Club Root Control - It worked!

Last summer I posted a note about a new method to combat club root that I was going to try. Well it's been a great success, I've had the best brassica crop for many years and no sign of club root at all. In 2008 my sprouts were a disaster as they all failed miserably and all we managed to get was a couple of dozen marbles for Christmas lunch. This year we've been harvesting them since October and it looks like we'll still have some available in April.

Planted out in early June in holes about 9" wide by 6" deep filled with general purpose compost and then watered in using 1lb of lime in 2 gallons of water at a rate of 1 gallon to four plants.In theory the plants should at least have a bit of time to develop some half decent roots before club root takes hold
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September and the plants are looking healthy, but can't really tell if the roots have been infected
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March and I've just dug up the roots of the earliest croppers and to my surprise and delight there's not a sign of clubbed roots
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The last sprouts should keep us going until April - that's six months of cropping in total. They don't look great in the photo but there are plenty good sprouts under the leaves at the top of the plants. Most grew to between 4' and 4'6" tall - I think my tallest ever crop
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Congratulations! On the club root victory and on those photos of your efforts. You mean business!

 

The enviromesh cover is really only protection against insects Marley, I don't think it will have any effect on ground borne infection such as club root.
The perforated plastic membrane on the ground helps keeps weeds down and also reduces the risk of cabbage root fly. I also helps conserve moisture during the drier months (if and when we get them!)

 

I heard about this a method a while back and have recomended it to lots of people without ever really knowing if it works (fortunatly no club root on my patch), so thanks Dave great to see some evidence it works!

 

Hi Jim

Seems you've a very good system going, which I'd like to try out something similar on the allotment.

You say that the sprouts grew up to 4.5 ft in height, so I guess that the frames were just a little higher? Could you please tell me the overall sizes of the beds? (ie gross length, height & width).

Also, what was the planting distances between crops? & did you plant any other brassicas as well as the sprouts?

I look forward to hearing from you

Many Thanks

Cheers

CU

 

Couple of thoughts:

I think it is worth potting-on Brassicas to 4" or even 5" pots before planting out. That has the same effect of establishing a rootball in uninfected soil.

Making a planting hole of uninfected soil (e.g. multi purposes compost) also helps, as does the lime (the old boys used to say "chuck a handful of lime into the planting hole", I don't know how that compares with watering in the solution though)

There are lots of weeds in the Brassica family, sadly, which is why it tends to persist and crop rotation is not enough to combat it. Covering with weed membrane will certainly held with that too :thumb:

Worth considering Clubroot resistant varieties too. I've heard really good reports of the Cauli "Clapton" and I believe the cabbage "Kilaton" is also good

"Could you please tell me the overall sizes of the beds? "

In my opinion beds should not be wider than 4' so you can reach the middle from both sides without having to walk on the bed.

My hoops are a foot shorter than 3 metres long, for my 4' wide beds, this is because my insect netting is scaffolder's debris netting (much MUCH cheaper than enviromesh, Natch!, particularly if you Blag it from a building site where it is being thrown away after a job!).

The debris netting I have is 3 Metres wide, I allow 6" on either side to anchor it, and by my maths, for a 4' wide bed, that is:

(3 metres - (6 inches * 2) - 4 feet) / 2 in inches =

which Mr Google says is 29" clearance (probably a bit more given that the top is curved rather than flat).

Details on my Blog of Construction of Brassica protection hoops and netting, by a 9-year-old

 

Many thanks Kirsten!

My original post was directed at Dave W and his set-up (apologies Dave - don't know where I got the "Jim" from)

Look forward to Dave's response also

Many Thanks

Cheers

CU

 

Hi

Does Caer Urfa mean "always ready" ??? in latin

Spruce

 

Hi Spruce

Possibly, but personally I think that the "community on the hill" is more plausible

You could always (oh dear) google" always ready" for the Latin equivalent

Cheers

CU

 

The height of the frames is about 4.5 feet and the sprouts were pushing the top of the mesh when fully grown. Width is about 110 cm and the length of the beds in the photo is 4m. The sprouts are planted about 70cm apart. I often plant a 'catch crop' of fast growing cauliflower or cabbage between and offset from the sprouts - you can see cabbage in one of the photos.
As Kristen has suggested growing on in pots is a good preventative strategy. I do this in small square pots or deep root trainers. It all helps!

 

Many thanks Dave & Kristen for the prompt replies - much appreciated!!

Cheers

CU

 

I did wonder about that, but didn't mention it as I didn't want to scare a new member off:WINK1:

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Ted