My garlic is stored in mesh bags in an unheated storage area. Temperature ranges from upper 40s to lower 60s. Reading many storage recommendations on the internet had me believe that the ideal temperature range was 41f to 64f. Unfortunately some of my garlic is starting to sprout. I’m wondering what the chill point is that starts the sprouting process. I did more research and now have my doubts regarding the common popular storage advice given on the internet.
An article from Department of Vegetable Crops, University of California, Davis says this. “Garlic will eventually lose dormancy, signaled by internal development of the sprout. This occurs most rapidly at intermediate storage temperatures of 5 to 18 °C (41 to 64 °F)” They also say “Garlic can be stored for more than 9 mo at -1 to 0 °C (30 to 32 °F) with 60 to 70% RH.”
Anyone have other tested facts regarding storage of garlic?
I store our garlic in a “root cellar”. It is not ideal in that it lacks some insulation so more temp variation and does not cool off nearly as fast as I would like in the fall. But it generally reaches 33-39F by Thanksgiving, and pretty much stays there til spring. Our garlic generally stays in good shape until late winter early spring. We do check pretty regularly and use up any that appear to be sprouting. Minced and sauteed in oil it will keep in the freezer for a long time.
I don’t know what the mechanism is that garlic use to decide when it’s spring. Our root cellar get no light, so I don’t think that plays a part. I suspect it is a combo of chill hours, and temp fluctuations (slight rise in temps during the day followed by a drop in temp at night).
My experience is that garlic stored at warmer temps (40-60F) do sprout quicker than where we store them now. In the “Grow Great Garlic” book, the author says he moved to a controlled temp and controlled atmosphere storage and his garlic keeps a long time in near perfect condition. But he is a commercial grower.
I suspect you’d get longer storage if you could find a cooler place to keep them.
Hi Dennis, I grow hardneck garlic and store it in a fairly dry pantry/root cellar that is about 40 deg till late spring when it starts warming up. Mine lasts well untill i start harvesting scapes and early bulbs mid summer, though they get a little dehydrated by then… I’ve deliberately selected over the years for bulbs/variety that grows and stores well for me. Temperature in storage makes a difference but the variety does as well. Also how well it was cured before storage. I usually have a few that sprout but not many.
I think this is humidity issue. I store my garlic in the kitchen at room temperature. The air is quite dry. It dries out but does not sprout. On the other hand when I soak the cloves for several hours, clean them and keep them in refrigerator for immediate use, they sprout and make roots readily at 33 degrees.
It also depends on what garlic you have. Some can be stored just under 4 month, some can stay OK till spring. For the temperature, I believe 40-60 is fine range with moderate to low humidity, but both temperature and humidity have to be consistent. If it jumps from 40 to 60 or from 30% to 60% it may be a signal that spring is here, and garlic starts to sprout.
Because I had a drought year my garlic is not lasting this year. The number of skins was low. I ended up peeling and freezing cloves. Works well for most cooking situations. My softneck did fine and is holding up well. hardnecks do not last as long as softnecks for storage. You could clean and freeze at this point, Try another cultivar for longer storage.
Even though hardnecks do not store well I love them, and freezing is an option once shelf life runs out.
Yes it’s the hardneck that is sprouting. Last year it was fine at this time of year so it may have something to do with temperature swings, harvest conditions, harvest time or drying conditions. Next year I’ll experiment and keep some in the storage room and some in the refrig at 34. For now I’m freezing them as suggested. Softnecks are doing OK.
Yes same here. Well mine didn’t sprout they started to dry out… The garlic this year is hot too, super strong. I added a 3rd hardneck for next year. One I’m growing is from a user who grew the garlic for 25 years. Not a known cultivar. Biggest garlic I grow too.
Dan yes I think you’re correct on what caused it. I harvested mine late and they lost storage time. This is well known to happen when you harvest late.
All recommendations about garlic storage talk about winter storage. Nobody says, how to store it from harvest time to the start of the cool weather. Those who have root cellar are probably in luck, but what other people do? I keep my garlic in winter in the closet under the stairs, it has one outside wall and no heat; in winter it is OK environment to store garlic. However, between end of July and November is a tough time. It is warmer than in the house and too humid there. So every time I am not sure what to do with my garlic and every year it starts to sprout around end of February, though we still use it until April and even May. Please share, where do you store your garlic between harvest time and beginning of cool weather?
I usually pull my garlic mid to later August and lay it out somewhere out of sun and rain under cover until it is well dried. When cold weather starts in Sept. I bring it in the entry (or house) to finish drying if need be till I get around to trimming stems and roots and rubbbing clean. Then they are stored in a basket in the pantry which starts about 60 deg. gradually cooling down to 40 in Dec. Making sure they are well dried seems to make the biggest difference in how well they keep. We are (usually) cooler here so that probably helps. Sue
Garlic stores fine at room temp (20c ish) till winter. When it gets consistently cold outside i moved them into the shed.
warm temperature seems to keep it dormant. Cool temperature to. However cool temperature followed by warm temperature seems to brake the dormancy.
If confirmed this by an fall garlic growing of garlic. Where i put freshly harvested bulbs in the back of the fridge (set at 2c) for 2-3 weeks and planted them, the grew immediately when planted end of summer. Plants grew decently large (where a bit neglected) but i did not get a good bulb size from the early winter harvest.
next to temperature, I’d also pay attention to humidity. For both storage disease purposes as well as maybe delaying sprouting.
When you store it at room temperature is it dark storage or not? I know it has to be stored in dark, but to make dark in the regular room you need to put it in closed box and I worry about not enough ventilation.
i usually store in the back of a cubord. but i also put the garlic in thin paper bags. I don’t put them in a spot where there is 12 hours a day direct light hitting them. And don’t worrie when there is occasionally a little light hitting them when i move it, or open a cubord.
also letting the garlic properly dry and “cure” after harvest might help.
for me, i let it dry and then keep it at room temp with little temp fluctuations (would not put them in the attic for example)
and that works just fine till i need to plant again.
storage after planting also depends on the variety and group. Most softnecks like silverskins store way longer than for example a rocambole.
That’s the problem I have. I dry garlic in my shed but often the night time and morning humidity is 95%. I need to bring it inside now. I do have a storage room that stays below 70f in the winter and that helps. If a storage room or closet is too warm and humid in the summer months, try leaving the door open if the rest of the house is dryer and cooler. My AC keeps the house humidity at 45 to 55 so that’s not bad.
Also some varieties of garlic store better. I just found one from last year that looks ok (most old ones have sprouted or rotted). I’m going to put it in the refrig for awhile to simulate winter and than plant it.
My experience is that garlic storage needs change with the seasons. The garlic seems to “know” when it is time to grow in the spring, and even when in a dark root cellar will begin sprouting come springtime. While some varieties seem to keep longer than others, eventually they all will start growing again come spring. Keeping a garlic in too cool an environment can “trick” it into thinking that it has gone thru winter and it’s time to grow again (made that mistake).
That said, my limited experience is that some varieties store better at room temps and others do better in the root cellar for long term storage. The hard neck varieties I grow (Siberian and German Xtra Hardy) tend to keep better in the root cellar. The soft necks seem to do better in a cool room temp environment.
For hard necks, the advise/theory put forth in “Growing Great Garlic” that leaving the scapes on until close to or just before harvest, does seem to improve the storage of the bulbs.
But I would be happy to learn any new tricks for improving garlic storage.
We store our hard neck in the basement at 55-65 F and it lasts 8 to 10 months. We ran out at 10 months this year and it was just starting to shrink and develop a shoot. We don’t have much light in the basement and it is low humidity. We also store a few braids in the kitchen pantry at about 69-73F for most of the year and it kept just fine. The pantry has a small north window, so it gets decent light. I think storage life has a lot to do with proper harvest time. We were a little late this year and picked after all the leaves were brown and some cloves were pushing away from the head, opening up the skins. We were also getting more rain than usual. I don’t expect our garlic to keep as well this year.
I grow an Italian hardneck heirloom garlic which when given to me was claimed to last all year if picked, dried and stored properly. And it usually does. Last year we had some sprouting in late May, early June which was unusual; this year none has sprouted or decayed, we are still eating last year’s crop. I store it in an open cardboard box protected from any significant light source in my basement which is usually 68-70 degrees, not sure of the humidity.
