Topic: White Rot?

[redimp]

I am dreading you are going to tell me this is white rot - have done a search on here and alta vista images and am highly suspicious but hoping it isn't.



As you know I am in my first year and I do not think my plot has been used for about 2-3 years before me.  This is the only one out of two bulbs worth of garlic cloves that is showing the signs - not that I know really what to look for.  It was on the very outside of the bed and quite hampered by weeds.  The garlic bed is also next door to the onions - none of them appear to be showing any sign.

[growmore]

Sorry to tell you but it is white rot..I have found garlic is the most susceptible thing to get it,
Would avoid growing any onion family in that  part of yer plot next year...
Your onions may be ok  and only the one plant of garlic may have it ..But watch other garlic in vicinity ...
cheers Jim.
PS burn the plant dont compost it.

[redimp]

Thanks for the bad news.  :(

Consider it destroyed and that bit of soil dug out - interesting possible remedy on main board.

[tim]

I would leave that plot for as long as you can. We didn't & lived to regret it.

Armillatox is said to be a remedy if you tackle the problem in its early stages.

I have to say that it didn't save us.

[wardy]

I found white rot on my spring onions which were left in the soil in my raised link a bord bed.  I burned them but I think there might be a problem elsehwere on the plot as I got the soil to fill the raised bed off a bit of the plot so it could be everywhere by now  :(   What I want to know is will I need to put Armillatox on the raised bed soil if I don't put onions in it? 

[tim]

It might be sensible, because you can easily tansfer the spores from the raised bed.

But I'm not. I'm relying on a separate set of tools.

[PREMTAL]

Hi redclanger,
                      Sorry to hear about your problem with the dreaded disease. :(

I answered a post similar to this a short while ago.

The old timers at our allotments never had access to the modern chemical formulas, they thought the problem through and decided that fire was the answer. ;D

They marked out the area where the whiterot was present, dug it over to aerate the soil then made bonfires on top of the affected soil. ;)

The logic being that sufficient heat will destroy any unwelcome organisms in the soil. :)

Being an organic type I will use their logic if( GOD FORBID) I am ever in your situation.

                                                        PREMTAL

[redimp]

Thanks Premtal, as ever  :)

I did read that original post and have dug the bed over to get it ready for the big fire.  I am also going to try the onion water thing on during April time next year.

Tim - is Armillatox organic?  Having said that though, white rot might just be one of my exceptions as treating it should be a one off and I will let the soil go fallow for three years (is that still the Soil Associations time frame?) before planting.

I need more space  ???

[PREMTAL]

Hi redclanger,
                      Some time ago I found an American Uni site
who had done research on white rot, they found that at temperatures above 64 deg F it becomes dormant.

They also found that using composted healthy onion foliage caused the white rot to go into feeding frenzy on the compost and once gorged it went into dormancy.

This allowed onion sets then to be planted on the site where the compost had been spread.

It was quite a while ago but I will see if I can find the link for you.

                                                     PREMTAL ;)

[wardy]

I can't make a fire on my link a bord bed as it would melt.  So I could empty all the soil out which I don't fancy doing so will leave onions well out of it for a long time.  I might get the Armillatox out and give it a drench with that.  I think Armillatox is natural RC - maybe a bi-product of coal (not sure)  It used to come from the same company as makes link a bord near me in Derbyshire.  It's used for drenching soil round roses and fruit trees to get rid of fungal spores so it might be good for our onion rot too.  I think it's usually applied November ish

[tim]

The HRI at Wellesburne are doing trials on the compost method with defra support.

The original link has gone dead & my hard copy is too faint to post. But here's another - http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/hri2/research/biodiseasecontrol/alliumwhiterot/

Armillatox? They claim 'organic'. And can be used on plastics such as polythene &, perhaps, therefore. on Linkbord?

[wardy]

Thanks Tim.  I think I've seen Armillatox in the Organic Gardening Catalogue so guess it's ok for organic folks.  I'm going to knock the dust off my bottle and give it a go.  I got mine from Armillatox which is the folks who make Link a Bord funnily enough.  I think they are the main distributor - don't know if they manufacture it though.  Ta for the info by the way  :)

[redimp]

Thanks for the info - at those prices I am going to hope that Premtal's genius works first - but then again, I do not know whether Armillatox is cheaper than a shed load of onions for composting.  Will try fire and onion water first, then onions compost if I can get hold of it and if that does not work Armillatox.

[moonbells]

I just looked at the Really Garlicky Garlic Company's site to see if they were selling seed porcelain garlic and they have lost half their crop to an infected batch of Canadian seed, poor things.  So they've effectively lost a field and half their income for the year and possibly future years (and now I won't dare order seed garlic from them - ever).

*sigh*

moonbells