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Leek rust, harvest now or wait?

tuffnelljohntuffnelljohn Posts: 284
in Fruit & veg
Hi
Ive had this garlic in the ground since last summer-ish. Ive been waiting for the leaves to turn brown - which I thought they were - but its becuase of rust than the leaves dieing back naturally.
If I remove all the affected leaves, there will be literally no green leaves left!
So should I harvest them now, or leave them for the bulbs to swell a bit more?



I did dig up an exploratory garlic, and was pleasantly surprised to find it had formed a bulb. It feels quite hard, so must have firm cloves in. Ive left in the sun to cure.

Should I harvest the others now do you think?


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  • war garden 572war garden 572 Posts: 664
    are sure it is rust and not something else. 
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I don’t grow garlic but I do know you have a bad case of rust there,  I would harvest and destroy if it were me.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • tuffnelljohntuffnelljohn Posts: 284
    Thanks @Lyn. Ill do that today. I presume the garlic will be safe to eat.

    Im *hoping* that the mulch of grass clippings will have acted as a barrier to the rust falling on the soil. Its a very shallow bed, so all Ive grown there is garlic (I dont eat salad/chard etc), so Ill be putting more garlic there.

    Frustratingly, when I was looking at my young leeks which are in the next bed, theyre showing signs of rust too. Ive cut off the affect leaves, so Im hoping if I stay on top of it the leeks will get healthy.  :|
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I would think the garlic will be ok,  I don’t know if it will spread to your leeks,  I’ve never had it on those but the chives get covered after a length of time,   I just cut them right down close to the ground and they come up again perfect.
    I think it’s the hot weather that causes it.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • tuffnelljohntuffnelljohn Posts: 284
    Ive just been out. I carefully cut off the garlic leaves and disposed of. I then carefully dug out the bulbs (Im pleasantly surprised theyve all come out nice and firm! I think its a decent harvest for such a small area) leaving the mulch as intact as I could. I then disposed of the mulch and laid hessian over the whole bed until I think what I should do next. Ill have a look at how the rust spreads. I may add a thick layer of compost on top of it to bury the spores. Ill do some research and decide what the next step is. 

    In the meantime I have a load of garlic to cure! Yay! My first gardening success this year! (apart from a couple of slightly woody leeks that I harvested a few weeks ago).
  • tuffnelljohntuffnelljohn Posts: 284
    (Also, Im halfway through cleaning the gravel parking bay. Ive decided to do it in 2 hour segments as its too much for me to do it all in one go.)
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Sounds like the drive should be a winter project don’t wear yourself out in this heat. 😉
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • StephenSouthwestStephenSouthwest Posts: 635
    ...my rusty garlic is getting another week or so to swell a little more before harvest...
  • tuffnelljohntuffnelljohn Posts: 284
    StephenSouthwest said:
    ...my rusty garlic is getting another week or so to swell a little more before harvest...
    Does yours look as bad as mine (did!) ?
  • StephenSouthwestStephenSouthwest Posts: 635
    tuffnelljohn said:
    StephenSouthwest said:
    ...my rusty garlic is getting another week or so to swell a little more before harvest...
    Does yours look as bad as mine (did!) ?

    Yes I'd say so. Harvest disappointingly small, but sufficient, and I guess I'll buy new for next year, rather than keeping the best to plant ...
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