How and when to pick off garlic shoots: what experienced gardeners advise
If you want to harvest a good crop of garlic with large heads, it is important to know when to pick off the garlic shoots.
If you notice that it has already released an arrow, then it is imperative to remove it, since the garlic stops growing and spends all its energy on the arrow's offspring.
When the arrow is formed, the seeds will ripen, and the head itself will remain at the same level at which it is currently located and will no longer grow.
But if you cut it off, the head will start growing again and will increase to its maximum size with good care.
To avoid damaging the garlic, use regular pruning shears or scissors and carefully cut off the stalk near the last leaf, leaving a stump.
Do not pull out the arrow with your hands, if it leaves a void, then pests will appear on the garlic.
In addition, moisture will get in and the garlic will start to rot, it will simply disappear, remove the arrow correctly, reminds the expert of the online publication "BelNovosti", scientist-agronomist and landscape designer Anastasia Kovrizhnykh .
Pruning should be done early in the morning in sunny weather; by evening the cut site will most likely have dried out.
But still, be sure to leave three arrows on small garlic so that you can use them to determine when you can start harvesting the garlic.
If you harvest too early, the harvest will be small and will not last long. But if you are late, it will rot and will not last long.
You have also probably noticed that in the middle of summer the tips start to turn yellow, there are two reasons for this.
The first and most common is a lack of moisture in the heat, but there is another picture, for example, during prolonged rains there will be an excess of moisture.
Garlic does not cope with the absorption of nutrition, and this will lead to yellowing of the tips. After pruning, you can already feed it in the evening.
Previously, a pharmaceutical preparation was named that should be added to the water for watering the garden in June.
