I am an experienced garlic grower, but this year something has
happened that I have never seen before.

I planted in October 2002, they shooted before Xmas and now look
strong and healthy. However, when I checked them after a bit of gap
recently, I noticed that 3 of my plants seemed to be almost dead.

They seemed to have no central stem - all that was left was a few
outside leaves and these had withered back to yellow. There was no
sign of mould or fungi and the only thing I could think of was that
some animal had come and eaten the central leaves.

This only appeared on a few plants within several other rows that were
unaffected - If it was anything serious, I would have expected to see
more plants affected.

I'm hoping the rest of my crop will survive, but have you ever had
this happen? It occurred in April and although it was pretty warm in
Bristol (20-25 degrees C for a couple of weeks) we wouldn't have had
any insects in any great numbers yet.

Look forward to hearing from you.

"Colin wrote in message ...

I planted in October 2002, they shooted before Xmas and now look
strong and healthy. However, when I checked them after a bit of gap
recently, I noticed that 3 of my plants seemed to be almost dead.

They seemed to have no central stem - all that was left was a few
outside leaves and these had withered back to yellow. There was no
sign of mould or fungi and the only thing I could think of was that
some animal had come and eaten the central leaves.

This only appeared on a few plants within several other rows that were
unaffected - If it was anything serious, I would have expected to see
more plants affected.

That sounds a bit like what Leek Moth does to my Leeks, but it's a bit early
for that yet and I've never had it attack my Garlic thank goodness.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

Sounds like some form of Cutworm, did you dig around below them to se if you
had any pests lurking?

--
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk