brassica question

[caroline7758]

All the brassicas I have planted since I got my plot (2 years) seem to have weak legs!They then become top heavy and keel over. Is there a secret to making them grow more sturdily, or is it just a case of staking early? Noticed today my winter planted cabbage is the same.

[caroline7758]

[OliveOil]

Nrassicas like really firm soil, so when you plant them really tread them in and keep treading/firming round them regularly to they stick in there!

[RSJK]

Caroline it sounds to me that they might be suffering with what they call blackleg

[kt.]

Caroline it sounds to me that they might be suffering with what they call blackleg

Are there any other signs and symptoms? Not heard of blackleg before.


Once planted, as previously stated - ensure surrounding soils is compressed as hard as you can get it. You also need to stake them up to prevent them being blown over.

[caroline7758]

Thanks- will put the boot in next time! ;D

[kenkew]

Hang on.
I'd like to know if there are signs of black-leg.
This is a real disease and can affect all soft veg. You'll only see it where potapoes have been...potatoes can and do suffer from this and it can wipe out a crop in no time.
Your spindly legs is one symptom of black-leg, but there will also be other signs, the main one being a soft blackness affecting the stem and probably the leaves. Have you seen any signof that?
I'd like to know your soil type if poss.
Ken.

PS: You say brassica, exactly what?

[telboy]

RK,
Don't frighten the gal - yet.
Could only be 'soft planting'?

[caroline7758]

Don't think there's any sign of blackleg. The ones I was looking at today are, I think, cabbages (poor labelling strikes again!), planted in autumn as plugs. They have reasonably healthy looking tops, but the stems are only about 1/2 inch diameter and about 4" long but lying almost horizontal on the ground. The soil varies a lot on my plot, not sure what it's like in that spot.

[sawfish]

Can someone tell me if turnips and swedes are classed as Brassicas or are they considered root crops when rotating veg?

[jennym]

Turnips & swedes are brassicas.
Also, when planting them out, put them in deep, almost up to the leaves.

[kenkew]

Erm, They're both roots and belong in the root crop section for rotation.

[Baccy Man]

Erm, They're both roots and belong in the root crop section for rotation.

Actually they are both brassicas or forage brassicas if you prefer that term & should be treated as such when it comes to crop rotation.

[manicscousers]

ours, and our kohl rabi go in the brassica beds as I can protect them from cabbage whites etc  :)

[cornykev]

As Jenny says plant them with the leaves almost touching the soil and as said above firm them right down with your boot, I made the mistake with the floppy  :(cabbages until a fellow lottie showed me the correct way now they stand up to hurricanes well almost.

[sawfish]

So I treat them as brassicas then.

[kitten]

Thanks for that, i was gonna ask about this - we're giving swede a go (along with 101 other things) - i'll stick them in brassica bed then  ;)

[kenkew]

Me thinks this is one of those 'Old Gardener-sit-on-the-bench-and-disagree-all-day-about' subjects.
If you treat them as brassica's I doubt there's much of a problem with that, I'm a 'swede is root' man....but there you go. :)

You could get a third opinion by putting this into Google:

root crop, swedes

Maybe the confusion comes from this fact...
Historical Information:
Americans know it as "rutabaga". The Scottish call it "neeps" and serve it with haggis. The swede, a fairly recent root vegetable, is thought to have originated around the 17th century in Bohemia. In 1620 a Swiss botanist described the root vegetable, believed to be a hybrid of the cabbage and the turnip. By 1664 it was growing in England.

[saddad]

Technically they are swollen stems, but sharing Brassica pests and diseases so best kept with them.
???