Lilac,

I have some Nootka Rose plants that have fallen over in the wind. the flimsy stems are just not strong enough to hold the weight. hmmmm...yellow streaks, been getting a ton of rain lately? yellowing leaves is a sign of too much water. Hopefully somebody smarter then me will know about the streaks. I have a some plants with yellow blotches on them..too much Nitro I believe was my mistake with those.

First thing I'd check on one of the ones that's flopped over is to dig it out and check the bulb to see if you find any onion root maggots or wireworms.

No idea on the cause of the yellow streaks - I get them every once in a while and it doesn't seem to affect the plants too much.

I sacrificed one of the flopped-over garlics and dug it up. It was a small bulb, but it looked firm and healthy. No problems that I could see.

Perhaps they're beginning to flop over because it's their time? Although I planted mostly hardneck, and the flopped over ones haven't developed scapes yet. Also, last year I harvested around the Fourth of July, so I figured they had about another three weeks to go before harvest.

This is only my second year planting garlic, so I'm still a newbie.

Lilacs,
I'm having a similar problem with a couple of my plants, but I think it's due the amount of rain and the cool weather. I was starting to worry because I hadn't seen any evidence of scapes (I had cut them by this time last year.) But it finally got hot this week, and all my plants decided to shoot up scapes, except for the ones that fell over, like yours. I'm going to give them a few more days; maybe they're just late bloomers.

I just pulled up my little one that fell over and the stalk was kind of squishy. I thought it might only be a rounder, but it was actually a small bulb, and about the size of a couple I grew last year that had perfectly normal sized plants! It's no good to save for next season, but it looks ok to eat.

I've got them flopping all over the place now, even some of the larger ones with scapes. I also found that the stalks were kind of squishy, not firm and round like the others.

Most of my bulbs last year were small. This year, I planted some in a sunnier spot in raised beds, and I also planted some of the bigger cloves from my harvest last year. We'll see how they do.

I wouldn't think it would be time to harvest yet. We've had fairly cool weather compared to last year. I'd think they'd have another 2-3 weeks before they're ready to pull.

I don't have any others flopping and none of them look like they're ready to pull. Only a couple of leaves are starting to brown on each plant, and the scapes just came up, so I have another few weeks. I wish I marked down exactly when I harvested last year. I think it was about the 3rd week in July, but I'm just not sure.

Lilacs,

Squishy stalks, especially just above the bulb is very strange since garlic stems usually stay very firm through harvest and I agree that you have at least another couple of weeks before harvest. On the one that you pulled, was there anything that looked like a mold just above the bulb at the neck? If so, you might want to do a search on garlic neck rot (usually a botrytis rot) and see if it's matching your symptoms. I really hope not since it's a pain to get rid of and you'd need new planting stock. I hope that it's just a little too much water or nitrogen and you get a good harvest.

My garlic was fine untill my cat flopped over on it. 13 pounds of black and white love is too much for those poor stems. (No, she isn't a skunk, most of the time)

OTOH, it's mostly the garlic that I planted from bulbils that have stayed down. The big, beefy stems from mature cloves have mostly recovered from their mistreatment.

Catherine

The one I pulled looked completely fine other than being a little small. Nice firm cloves, no sign of mold, insects, or anything else. It was just...floppy.

Other than being a little small, and well...floppy, the bulb and the stalk were fine. No mold, no nothin'. I kind of wish I had left in in longer to see if it would grow, but I was really afraid of something nasty taking over the bed.

I live in zone 7 and harvested my garlic 2 weeks ago. This isabout 5 weeks before the preivous years harvest. And the size of the bulbs are huge, will take a picture this afternoon and post so you can see the size.

More of my garlic is flopping over. It started with the Lotus and Blossom, which, btw, were the first ones to pop up in the spring. Now the Red Rezan, Ontario Giant, and Lorz Italian are flopping over onto the ground. The flopped over ones are turning yellow and brown, so I think I'd better harvest them, even though the garlic should have another 2-3 weeks to go.

Lilacs,
Did you have way more water than usual this year? I think we had about the same amount as last year, but distributed differently. And I know I'm supposed to withhold water once the scapes are cut, but I can't control the weather, so I'll just roll with it. I don't recall any of my plants flopping over last year; just the leaves dying off when they were ready for harvest.

That single round clove is called a round (imagine that!) Dry it like the others and save it for planting this coming season. It will grow into a bulb, and a relatively large one, at that. I thought that the one I dug up would only be a round, and was surprised when I saw it was a small bulb.

Hi,

I have facing the exact same problem as yours. Finally, figured it out because of over watered the plant. I have grow it in container with lesser water and it turns out great. Hope this helpful.

The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies. -Gertrude Jekyll

I have facing the exact same problem as yours
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You meant still have your garlic plants growing in September ?