By the method of water culture, the root exudates of Cangshan garlic and Caijiapo garlic were collected to study their allelopathic effects on the seed germination and seedling growth of lettuce, and on the development of pathogens Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum and F. oxysporium f. sp. niveum. The root exudates of the two garlic cultivars promoted the lettuce seed germination and seedling growth at low concentrations (0.1 and 0.2 g x mL(-1)), but showed inhibitory effects at high concentrations (0.4 and 0.6 g x mL(-1)), with the inhibitory effects being stronger for the root exudates of Caijiapo garlic. The two garlic cultivars' root exudates also had inhibitory effects on the mycelia growth and spore germination of the pathogens, and the effects increased with increasing concentration of the exudates, being stronger for Caijiapo garlic than for Cangshan garlic. F. oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum was more sensitive to the inhibitory effects of the root exudates of the two garlic cultivars, as compared to F. oxysporium f. sp. niveum.