coal dust poisoning

[ashleighParticipant]

not a disease, just a stupid mistake. i had put wood ash on the garlic before, and they loved it. i did it a second time but unbenownst to me my housemate had used coal on the fire at some point. it seems like different patches of the garlic have received different layers of what was in the fire, and have responded differently.

within a couple of weeks about 1/4 of the garlic stems shrivelled and withered away to thin, brown and dead. i dug these up and the bulbs of these looked kind of ok, though had obviously stopped growing. another 1/4 of the garlic has developed multiple, spirally, stems bursting out of the main stems, this is quite a disturbing deformity! another 1/4 just looks quite unhealthy, and the last 1/4 looks pretty fine.

would the garlic be dangerous to eat? i haven’t been able to find any info from a quick google. a friend suggested that whatever nasties are in coal may be concentrated in the garlic. are they even safe to compost? and what about the bed for next year? is it safe to grow anything else in it? maybe we should cover it in green manure or something.

so disappointed and annoyed that this has happened!

[englishladyMember]

Hi Ashleigh  –  What a shame !  I know wood ash is supposed to be brilliant for keeping off pests, but would expect some problems from coal.

I dont know about the garlic absorbing the nasties from coal, if they did, surely you would see it ? At least the last quarter look ok.

I expect by now you have a whole new garlic bed underway.

Best wishes

Julie

[Author]

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