Topic: sooty mould

[westsussexlottie]

With the wet weather we now have sooty mould on the brussels sprouts just as the sprouts are starting to form!!!
Does anyone have any recommendations on how to rid the plants of this please?

[jennym]

Wash it off with water, high pressure hose if possible, watering can from a height if not.
Sooty mould usually grows on honeydew, which is the sticky, honey-like excreta of aphids, but it can grow anywhere, although I've never had it anywhere except on my plum tree.
You can prevent sooty mould by getting rid of the aphids earlier on.
Are you sure it's sooty mould? Do you hands get covered in black, sticky dusty stuff as soon as you touch the plants?

[westsussexlottie]

pretty certain - and the culprits were cabbage whitefly.
I tried to get rid of the whitefly but they kept on returning.

[jennym]

Hold it - I'm confused.
Do you mean whitefly or cabbage white butterfly. have never, ever seen whitefly on cabbage.
What are the signs and symptoms?

[westsussexlottie]

cabbage whitefly are small triangular very white little flies that look like little tiny moths. When you disturb the plants they fly up in big clouds. Accordingto Joy Larkcom's book, they are not normally "seriously damaging".
I have tried to get rid of them all season, spraying them with a hose several times, and also used derris to no effect.
I now need to know whether the crop is doomed or whether it is salvagable from the sooty mould.

[jennym]

Try just washing it off as below - I do this on my plum tree and it really works, mind you I do catch it early.