When to Harvest Garlic
In South Central Wisconsin, we harvest garlic in late July. Your region will have an annual time to harvest, so watch your garlic closely at this time.
About 3-5 weeks after picking garlic scapes, plants start to die back from the bottom and the leaves start to yellow letting us know it is getting time to harvest. When we see 5 green leaves remaining from the top of the plant (count from the top leaf to the bottom), it is time to harvest.
It is always a good idea to keep checking your garlic a few weeks before harvest. You may even want to harvest a bulb every few days to see how they are developing. The goal is to harvest the largest bulbs possible.
Your goal: each leaf is a wrapper and you want about 4 wrappers during and after curing, harvest before the bulb rots, don't harvest too early, and harvest healthy long storing bulbs.
Signs that garlic is ready to harvest:
- 5 green leaves remain from the top
- 50% of the plant has died back
- If you did not pick the scape, the scape will point to the sky
- Harvest garlic about 3-5 weeks after picking garlic scapes
- If you cut a bulb in half, it is starting to pull away from hard neck.
See our 2022 Garlic Harvest tips for getting longer storage at the bottom of curing garlic page.
