Garlic harvesting time

Hard neck garlic harvest in Nova Scotia typically happens the first week of August, although with how hot this summer has been (Table 1), some varieties are a bit ahead of schedule.

Table 1. Degree day accumulations as of July 26, 2021.  All data are taken from the Kentville weather station, based on a start date of March 1, and calculated using the single sine method.

 

Fig. 1. This garlic from mid-July, isn't quite ready to
harvest. Note how the wrapper leaves aren't yet snug
around the cloves.

I have blogged about garlic harvest timing in the past, and if you haven't come across it before, I strongly recommend giving it a read!  The number of green leaves left is a good tell, but if your garlic is super healthy, or super sick, it might not be the best barometer (Fig. 1).  You can find the blog post by typing "garlic" into the search bar on the right of the NS Vegetable Blog, or for direct access, click here.  

By mid-August my car usually smells of garlic from all the samples of unhappy garlic I've collected from growers.  This is often the result of poor post-harvest management.  August in Nova Scotia, when growers are trying to cure their garlic, is often a muggy month, providing poor drying conditions. 

Fig. 2. Relative humidity and temperature.

You NEED good air circulation and ideally low relative humidity (less than 70%) in your curing space otherwise you run the risk of disease running rampant.  If your garlic is taking more than three weeks to cure, it is likely your relative humidity is too high.  There are cheap sensors available from Canadian Tire or Amazon to measure relative humidity and temperature.  If you are serious about growing garlic, I strongly recommend you get one.  Some of the nicer sensors even upload it to a web portal (Fig. 2) so you can check on it from the comfort of the couch. Move the sensor around your drying space to see if you can find any "dead" space with low air movement and higher relative humidity.  Those are the areas where disease is most likely to rear its ugly head.  It is best to try and move some fans to around to get rid of this dead space.

Fig. 3. Unhappy garlic - Penicillium (blue) and
Rhizopus stolonifer (white and black fungus). 

Did you know you could submit samples to 
Perennia's Plant Health Lab?  This service
is often free for registered farms.  Reach out to
me, Rosalie Gillis-Madden, if you have a vegetable
sample you want to submit to the Plant Health Lab.

It shouldn't need to be said that diseased garlic should not be used for seed.  Advanced growers with smaller plantings sometimes earmark particularly healthy plants in the field before harvest as candidates for seed stock.    To read more about garlic storage, post-harvest diseases, and planting stock considerations, check out Perennia's factsheet.

Fig. 4. Garlic storage, post-harvest
diseases, and planting stock considerations
fact sheet.

Agriculture Weather Station Assistance Program Launched for Nova Scotia

The Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture and Perennia have launched the Weather Station Assistance Program.    The objective of the Farm Weather Station Program is two-fold: to encourage producers to install weather stations and adopt new technology tools; and fully utilize the data to make proactive management decisions to mitigate the impacts of climate change and adverse weather conditions.  Funding is open to eligible applicants at 30-70 percent subsidy levels.  DEADLINES: This program is open until July 30, 2021  PROGRAM GUIDELINES HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS This program is administered by the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture and is funded under the federal-provincial Canadian Agricultural Partnership Program.  Perennia will be working with applied applicants to implement the program, including providing the weather station and coordinating the installation. As of the launch of the program, Perennia is completing the competitive bidding process to select the weather station supported under the Program.  As soon as the model is selected, information will be shared at https://www.perennia.ca/weatherstations/ and via other channels.

Romance in the pumpkin patch

We are well ahead of the average with our growing degree days, so pests are showing up earlier than you would typically expect them.  

Degree day accumulations as of July 5, 2021.  All data are taken from the Kentville weather station, based on a start date of March 1, and calculated using the single sine method.

If you haven't already, start checking your Cucurbits for squash bug!  The recent rains have speckled the adults with soil, making them extra hard to see, so be vigilant.  A female squash bug can lay up to 250 eggs in a season, so controlling this pest early is key.  The adults aren't affected by pesticides, and the youngest instars are the most susceptible, so it's best to flag a few egg clusters and check back regularly to time your sprays.  Be careful of pollinators, only spray when bees aren't active. 

Consenting adult squash bugs having fun in the sun.

These crafty fellows like to hide.

The bronze coloured eggs can usually (but not always), be found in the crux of leaf veins, and will typically be in groups of 10-20, although I've seen as few as four in a cluster.  With smaller plantings, you can remove leaves with eggs on them, or wrap a piece of duct tape around your fingers and blot the eggs off.
.

This female laid two sets of eggs on this leaf.

If you have multiple types of squash in a field, squash bugs seem to prefer pumpkins, blue hubbard, buttercup and kabocha types, so be sure to scout those extra carefully.  I have yet to see squash bug in watermelons or cucumbers, but it's always good to be thorough.  Have you noticed varietal preferences in your field?  If so, I'd love to hear about it.  

Did you catch Perennia's Virtual Field Days last summer?  Acting Vegetable Specialist Caitlin Congdon and Suzanne Blatt from AAFC discussed using blue hubbard squash as a trap crop and nasturtiums as a push crop in butternut and buttercup plantings with interesting results.  Skip to 10:20 for details on the trial, and stay tuned until 45:30 for the question period.  

For more information about squash bug life cycle and control measures, check out Perennia's Squash Bug Fact Sheet.

Do you know about Perennia's Pest Management Guides?  Every year we update pest management options for the major crops in Nova Scotia.  A complete listing can be found here (click on Vegetable Crops for the drop down menu).