Plant garlic in October to November in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttarakhand, and from September to November in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra (ICAR-DOGR). Use big, healthy cloves (more than 1.5 g each), 400 to 500 kg per hectare (160 to 200 kg per acre), planted 15 cm between rows and 10 cm apart, and expect to harvest in March to April.
On price, be realistic. The title promises "₹10,000+ per quintal", and garlic does reach that, but not in every mandi or every season. On 25 September 2026, Agmarknet-based aggregator data showed state-wise modal prices of about ₹6,100 in Uttar Pradesh, ₹7,000 in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, ₹7,500 in Haryana and ₹9,300 in Maharashtra per quintal, with Tamil Nadu's farmers' markets (Uzhavar Sandhai) far higher at about ₹21,600. The roughly ₹11,000 all-India modal figure partly reflects those southern markets. Garlic prices swing sharply from glut to shortage, so plan the area around storage, grade and your own break-even, not around one price.
Choosing a variety
ICAR-DOGR (Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research, Pune) lists these for the plains. Maturity is in days from planting; yields are research-station figures, and field yields are usually lower.
| Variety | Where | Maturity | Yield (t/ha) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yamuna Safed (G-1) | All India | 120 to 130 | 15 to 17 | White; the general-purpose choice; tolerates purple blotch, stemphylium and thrips better than older white types (NHRDF) |
| Yamuna Safed-2 (G-50) | Northern India | 120 to 130 | 15 to 20 | White; recommended for the north |
| Yamuna Safed-3 (G-282) and Agrifound Parvati | G-282 north and central India; Parvati for hills | not listed by DOGR | about 17.5 to 20 (older NHRDF figures) | Larger cloves and bigger bulbs, suited to export grade (DOGR); G-282 is a medium storer, while G-1 and G-50 store better (NHRDF) |
| Agrifound White (G-41) | Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra | 130 to 135 | 12 to 14 | Susceptible to purple blotch and stemphylium where those are common |
| Bhima Omkar (DOGR) | Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan | 120 to 135 | 8 to 14 | Medium-sized, compact white bulbs |
| Bhima Purple (DOGR) | AP, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, UP | 120 to 135 | 6 to 7 | Purple-skinned bulbs |
| VL Garlic 1 (VPKAS) | Hills of Bihar, HP, J&K, Uttarakhand, UP | 180 to 190 | 14 to 15 in hills (9 to 10 in plains) | Long-day type, for hills |
Punjab Agricultural University recommends PG 17 and PG 18 for garlic as an intercrop in autumn-planted sugarcane (planted from the last week of September to the first week of October). Check with your KVK which variety your local mandi and buyers prefer: export and large-clove markets pay for bulb size, while local retail pays for pungency and storage.
Climate, soil and field preparation
- Climate: garlic needs a cool, moist climate while it grows and warm, dry weather as bulbs mature. Plants exposed to about 20°C or lower for one to two months bulb sooner; plants that miss this cool period may produce small bulbs or none.
- Soil: fertile, well-drained loam with pH 6 to 8. It is sensitive to acidic, alkaline and saline soils and to waterlogging; yield starts falling when the soil salinity (ECe) is above about 3.9 dS/m. Heavy soils produce deformed bulbs.
- Preparation: plough with a mould-board plough, then use a cultivator three to four times to remove clods and residue. Mix organic manure in the last ploughing (15 t/ha FYM, or 7.5 t poultry manure or vermicompost, supplies 75 kg N) and make flat beds 1.5 to 2 m wide and 4 to 6 m long (DOGR).
Planting: clove selection, treatment, spacing
- Break the bulbs only just before planting, twisting off the outer skin and keeping the base plate of each clove intact; a clove without its base plate will not grow. Select cloves heavier than 1.5 g and reject small, diseased and damaged ones.
- Treatment: dip the cloves in carbendazim 0.1% solution just before planting to reduce fungal diseases at establishment. Biofertilisers: DOGR recommends Azospirillum and phosphorus-solubilising bacteria at 5 kg per hectare each, mixed with 100 to 200 kg of moist FYM and kept overnight.
- Seed rate and spacing: 400 to 500 kg of cloves per hectare, planted vertically about 2 cm below the soil surface with plant-to-plant 10 cm and row-to-row 15 cm. Cloves sprout in 7 to 8 days, but weeds emerge in 3 to 4.
- Timing: in the north plains plant in October to November. NHRDF lists early planting as one cause of premature sprouting of bulbs in the field, so plant when evenings are cooling.
| Seed cost per acre | 160 kg | 200 kg |
|---|---|---|
| If cloves cost ₹80/kg (an illustration only) | ₹12,800 | ₹16,000 |
| If cloves cost ₹120/kg (an illustration only) | ₹19,200 | ₹24,000 |
Garlic seed is a large part of the cost and the price of seed cloves varies a lot from year to year, so get a firm quote before deciding the area. Use seed from a trusted source: bulbs from virus-infected plants stay small and give fewer cloves.
Fertiliser per hectare and per acre
| Region (DOGR / AINRP-OG) | NPKS per hectare | NPKS per acre | Manure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haryana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh | 100:50:50:50 | 40:20:20:20 | 20 t FYM per ha (about 8 t per acre) |
| Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu (Ooty) | 75:40:40:40 | 30:16:16:16 | Manure equal to 75 kg N, such as 15 t FYM per ha (about 6 t per acre) |
Apply one-third of the nitrogen and all the phosphorus, potash and sulphur at planting, and the rest of the nitrogen in two equal splits 30 and 45 days after planting. If the soil test shows zinc deficiency, DOGR advises 10 kg zinc sulphate per hectare; for boron deficiency, 10 kg borax per hectare. Use a Soil Health Card test to know what your field needs, and see fertilizers. High nitrogen late in the crop causes sprouting and splitting; do not top up after 45 days.
Irrigation and weeds
- Irrigate immediately after planting and then every 7 to 10 days depending on soil moisture. A rabi crop usually gets 12 to 13 irrigations. Moisture stress at bulb initiation and bulb development hurts the most.
- Stop irrigating 10 to 15 days before harvest, when tops start to bend or dry. Irrigating a maturing crop causes secondary roots and sprouts, and bulbs that will not store. A dry spell followed by irrigation splits the outer scales. Avoid waterlogging, which brings basal rot and purple blotch.
- Drip irrigation on broad bed furrows (120 cm top, 45 cm furrow, two laterals) raised bulb yield by 15 to 25% over flood irrigation in DOGR trials; see drip irrigation.
- Weeds: garlic competes poorly. DOGR recommends oxyfluorfen 23.5% EC at 1.5 to 2 ml per litre or pendimethalin 30% EC at 3.5 to 4 ml per litre of water, before or at planting, followed by one hand weeding at 40 to 60 days. Follow the label for the amount per acre.
Thrips, purple blotch and white rot
| Problem | What it looks like | Management (DOGR) |
|---|---|---|
| Thrips | Silvery-white patches, curled and twisted leaves in the first 45 days | Plant two rows of maize (or one of maize and one of wheat) as a barrier around the crop 30 days before planting; spray only when counts cross about 30 thrips per plant, using a product registered for garlic (DOGR lists profenofos 0.1%, carbosulfan 0.2% or fipronil 0.1%) and a spreader |
| Purple blotch and stemphylium blight | Small whitish sunken spots with purple centres; leaves fall over | Mancozeb 0.25%, or tricyclazole, hexaconazole or propiconazole at 0.1%, every 10 to 15 days from 30 days after planting or when the disease appears |
| White rot | Yellowing and dying of leaf tips, roots destroyed, white fluffy growth on scales | Rotate crops, destroy infected plants, solarise soil; carbendazim 0.1% may be applied |
| Viruses (OYDV, LYSV, IYSV) | Yellow stripes, mosaic, stunting; small bulbs | Use virus-free seed; control aphids and thrips, which spread the viruses |
Chemical choices change as registrations and bans change, so confirm the product, dose and waiting period on the label or with your KVK before spraying.
Harvest, curing and storage: where the price is made
- Harvest when tops turn yellow-brown and bend over (March to April in the north). Windrow the plants with tops covering the bulbs so they are not sun-scalded, and let them dry in the field for about a week. Then cure in shade for 7 to 10 days; leaving 2.5 cm of the neck and trimming the roots.
- Garlic stored properly keeps for 5 to 6 months at ambient temperature in a ventilated store with relative humidity below 70%. DOGR recommends grading first and tying 20 to 25 plants into bundles with their tops, curing them upright in shade for about 15 days, then hanging them in a dry, well-ventilated place.
- Poor handling can lose 15 to 50% of the crop; in one NHRDF study, storage losses were 42.4% at ambient temperature against 12.5% at 1 to 5°C with 75% humidity. Garlic can sprout quickly if kept near 4°C for too long, so do not hold seed or bulbs in a cold chain without advice.
What an acre could earn, with the arithmetic
One acre is 0.4047 hectare. Using DOGR/NHRDF yield ranges (8 to 15 tonnes per hectare in the lists above, which is 32 to 61 quintals per acre) and the September 2026 price range:
| Yield per acre | At ₹6,000/q | At ₹8,000/q | At ₹10,000/q |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 quintals | ₹1,80,000 | ₹2,40,000 | ₹3,00,000 |
| 40 quintals | ₹2,40,000 | ₹3,20,000 | ₹4,00,000 |
| 50 quintals | ₹3,00,000 | ₹4,00,000 | ₹5,00,000 |
These are gross figures. Subtract seed (see the table above), labour for planting, weeding and harvest, fertiliser, irrigation, spray and storage loss, then use the break-even rule: break-even price = total cost per acre ÷ saleable quintals. Because a significant share of a garlic crop can be lost in storage, count only the quintals you will actually sell. Rabi insurance under PMFBY covers garlic only where it is notified, so check your district, and the Kisan Credit Card is a cheaper source of input finance than informal credit.
Sources
- ICAR-Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research (DOGR), Garlic Agropedia (climate, seasons, varieties, planting, fertiliser, irrigation, pests, storage)
- TNAU eAgri, Origin, area, production, varieties and package of practices for garlic (NHRDF variety descriptions, storage losses)
- AICRP Technical Bulletin No. 1, Sugarcane in India: Package of Practices (garlic intercropping in autumn sugarcane)
- Punjab Agricultural University, Package of Practices for Crops of Punjab, Rabi 2025-26 (garlic as intercrop in autumn sugarcane)
- MandiPrices, Garlic price today, state-wise modal prices from Agmarknet (25 Sep 2026)