German Red Garlic Topsets

currently unavailable This hardy hot selection of garlic can be produced from both topsets and bulbs. The topsets of German red are quite prolific which makes it an option for spring planting as well as feral or wild plantings where it will survive for decades untended. It has been a very reliable grower for me and easy to disperse these topsets of it in other areas in our tree crop plantings and essentially let it go wild. This garlic is well known now for its robust flavor as well as its ease of production in very cold and short season climates. Plant the topsets about 1/2 to 1 inch deep. You can harvest them the first year or leave them in for large full cloves the second year. If you leave them in for a long period of time-4-5 years-then it turns into large clusters of small bulbs. This too makes it easier to harvest and use despite not really being the 'real' clove like garlic as most people know.

Using garlic as both an insecticide and repellant can be done with this selection as the 'insecticide' can be surrounding the tree in the ground and/or harvested to blend and put in a sprayer for aerial applications. Every year I buy the commercial form of this insecticide and it does work quite well in my polyhouses and outside as a kind of bunny and deer repellant. In the outside, I add a small amount of deer repellant with it as a sort of spreader sticker. Having your own insecticide growing and easily processed on your farm is critical for some crops. Using a natural spreader sticker also helps make this mix work, otherwise the effect is short lived but it is effective and is now used by many growers. This particular garlic because of its heat, seems to be better too with quite a noticeable punch when I was using it in the greenhouse. Basically the rate was one large clump of garlic or one cup of topsets, 4 cups of water and then vita-mixed like crazy and then strained. Coconut oil based spreader sticker was added along with pyrethrum as a knock down. This did not work for grasshoppers but was successful for aphids and other soft bodied insects. 

Available in the summer after the topsets have hardened and dried. They can then be planted at the same time as regular garlic in the fall.