Club Root

[Percy]

My apologies if this has come up before.
The allotment i am on has a terrible reputation for club root. When i first took it over all the old members said you cant grow this and you cant grow that because it is plagued with club root. Any way being a very stubborn person i was determined to give it a go. Sure enough the inevitable happened. All my brassicas would end up stunted i couldn't grow swede or anything like it. I was told that there is or use to be something you could get to soak the roots before planting out, but i didn't want to go down that road, apparently it has been banned now anyway. About a year ago i saw a programme which featured an elderly gent in Wales who had had the same problem and had found, not a cure, but a way of succeeding with brassicas. I was determined to give it ago this year. Very simple, mix 3 parts compost with 1 part lime. Take out a about 6 inch square hole in you ground, fill up hole with a lime/water mix, not too strong, once drained fill up hole with compost/lime mix and plant into this. The theory is the roots get a good start before the club root can attack.
Result: The best brassicas i have ever grown, Beautiful swede and turnips. And some very envious old gents as neighbours. I know it seems a lot of work but the results make it very worthwhile.

[Millymollymandy]

That's excellent - well done! It doesn't sound like too much like hard work if it is the difference between being able to grow brassicas or not. Good tip - now quick go and post it in the competition thread!

[Green Aura]

That's great. I thought you had to leave the ground for years before you could grow brassicas again.

My garden is brand new - I know this by the number of rocks we're digging out, so I hope it won't be a problem. But I'm going to save this info "just in case", or to pass on to others.

Thanks.

[JulieSherris]

**Note to self**
Write this tip in my planting book..... just in case!

Well done Percy - Isn't it grand when you prove others wrong - and even better when you get to eat the results too!!

Julie.

[Peggy Sue]

I saw a similar vein of thought on gardeners world (I think) where you grow the brassicas in pots till they are big and strong then they can go out and will cope.

We've been lucky with our allotment (so far), so good to knwo just in case, thanks

[Cheezy]

We have club root as well on the allotments. This year I have grown club root resistant varities of cabbage and cauliflowers, and they were very good. But I also got a tip off the old guy's about putting a lot of lime down. In fact some of their soil in the winter looks white for about a month until it's washed in.

I tried this also and the same red cabbages that got club root last year were fine this year. So it does work, rather than spending more money on expensive resistent varities.

It is advised you grow the brassica in pots to establish a good root system, then plant out in heavily limed soil. All I did was put plenty on the surface.