Allotments 4 All

Hi there

I went down the allotment yesterday after not being able to for about a week due to rain and my brussles and some broc  are all bent over and floppy they were growing nicely.
When i checked them slightly pulling them they came away from the roots very easy and just came out.
I noticed ALOT of ants around the root area so could this be the reason?
feeling like i wasted alot of time there and eger to know why this happend

When you say "came away from the roots" you meant the stemwas severed/chewed? Some kind of cutworm, esp common in areas that had been grass recently... I still loose one or two plants a year... OR the plant came up with the roots, that would be the ants loosening the soil...  :-\

Quote from: saddad on May 19, 2009, 08:46:03
When you say "came away from the roots" you meant the stemwas severed/chewed? Some kind of cutworm, esp common in areas that had been grass recently... I still loose one or two plants a year... OR the plant came up with the roots, that would be the ants loosening the soil...  :-\

it could be any of those 2  when pulled slightly it just came away so not sure if chewed there was no roots attached at all , is there anything that can be done about ants and do others have prolems with lots n lots of ants?

Sounds more like cutworms... Bromophos was the standard answer to soil dwelling nasties but not sure if it is still available... Ants can be poisoned but keep digging over to expose the eggs or boiling water (not always easy on a lottie)... :-\

Ants won't eat through a stem.

Sounds a bit cabbage root fly to me!

Look for little white maggots in the chewed end of the stem for CRoot Fly...  :-\

didnt see any white maggots or anything

but the stems are all bending on the brussles is this normal?
should they be held up or anything?

It's worth staking them if you don't want them falling over.

ants do eat through stems of cabbages as i learnt to last year it only happened to one, they built there nest and it was obviously in there way  :)...n8r

Did they eat through healthy tissue - which I've never seen - or was the stem already rotting?

Crop rotation and a good liming in November helps all brassicas.  Make sure when transplanting that you bury the seedlings up to the first leaf joint and that the bed you are planting in has been firmed or  walked on first.  Brassicas liked to be well tucked into a firm bed.  If it is your first year from grass on this soil cut worm is the chief suspect, CRF can be slowed and stopped by planting as above.  Good Luck, still plenty of time to replant if necessary.

Welcome to A4A Magnus.... like the "goat"...  ;D