Resistant varieties

[Burnzie]

Hi. after a couple of quite poor seasons on the lotty I'm having a re-think on some of the varieties I grow.

Can anyone recommend any resistant crop varieties they have had success with in the last couple of years.

Any advice on any vegatable gratefully received.


best regards

Burnzie

[SarzWix]

I'm trying the blight resistant potato Sarpo Axona this time, because I've had to cut the tops off my Desiree before they were ready 2 years in a row. My outdoor tomatoes ALL got hit too, but the greenhouse ones were spared thankfully.

I think the last couple of seasons have been hard for everybody, and we're all trying new ideas & varieties to get round it. Drainage & soil improvement will play a part too. I started saving seeds from some veg (peas, beans & tomatoes) last year too, as they will gradually adapt to suit my soil and growing conditions.

Is there any specific problems that you are worried about? Blight, rust, rots, slugs?

[burnie]

Resistant to what?what you been struggling with?

[raine]

I've been struggling with blight and have had to bin my entire crop two years in a row so i'd like some advice for tomatoes please

[SarzWix]

Both 'Ferline' and 'Legend' tomatoes are said to be blight resistant, but I've never tried either.

[Snadger]

The only problem with varieties of anything grown with resistance to various fungi and diseases is that usually 'taste' takes a back seat in the hybridisation process! Not ALWAYS but often!

There's nothing wrong with this if it helps you to grow a veg that always succumbs to a given pest or disease though.

If I don't need this resistance though I always go for the best tasting variety!

[SarzWix]

You tried the club-root resistant brassicas last year didn't you Snadger? What did they turn out like taste-wise?

[adjohnson1971]

Both 'Ferline' and 'Legend' tomatoes are said to be blight resistant, but I've never tried either.

I'm in a similar boat to everyone here and have been looking into blight resistant tomatos, ferline and Legend were both mentioned, but from posts on other websites they seem to be a waste of time, both lack of taste and virtually no resistance. Can anyone enlighten us???

[kernowyon]

You tried the club-root resistant brassicas last year didn't you Snadger? What did they turn out like taste-wise?

I grew the Cabbage and Cauliflower (clapton & kilaton) from T&M that were club-root resistant, they did what it says on the pack, performed really well, had huge heads of cauli and they tasted good, not the absolute best I have ever tasted but good all the same, I will be growing them again this year.

[vegnut]

Tomatoes, i grow in a greenhouse, or at home in the garden. Never outside at the lottie, and potatoes, i grew the sarpo axona last year. A very tasty spud that wasn't touched by blight at all. Just don't boil them, they fall to pieces very quickly.

[Snadger]

You tried the club-root resistant brassicas last year didn't you Snadger? What did they turn out like taste-wise?

Half the Kilaton cabbage are still standing in the lottie! They are really a coleslaw cabbage, pretty tasteless I found and VERY white inside.

The Clapton caulis were very good but being an F1, were all ready on the same day!
I can't vouch for HOW clubroot resistant they are because I wasn't even sure I had clubroot in that area....but they weren't affected with it anyway!

All in all though worth it methinks......probably!

I'm growing a lot of various brassicas this year to try and ascertain which parts of my allotment are affected!

[SarzWix]

I've got packets of both varieties, but I didn't bother using them - we prefer savoy cabbages, so I grew Tarvoy. And I don't have any club root on any of the plots (hope I'm not tempting fate there... ). I've promised another chap on the plots he can have the seed for this year, so I'll pass on your comments too. Perhaps successional sowing for the caulis?!

[Burnzie]

Thanks everyone for the replies, especially with reference to taste.

Over the last couple of years I seem to have suffered from bits of everything:

blight on potatoes
club root
white rot (horrendous)
parsnip canker
rust on leeks

also my beetroot gerninate well but when the foliage gets to about four inches high it turns all purple and growth just about stops. Wierd, could it be some sort of defficiency?


thanks again, and any suggestions gratefully received

Burnzie

[SarzWix]

there are a few varieties of potato which have some blight resistance, the best are supposed to be the Sarpo varieties available from Thompson and Morgan. I'm trying some of them this time, so I can't comment on flavour yet. Other seed suppliers will have others listed with some blight resistance.

There are club root resistant cabbages, cauliflower & swedes which would all be worth a try. Cauli; Clapton, Cabbage; Kilaton & Kilaxy, Swede; Invitation & Marian.
But you can also sow in trays, then grow them on in pots, getting the plants as big as you can before planting them out into a hole sprinkled with lime, which gives them a better chance before the clubroot takes hold.

If you've had onion white rot in an area, then you can't plant anything onion in that area for a very long time. And you should be VERY careful about cleaning tools before moving onto a different part of the plot. To get around the problem, if it's in other parts of the plot, you could build a raised bed and fill it with clean soil/sand/compost, and keep specific tools for that area.

I haven't grown parsnips before, so can't help you there I'm afraid.

Bear in mind that a lot of your problems will have been contributed to by the ridiculous amount of rain last year, and try to improve drainage a bit with some sand or grit, and lots of added muck/compost.

[Snadger]

I'm trying an onion called Golden Bear this year which is supposed to have resistance to white rot! Watch this space!