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Witches Broom Garlic: What’s Wrong with My Garlic? 

Garlic is usually one of the easiest crops to grow, but sometimes, small shoots sprout from the middle of your garlic. Individual cloves sprout and put out new growth instead of maturing. This phenomenon is commonly known as “witches brooming” and, unfortunately, may signal lousy news for garlic growers. 


Garlic Witch Brooming:  What is it and Why Does This Happen?

Witches brooming describes the condition where secondary sprouting occurs during bulb development. Tiny stalks form as they sprout from the inside out. It’s challenging to find research-based information about why witch brooming happens. The two culprits often blamed are fluctuating weather conditions and high nitrogen levels, or a combination of the two. 

I asked a local supplier, John, at Forever Yong Farm about witch brooming in garlic. He noted that he had seen it, but only at the end of the maturing of Creole garlic, which takes longer to mature. Some years, he notices few, if any. Other years, he stated there can be up to 20-25%.

Witches Broom Garlic: What's Wrong with My Garlic?

About 10% of my garlic witch-broomed this season. This winter, my garden experienced extended lower-than-normal temperatures. We had many days of below-freezing nighttime temperatures and lows of 25°F (-3.8°C). I planted my garlic in new garden beds and did not test the soil, but it is unlikely that the nitrogen levels were high.


Signs of Witch Brooming

Garlic leaves provide energy for the developing bulb, and after harvesting, they dry and form the papery skin that wraps around the bulb. When garlic witch brooms, there are extra leaves because each clove sends up a thin sprout. The garlic sprouts underground, and you won’t know anything is amiss until you see the excessive leaves growing through the soil. Learn more about how to grow garlic in this blog post.

Witches Broom Garlic: What's Wrong with My Garlic?

Can you stop it once it happens? 

Unfortunately, the garlic sprouting is already triggered and usually continues. But here’s the good news: these irregularities don’t render your harvest inedible. The bulbs may be smaller, but flavor-wise, your garlic will probably still have that delicious taste you love. 

Witches Broom Garlic: What's Wrong with My Garlic?

Harvesting & Using Affected Garlic

When you decide to pick your garlic, be gentle. These garlic bulbs might be more fragile and come apart. Use a trowel to dig them up rather than pulling them up by the leaves. 

Most sources say it’s best to use witch-broomed garlic quickly after harvesting. Choose methods that can extend the storage life, like pickling, fermenting, or drying. This year, I made roasted garlic with some of the broomed garlic from my garden. 

How to Make and Freeze Roasted Garlic
Roasted Garlic

You can also allow the garlic to cure, which will tighten the skin around the cloves and may prolong storage life. The difference between regular and broomed garlic is that each clove is encased, but there is no protective layer around the entire garlic bulb. Monitor the garlic closely and use or discard any that show signs of softening or decay.

I’m curing and storing both my regular and broomed garlic this season. I will monitor the storage time to see if there is a difference. I will also plant the affected garlic this fall in a separate location to see if witch brooming happens again. I’ll update this post when I have more information. 


Ideas for Preventing Witches Brooming in Garlic

Excessive nitrogen, while beneficial for leafy growth, can exacerbate garlic’s witch-broom effect, leading to overgrowth and splitting. Consider getting your soil tested and adjusting fertilizer application accordingly. For instance, if your soil test reveals high nitrogen levels, you may need to switch to a fertilizer with a lower nitrogen content or reduce the frequency of application. 

Witches Broom Garlic: What's Wrong with My Garlic?

Diversifying your garlic varieties can also be a proactive step. Some types may be more resilient to environmental stresses, including those contributing to witches broom. Research and plant a mix of varieties to see which grows best in your garden’s unique conditions. 

A thick layer of mulch may also help regulate soil temperature, decrease water fluctuations, and protect garlic from extreme weather. 


Learn and Share

Have you encountered strange garlic growth? Your experience could help us all understand more about this issue. I’d love to hear about it. Share your story and location in the comments to contribute to our collective knowledge. 

Here is a video from another gardener who shares her experience:


If This Post About Garlic Witch Brooming was Helpful, Please Share It:

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46 comments on "Witches Broom Garlic: What’s Wrong with My Garlic? "

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  1. I live in south Phoenix (near AZWF) and was shocked to find it happened to about half of my garlic this year. Glad I’m not the only one!
    I planted them in various raised beds, pots, and even in ground, each with different watering systems. The ones in ground (native soil amended only with my compost) had fewer instances, but those were also the smaller cloves and most didn’t fully mature.
    Confession: I plant store-bought organic garlic, but I buy new each year.

    1. Thanks for sharing. Also I’m jealous you live close to Arizona Worm Farm. Love that place!

  2. I live in east Texas where this spring has been extreme. Major temp changes, and flooding. (We had over 7 inches just last week) and I noticed after the rains, two of my soft neck garlics had split in the middle of the stem and that bulbuls were growing. Not quite the witches broom since my garlic isn’t even creating cloves yet. But super weird. This is only my second year growing garlic and last year was a fail, the garlic didn’t even clove. As a newbie and clueless, seeing this made my heart drop. I found a Reddit thread that said it might be some sort of mutation. Really weird and interesting… but I would rather have that than some sort of fungus or virus. Would you know anything about that? (The video you posted, that lady showed she had one of those garlics, said she would do a video on it, but I can’t find it ). Thank you for sharing this blog bc it’s been so helpful because there is no real info out there! I thought maybe I was the only one growing weird garlic. Hopefully the rest of the garlic grows normal and all will work out. Thank you for all you do! I’ve learned so much!

    1. 7 inches!!!! That is a lot of rain. Bulbils are interesting. I’ve had those form too. Hopefully we can all learn more as others share. Best of luck with the rest of your garlic this season!

    2. @Amber, hi Amber, i’m the lady that did the video. I’m a long long time garlic grower and still trying to figure all this out. Which part did you want follow up on? I’m now certain it’s not a fungus nor virus, simply because it would effect more than just a few of my cloves considering they are the same garlic i’ve been planting for years and harvesting for years I would expect it to seriously spread. It is a head scratcher. As for your garlic…did you buy it from a nursery? or grocery store? or was it a corm or bulbil? if you can give me a bit more info I can try to assist. It’s a head scratcher for sure. Feel free to email me directly too.
      Martha aka OldSchoolPreparer@Gmail.com

  3. This happened to me this year as well. I thought I had left it in the ground too long! Good to know that this is actually a thing.

  4. Yes, had that happen this year, but only to one variety that I planted. Unfortunately the label washed away so I don’t know which variety it was. The other three varieties grew normally. All of mine were planted in the same raised bed receiving the same water and nutrients.

  5. I live very near you and this just happened to me! Interesting to know what it is, Google hadn’t proved very helpful.

  6. First time planting garlic I felt that it was me lol! I see it wasn’t just me that had this happen. I am in AZ I used the supplier Angela uses. I heard a gardener in CA have same problem and she has experience on gardening. Great to know I am not alone but it’s a bummer I was looking forward to the garlic. I used grow bags to grow mine.

  7. I had a couple of them do this. Most of my garlic ended up with small heads, but this is my first year growing garlic and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I have more info now for next year and will plant in a different container.

    1. Not a great year for garlic it seems. Too bad, it’s usually a very dependable easy to grow crop!

  8. This happened to me in 2020 when I had just moved to coastal Southern California. I planted the garlic cloves in November and all the leaves were dying back by March which I thought was way too early. When I harvested it it is was all separate bulbs. I thought maybe this was just not a good area for garlic and haven’t grown it since. Maybe I’ll try again this fall.

  9. I had this happen to about 75% of my garlic. First year growing, so I thought maybe I had done something wrong! Good to know not only what happened to my garlic, but that experienced gardeners also struggled with it this year. Thank you for the insight!

  10. We live in Mesa, AZ and most of our garlic turned into witches broom garlic. We got elephant garlic bulbs from the Mesa farm market last year and were so excited to grow our own elephant garlic. It’s still curing so I can’t speak to the flavor, but it smells wonderful!

  11. Witches broom can be induced on some perennial plants when they are dosed too heavily with pesticides. I wonder if pesticide spray drift made it onto some vegetable plots?

    1. Interesting thought. I don’t think that was the case with mine, but it’s another possibility to consider. Thanks for sharing.

  12. I’ve had the same thing happen with some of my garlic. Not all of mine broomed but quite a few did. I chalked it up to using garlic grown last year. they taste great so far. I will buy new bulbs this year and try out your suggestions. I fear climate change will affect all of our plants eventually.

    1. Thanks for sharing. Interesting year for garlic for sure. Hopefully it doesn’t continue.

  13. Gardening in Casa Grande. This was my first time growing garlic and it happened to a few bulbs. I thought I did something wrong. Nice to know it was a common issue.

  14. This was my first year growing garlic here in phoenix, AZ. I only grew 3 since that’s all that survived my dogs. Two were planted mercy to my roses in ground on drip system. One was huge and normal and one was witches broom looking. I figured it was normal for soft neck garlic until I read your blog. So thank you for educating us! The third one was in a raised bed with a drip system and was normal too.

  15. Red Inchillium has witches broomed last season and this season. Not a good choice for zone 8a Atlanta. Thai Fire had a handful of cloves growing on the outside of the enclosed bulb.

  16. I live in Tucson and about 75% of my garlic “witch broomed” I have them in raised beds. We did have colder /longer and rainy conditions this winter. Thanks so much for all your info.

  17. Hi Angela, my name is Martha and I’m @OldSchoolPrepper (you showcased my video) I apprecaite that! I agree with most of your points. I planted again and now have Witches Broom on only a very few garlic heads most of which were rounds I planted for 2nd year growth. My garlic beds are pH neutral, I don’t fertilize all winter long (I live out of the country from Dec-April so i’m not here to fertilize). I would think if it effects one garlic is should effect a whole lot of them. Have you ever planted a biannual and found that it set seed the first year? like carrot or cabbage? while rare it’s happened to me…I think this scenario is some how related but it’s just a guess. I’m going to do another video on this topic very soon. My local extention service (U of Oregon) still doesn’t understand what’s going on…up to us!
    Thanks again,
    Martha

    1. Hi Martha. Good points. Please let me know if you do more videos, interesting topic. It’s fun to learn more!

  18. This was only my second year of growing garlic. Most of my garlic ended up having the witches brooming result. I thought that I may have harvested it too soon. Only 10% looks normal. I’m happy to hear that the taste will not be effected. Should of any of the witches broom bulbs be used as seed next year?

    1. That’s up to you. I’m going to try planting some as an experiment to see if they are more likely to broom. Let me know how it goes if you plant yours.

  19. Mine didn’t “witch broom” but instead of getting a head of garlic, I simply got what seems like a large clove of garlic. It was paper encased, but very small. I followed all your instructions, planted Mexican Pearl. I live in midtown Phoenix. Planted in raised beds with lettuce and in ground bed by flowers. I planted over 20 garlic and was only able to locate a few. Maybe I should have fertilized more? SO disappointed! Any ideas?

    1. Could need more time. Possibly more soil or sunlight too. That’s frustrating, I’m sorry.

  20. This has happened to me in UK this year I think, planted in january, in the bed that had tomatos last year, we have had a lot of rain and fluctuating temperatures, but, its only 2 plants, in the middle of around 20, won’t know for certain until I lift them, and I’m loathe to do that too early