Topic: Clubroot and Rhubarb

[sally james]

Is thmudere any truth in the saying that rhubarb will help with clubroot?
Is it the stems and leaves or just leaves, or just stems. Also how long must the roration of crops be.
Any helpwould be good.
Thanks
Sally

[cleo]

That takes me back-my first half plot in 1977 which was riddled with club root.

The `old lads` swore by a chunk of rhubarb in the planting hole.

So I did it-did it work?

Not really to be honest,maybe a slight improvement but I felt I was on my way to becoming a `real gardener` upon listening to such sage advice ;D

[Kepouros]

It`s yet another of the specifics I tried after my soil got club root (from a batch of bought in brussels sprouts), and I`m afraid I didn`t notice any improvement at all.  I remember aboiut 40 years ago on Gardeners` Question  Time the team were asked a similar question and either Fred Loads or Bill Sowerbutts advised selecting a strip to be used for brassicas every year (no rotation) and liming it so heavily that only brassicas would grow there.

If you don`t like the sound of that, then rotate on a 4 year cycle, using manure for your potatoes and following them by liming for brassicas (always lime after the potatoes) 

[Jeannine]

I am told that out lotties are riddled with it, according to my next bit one neighbour..and he did pull up some pretty sad looking stuff while I was there.

I only have brussel sprouts planted, just by chance that is all there was, but I do have transplants of stuff going in this weekend  with some  brassicas among them.

I have never had it and know diddly about it, but my neighbour has got me worried.

He sais once it is there you cannot get rid of it.. so what does one do. he said it came in the manure.

Is it better to ger resistant ones, I found a list, or some kind of protection.

I need to educate myself about this one cos I no nothing about it.

XX Jeannine

[Kepouros]

There is no cure for clubroot.  Once you`ve got it it`s there for good.  If you have it you can spread it about your site on your tools unless you disinfect them carefully, and with any plants (even non-brassicas) which you transplant.  Never accept plants, seedlings or cuttings  or seeds from a suspect site.  Seedlings grown in some types of soilless composts can even develop club root before they are planted out, and will then contaminate wherever they are planted

You can grow brassicas on infected soil where the infection is not too bad either by using the liming technique I mentioned, or by soaking the soil with Armillatox (or similar preparation) several weeks before planting - but bear in mind that these preparations also kill plant life, so sow a few lettuce seeds as a trial before planting or sowing the brassicas.  Unfortunately the fungicidal effects of Armillatox only last for two or three months and it can be very depressing when your cabbages are beginning to heart up, or your cauliflowers beginning to head, for them suddenly to flop on a warm day, and although they may appear to recover they will never be quite satisfactory and the hearts or heads will be premature and thin.

It affects brassicas of all types, even the root crops, and all will grown stunted (if at  all) in infected soil.

[jennym]

Theres a decent link here about clubroot: http://www.sac.ac.uk/mainrep/pdfs/tn602clubroot.pdf

I've heard of some folk that have grown reasonable brassicas by doing things such as:
Building large bonfires over and over again on the patch of ground they're going to use on their allotment (clearing the ash and digging it over each time), in the hope that the soil will be sterilised.
Practising crop rotation.
Liming the soil regularly.
Growing the plants from seed in bought multipurpose compost and bringing them on to at least a five leaf stage in pots, always watering from the bottom to encourage a good fibrous root system before planting out.
Dipping the plant's roots in a wet mixture of clean soil and lime when planting out.
Putting a couple of trowelfuls of bought multipurpose compost at the bottom of the hole you have dug when planting out.

[delboy]

Does anyone have a favourite granulated lime supplier, preferably one where I can order online?

Having read the link above and then followed through to other sites, it does seem that liming and avoiding crop rotations shortens the length of the problem... sometimes(am being positive..).

[Bugloss2009]

Percy Thrower wouldn't let people walk around his garden in their own shoes, just in case they brought clubroot in with them  :D

[elvis2003]

we have it again this year,so depressing! whilst i have a special pair of flip flops for walking in the brassica cage,( club foot flips as they are known) i forgot all about the tools,so have probably been happily transferring it all over the place.
OH has now got a bucket of jeyes outside my shed for me,just got to rememebr to use it!

[Kepouros]

The Swedish Researchers were indeed fortunate if they found that the disease was no longer detected after 17 years.  It`s now 24 years (1986) since I last attempted to grow any form of brassica in my vegetable patch, but it`s still there.  Every few years (the last time was this spring) I take a brand new bucket, make a few holes in the bottom, fill it with soil, and sow a few Greyhound cabbage seed, thining to 1 later.  And every time before it starts to heart up it`s got club root.

I still have the old fashioned steam powered soil steriliser that was an absolute essential in the days before compost came in  bags and we had to make our own John Innes mixtures for the greenhouses, and I`ve steamed the soil until the lid was almost blowing off the steriliser, but brassicas raised in the soil still finished up with club root.

I suspect that the ability to grow brassicas on infected soil at all depends to some extent on the nature of the soil.  Lighter soils (particularly sandy) are in any case not as good for brassicas as heavier clay soils, and I discovered this when I moved 25 miles from yellow clay to gravel, where the only way to get a decent brussels sprout is to hammer the soil down so hard you can`t put a trowel in, then make a hole with a crowbar to plant in.  Once a plant is already being starved by its clubbed root a light sandy soil simply doesn`t sustain it in the manner which a clay soil can.  So those with heavier soils may still continue to get crops of a sort (albeit stunted ones), while those with sand or gravel soils might as well either give up completely on brassicas or simply move.

[Tee Gee]

Basically I'm with Kepouros on this one but not so sure it can't be cured, possibly not but I think it can be controlled to tolerable levels.

I use the rotation system of well mucked potatoes followed by well limed brassicas.

I add my armillatox (or similar) at planting out time i.e. I puddle the plants in with it.

Regarding type of lime; I use hydrated lime it is faster acting than crushed limestone (granular) which is too slow for my liking.

I look upon it as crushed rock which it is, and we all have an idea rock how long takes in nature to erode/pulverise.

Plus another key factor is the quality of the plants that are planted out in the first place.

I like to see a full rooball (not root-bound) from a 3"-4" pot as I think this gets them off to a good start and the armillatox & lime does the rest!

I am no expert but it seems to work for me!

[Kepouros]

And if you decide to go along the lime road, then don`t get it from the garden shop, but go to the Buiulders` Merchants and by the hydrated lime that the builders use for mixing lime plaster (yes, it is still used). It works much more quickly than chalk.