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Afternoon all.
I've just litfed all my garlc because the few spots of rust I saw at the beginning of the week have run riot. I've never had rust before and just wanted to check about storage.
I've read so far that -
You cannot store any infected bulbs.
You can store it exactly as usual, drying as normal.
You can store it but must remove all infected leaves before drying very, very carefully first.
Ummm    
Any experience of rusty garlic - it is a cracking harvest so it would be really annoying to lose it now!
Thanks 

(31-05-2020, 02:15 PM)PyreneesPlot Wrote: [ -> ]Afternoon all.
I've just litfed all my garlc because the few spots of rust I saw at the beginning of the week have run riot. I've never had rust before and just wanted to check about storage.
I've read so far that -
You cannot store any infected bulbs.
You can store it exactly as usual, drying as normal.
You can store it but must remove all infected leaves before drying very, very carefully first.
Ummm    
Any experience of rusty garlic - it is a cracking harvest so it would be really annoying to lose it now!
Thanks 

My garlic gets rusty every year. I dry it off thoroughly in the sun for a week or two, plait it and hang it up as normal. It doesn't seem to affect either the taste or the keeping.

I'm leaving mine in a bit longer despite the rust, in the hope that the bulbs will swell just a bit more before I dig it up.

Great, thanks Martin - that's encouraging

Mine got rust this year too but it doesn't seem to have reached the bulbs and we still got a good harvest. I'll be saving the biggest bulbs for seed stock as normal. The variety we grow, Iberian Wight, is quite early (we harvested 3 days ago as the stems were flopping) so the rust doesn't have much time to get really bad. RHS say rust is worse on soils high in nitrogen and low in potassium so maybe it's worth giving a high potassium feed in early spring?

Mine get it most years (not this year for some weird reason). I just ignore it. It doesn't seem to affect crop, harvest or storage. I've just finished using last years crop.

Thanks all - the variety is germidour and was only just starting to brown.
I've never fed my garlic before and I'm not convinced my poor heavy clay soil is rich in anything, although I do mulch almost everywhere with grass clippings in the summer. which would boost the nitrgen levels.

[attachment=283]

Has anyone seen this on bulbs before, or know what it is?

When I harvested the crop, most of the foliage had died off because of rust. I have seen bits like this before but this year a significant number of bulbs are affected. There is like a black mold, now dried, and sunken brown patches underneath.

[attachment=1208][attachment=1209]

Could it be some sort of pest damage that has sealed over?

I don't think it's pest damage, which pest? The pictures aren't very good but I think, when they were drying, the mould seemed to be descending from some of the leaves which is why I suspect it could be rust related except that I thought rust didn't affect bulbs.

I'm fairly certain from what I've read (mainly from the USA) that it is not likely to be rust related. A fusarium bulb rot seems the most likely I think, probably from bought in bulbs unless anyone knows any different. Not much info in this country though.