
In jars, winter garlic at home is stored longer due to the lack of air circulation. They are pre-sterilized. Select even, not cracked heads of a uniform color, without spots, rotting and germination.Stacked in prepared jars and rolled up. Stored in lockers, pantries.
Crates
In a wooden or cardboard container, a large number of vegetables are placed in the fall for wintering. Dried, not infected fruits are preliminarily selected. The boxes are placed in a warm room in which the air temperature is kept from 18 to 24 degrees. In boxes, the winter crop is also stored in a cold way, placed in a basement or cellar. The crop lying in this way is used as planting material for garlic cloves during spring sowing.
Wicker baskets
Birch bark baskets are stored in the same way as in boxes.
Nylon stockings
Our great-grandmothers kept bulbous ones in stockings. The method has stood the test of time. They are stored for a long time, provided they are placed in a warm room with the optimum temperature.
Grid
Stored in nets, as in kapron. Hang in the pantry, in the hallway or in the kitchen. Do not allow waterlogging of the air, vegetables will rot. We plant these teeth in the spring in the beds.
Paraffin
Great, but time-consuming way. He althy, dried fruits are selected, dipped in heated paraffin and placed in a container. With this method, vegetables do not lose moisture, as they are sealed with paraffin.
Sunflower oil
Each prepared fruit is dipped into vegetable oil boiled for an hour, then placed in a glass container, closed with a lid and left for the winter in a cold or warm room. Sterilized oil will not allow germs and fungi to multiply. Using this method, garlic is stored until spring.
Sprinkling with flour, onion skins, s alt
With this method, the cut material is placed in a container. Suitable jars, boxes, baskets. Spread in layers, sprinkling each layer with flour, s alt or husks. A prerequisite, the first layer must consist of poured material. The fruits are completely closed from the external environment. You can store in this way in both warm and cold rooms.
It is important when wintering garlic to inspect the fruit for rot, germination and drying out. Damaged heads are removed from the total mass. Otherwise, one head will ruin the entire crop. Maintain optimum temperature and humidity. If these conditions are met, the preserved winter garlic will lie until the planting of new cloves without loss and will delight the owners with tasty cloves until the next harvest. Save winter crops the right way.
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