Club Root!

[Maddie106]

Dear Vines,

I'd like your advice on how to cope with the dreaded club root please.
My plan this season is to grow Cabbage Kilaton, Cauli Clapton and sprout Crispus. All are supposed to be club root resistant.
Since the problem came up last season, I've been very careful to bin all brasica waste and not put it on the compost heap

In addition, I'm going to try and grow them on in pots, once they have germinated, before planting out. (The idea being that potting on will disturb the roots and hopefully give me a magnificent set of healthy roots before they get planted out!)
I limed the brassica patch in the autumn and will check the pH in the next week or so to see if it needs more.

I did read in a rival gardening mag that putting a bit of rhubarb stem in the hole when planting out was an old fashioned remedy against club root. Has anybody tried it?? ( doesn't seem too logical to me, because the rhubarb rotting down will produce acidic conditions?)
My research on the net is very depressing! There seems to be no cure for the Bl**dy fungus and even if I stopped growing brassicas for several years, the spores would still be present in the soil!

The problem seems to have originated in a bed at the back of my garden that is behind an 8 inch retaining wall...carried into the bottom part of my veg plots by water run-off I think (plants nearest here had club root, ones further away didn't)

Finally, is there any way I can grow Purple sprouting broc??
Perhaps try to grow it as far away from the "Devil bed" as possible??

Advice please.....meanwhile have a glass of wine as I contemplate a brassica- free 2010!!!

[jacob marley]

Maddie you do not need the rhubarb leaf with the Kilaton and Clapton and Crispus sprouts just other Brasicas the kilaton if you look after them well will grow to 14 pounds in weight mine did last year the Clapton will apreciate copius waterings do not know about the sprouts hope this helps enjoy them...jacob

[Snadger]

I garden with clubroot but look upon it as an achievement when I manage to get a crop.
I have found clubroot prospers in warm,damp,acidic conditions. My spring cabbages usually aren't affected or any other winter brassicas for that matter because of the soil temperature.
Before clubroot resitant varieties were introduced I used the rhubarb method with some success. Rhubarb is full of Oxalic acid which is fungicidal.
Clubroot spores are microscopic so easily transferred from one area to another.
Kale has a natural resistance (Kilaton is a cabbage /kale cross) because of it cellular structure which is very 'tight' growing sometimes like wood (Walking stick kale) The fungus can't get between the cell walls and cause it to 'club'.
You are spot on with what you are doing and starting plants in pots or modules gives them a healthy root system which even if attacked can usually still allow the plant to give a crop.

You CAN beat clubroot!

[King Carrot]

I've seen it once on my ground 5 years back - since then I've started all my brassicas pretty much in cells & pots and I always mix a trowel tip of lime in the planting hole. Incidentally the ground was waterlogged much of that year( there was moss growing on the topsoil in places) and I probably hadn't been liming as much as the ground needs - there is hope, and I still grow normal varieties of cabbage, kale, PSB, etc.

[Maddie106]

I garden with clubroot but look upon it as an achievement when I manage to get a crop.
I have found clubroot prospers in warm,damp,acidic conditions. My spring cabbages usually aren't affected or any other winter brassicas for that matter because of the soil temperature.
Before clubroot resitant varieties were introduced I used the rhubarb method with some success. Rhubarb is full of Oxalic acid which is fungicidal.
Clubroot spores are microscopic so easily transferred from one area to another.
Kale has a natural resistance (Kilaton is a cabbage /kale cross) because of it cellular structure which is very 'tight' growing sometimes like wood (Walking stick kale) The fungus can't get between the cell walls and cause it to 'club'.
You are spot on with what you are doing and starting plants in pots or modules gives them a healthy root system which even if attacked can usually still allow the plant to give a crop.

You CAN beat clubroot!

Thanks fellas!

What you say now makes sense Snadger re-rubarb and oxalic acid. Would I be best then to use rhubarb leaves in the planting holes, given that they have a higher oxalic acid content?

Thanks for the scientific explanation Snadger.As a retired Chemistry teacher, I do appretiate that!! Also explains why the lady at the local nursery suggested I try growing Kale ( which I don't really like eating very much!!)
The spring cabbage look ok at the moment, but they are at the bottom of the plot , away from the source of the club root.
I'll try sprouting broc as far away from the "devil Plot" as I can this year!! ( The calabrese was fine, but the PSB was planted in the "Devil Plot" and all failed.)

Perhaps I'm going to have to reserve one pair of wellies just for the "devil Plot"??
It's going to be a real pain on the bum!!

If it all turns out to be a total failure this season, I'll give brassicas a miss on 2011 and concentrate on leeks/beans/ peas.

[gojiberry]

I also live with club root but always manage to get a decent crop just by growing on in pots to get a good sized healthy plant before putting out on the plot. Am going to try using rhubarb as well this year.

Ian

[baggyman]

I grow in cells too but before putting them in I dust the hole with lime first.

[zazen999]

I also live with club root but always manage to get a decent crop just by growing on in pots to get a good sized healthy plant before putting out on the plot. Am going to try using rhubarb as well this year.

Ian

This is what I'd suggest, plus putting crushed up eggshells in the hole when you plant them out. The more good soil surrounds them, the longer it takes for clubroot to attack and the more likely you will get a decent crop.