First, the time to pick garlic bolts
It takes 40 ~ 45 days for young garlic shoots to differentiate into flower buds and harvest, which grows slowly in the early stage and will elongate rapidly after tasseling. It takes about 15 days from export to harvest, and the specific harvest time should be flexibly grasped according to the cultivation purpose and variety characteristics. If the aim is to bring young garlic shoots to the market early, they can be harvested when the young garlic shoots (excluding the involucre) are about 7 cm higher than the scabbard of the last leaf and the upper part is not bent. If the purpose is to increase the yield of garlic bolt, garlic bolt can be higher than the scabbard of the last leaf 15 cm, and its upper part is bent downward.
Second, the harvesting method of young garlic shoots
Stop watering 3 ~ 5 days before the young garlic shoots are harvested, and start watering after noon on sunny days, because during this period, plants wilt after losing water by biotranspiration, and their toughness will increase and their brittleness will decrease, so young garlic shoots are easy to harvest and not easy to break. There are several ways to harvest garlic seedlings:
1, drawing method
It is the drawing method. After the garlic seedlings grow, they should be picked from noon to around 3 pm on sunny days. Hold the upper part of the garlic bolt 3 ~ 5cm away from the false stem mouth with one hand, and straighten the garlic bolt obliquely upward. The force must be uniform. When the garlic bolt breaks in the false stem and makes a slight noise, pull out the garlic bolt quickly. This method is suitable for early-maturing varieties with loose stems and thin garlic shoots, or garlic with thin garlic shoots with late sowing date.
This method of harvesting garlic shoots is efficient and labor-saving, with the least damage to false stems and leaves and garlic shoots, and the base of garlic shoots is relatively light in aging, with less loss after storage, which is also suitable for long-term storage. The harvested garlic bolts are suitable for storage, which can reduce the storage and finishing work after storage, and is also conducive to the further hypertrophy of garlic. But one thing, if it is rainy weather, when the air and soil humidity are relatively high, there will be many broken stems, and the harvested garlic stems will also have different lengths. In this way, the commodity of young garlic shoots will be very poor, and the output of young garlic shoots will be very low.
2. Clamping and pumping methods
This method uses a fresh bamboo pole with a diameter of 1 ~ 1.5 cm and a length of 40 ~ 50 cm to flatten the protrusion of the node, then bakes the middle part of the bamboo pole with a torch, folds it in half for 2 days, and makes an elastic clip. Is that the old saying? Value-added clip You can also use fresh willow branches or mulberry paper to cut off a part of xylem from the middle and fold both ends into elastic clips. When picking young garlic shoots, one hand holds the upper part of the young garlic shoots, and the other hand forcibly clamps the false stems between 2-3 leaves on the ground with a clamp, so that the young garlic shoots are squashed and allowed to grow.
Compared with bolting method, this method has lower bolting rate, higher garlic bolt yield and no damage to the upper part of garlic bolt, which is more suitable for storage. However, if the bottom of garlic bolt is long and thick and the top is thin, the bolting rate is still high, and the plants are easy to be pruned after the garlic bolt is harvested. This method is mostly used for late-maturing, loose-mouthed white garlic varieties.
3. Method of pumping water
It refers to using a knife to cut the thin head of bamboo chopsticks or the top end of wooden strips into a cone shape, or cutting a notch on the top end side of bamboo chopsticks or wooden strips, and then putting a big needle in the center of the notch, burning red at one end of the needle section and ramming it into a shovel shape, with a width of about 2㎜ and a length of 1㎝, and the needle at the notch is exposed for 2 ~ 3 ㎜. When harvesting garlic shoots, hold the lower part of the involucre with one hand, straighten the garlic shoots, and hold the chopstick tip or needle shovel with the other hand, horizontally and vertically insert the garlic shoots until the false stems are 5-7 cm away from the ground, and cut off the garlic shoots to pull out the garlic shoots. If a few are difficult to pull out, you can use the needle tip at the notch of the original tool.
The advantage of this method is that the garlic is tender, not scratched and the section is neat. After the garlic bolt is harvested, its false stem is not easy to lodging and its leaves are intact. Moreover, the output of garlic is high, so it can be put on the market earlier and the commodity value is higher. This method is suitable for early-maturing varieties with sparse planting, short and thick pseudostems, small difference between upper and lower thickness and early garlic bolting.
4. Pump discharge method
The tool for harvesting young garlic shoots is a wooden stick with a diameter of about 1.5cm and a length of about 15cm. Draw a semicircular groove at one end of the stick 3cm, and then nail a short and sharp nail or half needle in the center of the groove, with the needle tip exposed for 2 ~ 3 mm. When collecting garlic shoots, hold the involucre with one hand, straighten the garlic shoots, and then use the other hand to align the groove of the wooden stick with the side of the false stem with 3-4 leaves off the ground and no leaves (that is, the usually large inner side), so that the needle tip can penetrate the false stem and at the same time, it should be quickly scratched to the tip. After the leaf sheath is completely cut, break the garlic bolt from the base by hand.
The advantages of this method are that the garlic bolt can be harvested quickly, and it is not easy to break the garlic bolt. Moreover, the garlic bolt is longer and the yield of garlic bolt is high. However, because the collected garlic shoots have longitudinal scratches, they are easy to rot and are not resistant to transportation. There is another reason, that is, because the leaf sheath is completely cut off when the garlic bolt is harvested, the plant will lodging, the leaves will soon dry up, and the photosynthesis of the leaves will be weakened during the bulb hypertrophy period, resulting in a decrease in garlic yield.
5, shovel pump method
This method is adopted in the southern region. That is, use a bamboo piece with a sharp end and an arc notch, and the length is about 50 cm. Hold the garlic bolt with your left hand, hold the bamboo piece with your right hand, then shovel three leaves continuously along the garlic bolt, and press the garlic bolt hard in the vertical direction. At the same time, you can lift the garlic bolt with your left hand and break it.
The advantage of this method is high efficiency, which is mainly suitable for garlic varieties with tight stems and underdeveloped roots. However, the stem is seriously aging, and if stored, the base is easy to lose water, shrink and rot. At the same time, it needs to be handled when leaving the warehouse, which increases the loss. Suitable for fields with rainfall, low temperature and difficult bolting. This kind of garlic bolt should be processed both after warehousing and when leaving the warehouse.
No matter which harvesting method is adopted, it should be noted that watering should be stopped 3 ~ 5 days before garlic shoots are harvested and intertillage should be carried out to reduce soil moisture and plant water absorption. The time to harvest garlic shoots should be chosen at noon or afternoon on sunny days, because during this time, the plants have less water, softer texture, increased elasticity and garlic shoots are not easy to break. If the young garlic shoots are picked in rainy days or after rain, the plants have fully absorbed the water, so the young garlic shoots and leaves have poor toughness and are easy to break.