I get it on garlic ! On goner , roast and drizzled in olive oil , whole Syzygium aromaticum on my pizza pie , diced pieces in my guacamole … It does n’t matter how I apply them , I love it all .
And I also love how garlic drive back many of the pests that seek to feed on my favorite veggies . What ’s not to wish ?
We link to vendors to help you find relevant products . If you purchase from one of our link , we may make a commissioning .

But at the same time , I hate garlic .
It seems like every twelvemonth , something infect my plants . Sometimes it ’s a touch of rust , and other years , it ’s devastating rot .
I ’ve obtain middling good at preventing most diseases , so I rarely fall back a bulb anymore . But it necessitate constant vigilance .

Whether this is your first year experiencing problem or you ’ve been struggling with something every twelvemonth , we ’ll help you through it .
Here are the diseases we ’re travel to cover up :
7 Common Garlic Diseases
I do n’t intend to make it vocalise like you will always face disease issues .
Once you know what conditions they thrive in and the conjuring trick for avoiding them , garlic disease could mostly be a matter of the past in your garden .
Let ’s get one of the worst issues out of the way first …

1. Basal Rot
Basal rot is tight patronage . It ’s the most serious threat to commercial Allium sativum output in the man .
This is a disease cause by a fungus calledFusarium oxysporumf . sp.cepae . If it infect your garlic plants , it can cause yellow foliage and dying folio as well as rot below ground .
The tip of the leaves will turn yellow first , and then the disease will work its way down the repose of the foliage to the base .

That ’s because the rotting prevents urine from moving from the roots to the foliage , so the parts that are furthest by decease off first .
You know that hard , flat minute at the bottom of each clove that you unremarkably issue off when chopping them up in the kitchen ?
That ’s part of the basal plate , the surface area on the plant where the cloves emerge from growing upward , and the roots emerge from grow downwards .

This is the part of the garlic plant that suffer first when basal guff is present .
As it progresses , it move around the root pink to black and may even move into the stand of the cloves in the var. of white-hot or pinkish fungal spores .
What draw it worse is that it can continue to diffuse even after you harvest and store your garlic bulbs , which means they might see all right when you harvest them , but they finally rot aside while they ’re waiting to be cooked .

The pathogen hold out in the soil , and it can survive for decades even if a host is n’t present . I told you this was nasty stuff .
While the fungus can infect any allium , plants that are damaged either by louse or accidents while plant or weeding are more prone to infection .
It ’s only active when temperature are between about 59 and 90 ° F , so you do n’t have to concern about it during the wintertime . But when the develop season get , look out !

While the pathogen can hold out in the ground , it will reduce in numbers over time if a host is n’t present . For that reason , it ’s best to spread out your genus Allium out every three years .
In the meantime , do n’t plantcorn , tomatoes , sunflowers , black bean , cowpeas , or oats . These plants can act as as alternative boniface .
If you find sign of this disease in your garden , salt away the harvested bulb at 33 to 39 ° F to keep it from broadcast further .

When you ’re out shopping , look for garlic cultivars that are advertised as resistant to fusarium or basal bunkum .
2. Botrytis Rot
As with most disease on this list , botrytis rot can infect any type of genus Allium , but onlyBotrytis porriin picky will infect garlic .
Generally , you wo n’t have a clue that anything is wrong until you harvest the garlic bulb and distinguish blue brown or disastrous fungal spore and voiced spots on the bulb or the neck opening of the flora .
If an transmission is bad , you might see the outer leave of absence of the industrial plant release chickenhearted and die .

Once you glean , the disease can continue to develop and disperse on the light bulb , so eat them powerful off without curing or store them immediately at temperatures below 41 ° F to stop the pathogen from spreading .
To prevent botrytis putrefaction , avoid damage the bulbs as they are growing in the garden since this creates wounds for the disease to enter through .
You should also avoid over - fertilizing and allow the bulbs to dry out a few weeks before harvest , if the cultivar that you ’ve planted can tolerate that form of treatment .

If you mistrust this disease is present , you’re able to treat the electric light two calendar month before and again a month before the expected harvest time date .
A copper fungicide can be good , but this might be the time to break out the big guns .
Something that contains the beneficial bacteriaBacillus subtilisor a product like Mycostop , which contains a bacterium derived from peat moss known asStreptomycesstrain K61 , are both more effectual .

I ’m always talk the praises of Mycostop because it works so well .
Mycostop Biofungicide
It has write many of my plants from a chain of mountains of fungal problems , include botrytis . If you want to try it out , snaffle a five- or 25 - gram packetfrom Arbico Organics .
3. Downy Mildew
You might be intimate with downy mildew on other plant , likerosesand cucurbits . This disease can strike genus Allium like garlic , too .
In garlic , it ’s have by the oomycetePeronospora destructor . A pretty sinister name , right?Destructoris Latin for destroyer , and that ’s what this pathogen does : destroys your crop .
If you have a patch of garlic , you might discover a circular group of plants turning yellow before it spread to nearby plant .
If yougrow your garlicin row , it might just be two or three industrial plant next to each other that are showing symptom .
Either way , you ’ll see leave that first twist a bit pale before sour white-livered or brown . Left untreated , they will turn completely brown and die . In humid clime , you ’ll even see white hair on the foliage .
Do n’t assume the garlic bulb is safe from this disease just because it ’s hide out below dry land . It ’s slowly moulder , turning washy and doughy .
The class Oomycetes ask moisture and cool temperatures to reproduce and spread . That ’s why you usually see flossy mold in spring or crepuscule , or in winter in areas with temperate mood .
The most damage occur when temperatures are between 43 and 61 ° atomic number 9 . Above 68 ° F the spreadhead slow down dramatically or even stops .
Since moisture is a crucial element in the success of these pathogens , you demand to do what you could to hold it .
As we ca n’t modify the relative humidity , we require to do things like plant life with passable spacing rather . You should also water at the soil degree and ward off sprinkler irrigation .
Rotate alliums out for three years after planting , and destroy any infected plant if you opt to overstretch them rather than treating the plants . Do n’t put them in the compost .
Mancozeb or a product containingStreptomyces lydicusstrain WYEC 108 are both effectual at cover the disease , furnish you catch it in the other stage .
Actinovate AG
Arbico Organics carries18 - ounce bag of Actinovate AG , which contain this powerful microbe .
Once the bulb starts to rot , there is n’t much you’re able to do .
4. Mosaic Virus
Garlic mosaic virus ( GarMV ) and onion yellow midget virus ( OYDV ) are diseases carried by aphid . Many plants might be infected and wo n’t show any symptoms .
Other time , growth might be stunt , or you might see stripe , mottling , or mosaic form on the leaf .
The only path to prevent these viruses is tokeep aphid away from your plantsand to only purchase certified disease - innocent seed cloves .
Once a virus strikes , there is n’t anything you may do to cure it . It ’s best to pull the infected Allium sativum to prevent the disease from disperse to other plants , but you’re able to allow for them in place if you want .
If you are n’t certain whether a virus is infecting your plant , you could always send off a sample to your local extension office . They can test the sampling and let you know what you ’re dealing with .
5. Purple Blotch
Are you depict a disease that do purplish blotch on the leaves of your garlic plant ? nail it ! That ’s what the fungusAlternaria porricauses .
It targetsonionsmore often , but it will also infect garlic andleeks . This disease fly high in humid conditions when temperature are between 75 and 85 ° farad .
The pathogen favour previous leafage , and royal blotches develop after the disease has progressed . Initially , you ’ll see sunken , water - soaked spots that will turn brown with jaundiced halos before turn purpleness .
It can also infect the garlic bulbs underground , turning them ruby-red - purpleness before they rot completely .
Because the pathogen want urine to procreate , increasing air circulation will help limit it .
That mean providing appropriate spacing , watering at the soil level , and watering in the morning so any drops that spray the industrial plant evaporate quickly .
You should also practice harvest revolution . Only industrial plant genus Allium in the same berth once every four days .
If you distinguish symptoms , immediately start treating the plant with copper fungicide , both as a foliar spray and a soil drench .
Keep doing this every three weeks until no newfangled symptoms acquire and no existing symptoms worsen .
Bonide Copper Fungicide
you may break up up a 32 - ounce quick - to - use atomizer or a 16 - snow leopard copper color fungicide concentrateat Arbico Organics .
6. Rust
I ’m always looking for the shining side of thing , and when it descend to rusting , the shiny side is that this disease is pretty loose to name , and it ordinarily wo n’t kill a works .
The fungus that causes it , Puccinia porri , prove up as upgrade , reddish - orangish , ellipse - shaped or circular pustules . As the disease go on , the pustules darken , and the leaf might turn scandalmongering .
P. porrineeds in high spirits humidity and temperatures between 55 and 75 ° F to procreate , so you unremarkably see rusting in spring and descent . It can taint any allium , but it care garlic best of all .
There are resistant ( not immune ) cultivars , including all elephant garlics . If you see signs of the disease , address the leaves with copper fungicide every three weeks .
7. White Rot
I ’m go to just lay it all out . This disease is defective . Really bad .
White guff has n’t become a vast problem in all character of North America … yet . It ’s rapidly spread out and exists in all states , but it ’s bad in some areas than others .
The fungus that causes the disease , Stromatina cepivorum , can survive in the soil for decades , even if there are no alliums planted there for it to infect .
When soil temperature are between 50 to 75 ° degree Fahrenheit , this disease can move throughout the territory , infect any genus Allium it find in its course .
The fungal pathogen can unfold in piss , soil , on equipment , or on plant life material . Once a plant is infected , there is no curative and the plant will eventually die .
When a garlic flora is infected , the bulb will rot away , with livid and black fungal growth appearing on the base and up into the cloves .
It will unfold into the leaves , causing them to reverse yellowish and die back . Once you see symptom on the upper parts of the plant , there ’s not much you’re able to do but pull the plants and dispose of them .
Since you ca n’t get rid of this disease , you demand to avoid it . The first measure is to purchase disease - gratis come or to douse clove seeds in 115 ° fluorine water – employ a spoonful , not your finger – to kill the pathogen . Do n’t go any hotter because it might kill the Allium sativum .
Always take charge to clean your tools between U.S.A. , and do n’t convey any plants or soil to your garden from areas that you fuck have been contaminated .
If your ail is taint despite your best efforts , you may wipe out any symptomless bulbs . Toss out anything that shows symptoms in a sealed refuse bag .
Do n’t implant any alliums in the same orbit unless you replace the top six inch of soil or solarise the soil to wipe out the pathogen .
Kiss Nasty Pathogens Goodbye
If you do your best to reduce excessive wet , take forethought to cleanse your tools , and practice right crop rotary motion , you ’ll significantly reduce the chances of ever deal with one of these issue again .
Now that you do n’t have to worry about diseases any longer , you might require tolearn a snatch more about growing Allium sativum . If so , here are a few guides to get you started :
© enquire the Experts , LLC . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.See our TOSfor more details . Cartesian product photo via Arbico Organics . Uncredited photos : Shutterstock .
About
Kristine Lofgren