Sorry about your garlic too. If the bulbs are big, that’s what’s important. The rust probably won’t affect the quality much beyond making the bulbs a little smaller, unless you leave them in the ground too long after the plants die and the skins start falling apart.

There’s little doubt the bulbs and other plant material will have some rust spores in them, and if you use them for replanting they could be a source of infection. Letting infected plants grow will also spread the spores, which can be carried long distances in the wind.

My experience with garlic rust is if you live in an area prone to infection, there’s little you can do to prevent it. I do live in an area with established rust and high winds. Instead of fighting the infection directly, by means of trying to insure clean planting stock, quickly destroying infected plants and using chemicals, I try to make sure the plants are otherwise as healthy as possible.

In the end rust rarely destroys crops, and well managed it doesn’t necessarily reduce harvest very much either. It’s just a real nuisance!

I’m really sorry about your plants. I hope they come out okay in the end. I’m also sorry garlic rust has made it’s way to Tasmania.

Thanks for letting us all know about the rust, and thanks for reminding me it’s about time to get my garlic in the ground! I hope you have a great gardening season this year.

After a bit more reading, I found that garlic rust is also present in the Salinas valley, even closer to me than Gilroy…

I don’t think there’s any problem with the leaves. Garlic rust is usually spread by the wind, and if it were to be in the ground the leaves might help prevent it being splashed up by the rain and so could help.

I cover my garlic with straw. Using something to cover it in the winter helps a lot because the temperature can vary a lot in the winter, for example it can freeze at night but the sun can shine brightly during the day and warm the ground. While garlic can tolerate mild to very cold temperatures, it doesn’t like these changes, so covering the ground can help a lot. Of course it also helps with the weeds.

I read a study at an American university a few years ago that said when you cover the ground, the garlic grows 10% bigger.

Other than making sure you don’t give the garlic too much fertilizer or fresh manure, I don’t think there is much you can do about the rust. Like I mention here, I’m experimenting with milk, but I don’t really expect it to help. Mostly you just have to hope the garlic rust comes late in the season.

Sorry to hear about your garlic.

I doubt the rust can spread to your onions, but I’m not completely sure.

I suggest leaving the bulbs in the ground as long as possible, but of course when the plants are dead, they’re dead, and there’s no point in leaving them in the ground any longer.

Your garlic should be normal, except if you have to harvest early it will be smaller.

Rust does not normally infect the bulbs, only the leaves. Having said that rust does spread the longer you leave your garlic in the ground, and you should be careful to destroy the infected parts of the plants and not put them into your compost.

You will reduce your chances of getting rust early again next year if you are careful this year not to spread it too much, and it’s best to use planting stock you are completely sure is rust free if you can get it. Also like I said above, for next year, too much nitrogen fertilizer or fresh animal manure is known to make rust worse.

Bev

Thanks for the comment!

If what you have is killed or even slowed down with neem oil, I doubt it’s the same rust we have here. Not even commercial/chemical sprays are effective against rust after an infection takes place. The only option garlic farmers have here is to begin spraying before a possible infection may take place, and continue until harvest. It’s very similar in this respect to potato or tomato blight.

Commercial preventative sprays are very toxic.

Milk too only has the possibility to prevent or slow infection.

Garlic rust is very specific to garlic. It’s not possible to get it from plants like roses, even leeks get a form of rust that’s unable to infect garlic.

It’s been a year or so since I read this, and I would have to double check to make sure, but what I remember is the only two places in the US with garlic rust are central California in the area around Gilroy, and a few small areas in Oregon. Of course this could have changed a bit in the last few years, but I haven’t heard of widespread outbreaks in the US. None of the garlic growers I’m in contact with in the US have never seen rust before.

Probably what’s more important than what you do to prevent rust are the things you don’t do. In particular garlic rust is associated with excessive nitrogen/fertilizer use, or the use of fresh animal manure. Garlic also likes a lot of organic material in the ground. Keeping your plants healthy in this way can go a long way to reducing rust problems.