White Rot Treatment - Caliente Mustard

[zazen999]

I have really bad white rot at my plot so after being more than a little disheartened at losing half my onions each year, I decided to treat a couple of beds last winter and see how alliums go in them.

The first treatment was with a garlic drench - however you have to wait a year for this to take effect so will plant overwintered onion in it this autumn and report back.

The other treatment was to grow Caliente Mustard in the soil and once it has flowered, rip it out and then plant your alliums. So I did this, and put my garlics in around Dec 21st and I've just harvested some nice sized ones and only 3 out of the 35 were bad enough to throw away, 2 others had a smidgen which are chop-off-able...

So on the whole, so far - very happy. Usually at the allotment I'd have to chuck at least 1/4 if not 1/2 of my alliums so

[Two_Sheds]

That's excellent news. CM now on my wish list

[chris]

Did you dig it back into the ground/rest it before planting? Read about it before, great to know it seems to work

[zazen999]

No, as soon as it flowered I ripped it all out and planted my garlics straight after.

I just thought I'd share. There is always a slight chance of course that I wasn't going to get white rot this year in that bed anyway; you never know. But I dug them up thinking 'they will never be ready [they were] and I'll probably have to chuck them all [results above].

I'm not going to be growing any alliums without a cover after this year anyway - as I keep getting onions with onion fly in them, and if onions are under cover all winter then they get much less white rot anyway. Due to the lack of moisture. I honestly thought that after all the recent rain they would all be fluffy. So good news.

Mr Z has requested that I make my lazy garlic again with them - whizz them in white wine vinegar and jar them up.

[Newton]

When did you sow the cm? Could you dig it in like a green Manure?

[zazen999]

Around August. The idea is it takes bad things out, so digging it back in would defeat the object of the exercise.

[chris]

I did wonder about that zaz but just read on greenmanure.co.uk about it (that's where I read it before) -- just to double check I hadn't read things wrong. It mentions about it being chopped up to release the gas to biofumigate the ground.

Perhaps different methods for different treatments?

[Jeanied]

So there is a chance! My garlics have totally rotted this year - I have lifted them to salvage what I can from the rot. The vinegar treatment may be the only way I can keep them! How do you use it Zaz?

[zazen999]

Possibly; I chopped it down before ripping the roots out and it was left on the surface for a week [due to rain more than anything].

I know all my beds are going to have this treatment regularly now; the next bed along also had it and it was chopped down and left to rot so fingers crossed for that bed.

[zazen999]

So there is a chance! My garlics have totally rotted this year - I have lifted them to salvage what I can from the rot. The vinegar treatment may be the only way I can keep them! How do you use it Zaz?

Vinegar?

I have drenched my garlic trial bed in a 10 clove to a gallon whizzed up garlic drench. Applied in August with a watering can. Will be planting overwintering onions this Sept.

[Two_Sheds]

CM now on my wish list

The caliente mustard seems to be helping with the white rot: all my onions are fine except for 2 rows, which is a vast improvement on last year

I added a bit of chopped up CM to each planting hole, then added more chopped up CM as a mulch throughout the growing season

[Terryr]

white root rot

Vinegar?

I have drenched my garlic trial bed in a 10 clove to a gallon whizzed up garlic drench. Applied in August with a watering can. Will be planting overwintering onions this Sept.

Has anyone done the above with decent results. I gather that I am a little late in the year to be thinking of doing this for next year. I am considering placing a largish bag of crushed garlic into my water butt and every time I water I will be "treating" my beds. I have a very old veggie plot which has every disease going. First time ever this year I got some cauliflowers and sprouts due to using club root resistant varieties.

Terryr

[Snadger]

Has anyone done the above with decent results. I gather that I am a little late in the year to be thinking of doing this for next year. I am considering placing a largish bag of crushed garlic into my water butt and every time I water I will be "treating" my beds. I have a very old veggie plot which has every disease going. First time ever this year I got some cauliflowers and sprouts due to using club root resistant varieties.

Terryr

The vinegar method of putting the onions in a jar with vinegar makes lovely pickled onions!

Terry--------your idea with the garlic will only work as long as the crushed garlic hasn't started to rot as then it will become a liquid manure! Better to make up small batches and use while the garlic still smells of garlic.

Just as an aside my plot has white rot and Clubroot. This year, without ANY treatment I have seen a marked improvement so maybe weather plays more of a part in these fungal diseases than first thought? Either that or each has run its course, hoprfully never to return!

[Aberdeenplotter]

The seed of this mustard seems expensive. Almost A fiver for 100m gms. Any more reasonable suppliers about?

[Terryr]

The vinegar method of putting the onions in a jar with vinegar makes lovely pickled onions!

Terry--------your idea with the garlic will only work as long as the crushed garlic hasn't started to rot as then it will become a liquid manure! Better to make up small batches and use while the garlic still smells of garlic.

Just as an aside my plot has white rot and Clubroot. This year, without ANY treatment I have seen a marked improvement so maybe weather plays more of a part in these fungal diseases than first thought? Either that or each has run its course, hoprfully never to return!

Hi Snadger

Thanks for that Snadger, sounds like sensible advice. I did not grow any onions this year due to many crop failures in the past. I think that the dry summer must have played a big part in keeping the fungi at bay. Going to start a garlic drench routine and give them a go next year. Do you think they are better from seed or sets?

Terryr