Topic: clubroot and compost

[SteveJ]

Hi All,
I have pulled up a number of calabrese that have gone to seed and noticed some small signs of clubroot.

I apologise if this is a daft question, but can someone tell me if it is OK to compost the whole plant minus the root system, or is the disease systemic, i.e. will putting leaves in the compost bin eventually lead to the spread of clubroot across my plot.

Thanks in advance

[Tee Gee]

I have heard many opinions on this over the years.

My thoughts are if in doubt throw it out, and that rule applies to all the forms of plant I usually compost.

i.e. Prevention is better than cure.

[laurieuk]

If your calabrese grew as far as going to seed are you sure it is club root? It could be a late attack of gall weevil that also causes swellings on the roots. Myself I never compost the roots of any brassicas but do cut up the leaves and stalks before added them to the heap.There is very little on the market now against club root, the one thing that did really work, Armillatox ,they have now said we should not use as a soil strerilant. In one garden where i worked we had a lot of club root and one year tried many of the old ideas, like rhubarb and the like but never found any improvement. The RHS suggest very heavy liming but this can be wrong for following crops.

[valmarg]

Oh dear Laurieuk, you have just mounted one of my hobby-horses, with regard to Armillatox.

I have a leaflet, produced by the Armillatox Company, which states that it has been approved by Pesticides Safety Directorate for use against vine weevil, adding yet another function to its broad spectrum of uses.

The other uses are:

Moss control in grass
Moss control on hard surfaces
Control of Honey Fungus (and I also have an article from the Daily Telegraph, which states that "there is no alternative chemical treatment for honey fungus").
Control of clubroot
Sterilising water in buts
Cleansing/disinfectant
Control of toxocara canis.

It has been tested for the abovementioned by the University Horticultural Services, University of Wales, Bangor.

Right, so it has been approved by two British organisations for the above uses.  Well, that's good enough for me and I will continue to use Armillatox for the abovementioned uses.

Along comes the EU and says, sorry sunshine, WE have not tested this product for it's uses in the above categories.  Without our say so, it cannot be used.  We will charge you humungous amounts of money to test the product and certify it for the above uses.  The Armillatox company is a small organisation based in Chesterfield.  To comply with the EU conditions would be more expense than it could sustain.

Here is where I get on my hobby-horse:-

The product is still available in the shops.
It is made to the same formula as before the EU ban
It has been approved by two British organisations

I still use it for the uses stated in the leaflet I have.

The problem is that 'on the tin' it can only state that it is a cleansing/disinfectant.

I suppose some Adolf may turn up from Brussels to tell me that I am guilty of a crime by disobeying them, but in my book, the EU can go to tickle up it's kilt.

valmarg

[katynewbie]

 ;D

Amen to all of that Val!!

 8)

[laurieuk]

I agree that it is wrong that those over then can stop us, I had dealings with Mrs V.Bray who first introduced Armilletox for honey fungus (Armemillea mella). but english law does say that the various things that have not been re-tested should not be used and as far as I can find out Armiilatox was not retested as a soil strerilant. Someone I know well has been using some in recent times.

[wivvles]

Just out of interest, if someone were to (heaven forbid) use Armillatox or (even more heaven forbid) Jeyes fluid to sterlise the soil and prevent club root, at what dilution would they hypothetically use it?

[valmarg]

If it were left to me, I would use Armillatox in the stated doses.  Jeyes is a bit too strong.

valmarg

[welsummerman]

 :)

[welsummerman]

Ok my post was swallowed there ,
Jeyes is 2 caps to gallon , 1 cap for sterilising growbag soil and reusing  supplement with fertiliser blend of your choice .great for container potatos and carrots .
Heavy liming is good 3 to 4 oz to square yard  used in rotation on the plot also best to use in seperate beds so the whole plot is not redundant , works for my 1/4 acre plot  APPLY IN WINTER OR EARLY SPRING ONLY

[valmarg]

As a slight aside, I can remember from a gardening programme on TV many years ago, that stated that clubroot is endemic in peat.  Therefore if you use a peat-based compost to germinate your brassica seeds, the chances are you are almost certain to get clubroot, and thereby infect your soil.

To avoid this you should germinate brassicas in a soil-based compost.

valmarg

[laurieuk]

I am not saying tele programmes are wrong but I have never used anything but peat based compost to start almost all my brassicas off and have never had club root from the seedlings. ???

[Kepouros]

My introduction to clubroot (25 years ago) was when I bought 2 dozen cauli seedlings grown in peat compost.  Every single one developed club root, one of my sons rotovated it over the whole of my vegetable plot, and I have been unable to grow decent brassicas ever since.

[Multiveg]

Can you imagine a time when EU regulations bar ordinary people from gardening - a lot of people get pains from digging, then there's the risk of nasties in the soil on your vegetables - you can't give away produce because the recipient might not wash it properly and then contract toxoplasmosis/salmonella/listeria (did I read somewhere that a number of food poisoning cases have been attributed to melons). Then, there's pesticides and other chemicals some gardeners resort to - they can be nasty - again may still be present on the veg to be eaten no matter how hard you wash them. Only registered growers would be allowed to grow veg.

[Kepouros]

I completely forgot to mention in my previous posting (such is old age) that I still have a copy of the old Armillatox booklet.

It is, of course, quite illegal to use Armillatox for many of the problems for which it was originally prescribed, but if any student of horticultural historical research were to ask me, purely hypothetically, of course, what the Armillatox recommendation was for treatment of any particular problem before it actually became illegal I can see no reason why, purely for the purposes of that research, I should not answer the question.