[clive f]

How can i get a crop of brassica,s in a clubroot infested ground. The old boy's tell me to put an handfull of lime in the planting hole and that i will get a good crop, but surley the lime will burn the root;s

[muntjac]

., good advice from old hands mate
use 8 oz likme to the sq yard and use a teaspoon  lime mixed in with the soil around the hole ur putting the plant in  

[slowcompost]

You used to be able to buy a lime based powder that you mixed into a paste and dipped the roots in before planting,. supposed to restrict or prevent  club root. But i dont know how effective it is. It may not even be available now. like a lot of the best chemical gardenening aids.
Other than that its a struggle club root can stay in the ground for a long time and the only real way of getting rid of is to not grow brassicas on the ground for 3 years or more.
One tip I heard was to leave the plants in pots as long as possible so they are well developed before planting out, keeping as much of the pot compost round the plant as possible. An expensive way of growing a few cabbages though.

[berksmike]

What I have done in past is grow them in pots in coldframe... At time of sowing you can lime the soil (remember you need to wait 2 months before you can plant on limed ground)

Transplant to their final growing position when they have developed a decent root system.. You should get a good crop even if you do have clubroot this way as the plant is well enough developed

Mike  

[WG.]

I agree with all the pots & lime stuff above.  Also, if you have enough compost, it helps to dig out a spadeful or more of soil at the planting point & replace with compost.  Pain in the butt for small plants but worth the effort if you are growing large-sized white or red winter cabbages/cauli.

[beansticks]

Dont know if this works but the old hands on our site swear by it,before transplanting all brassicas to their final position they put a pinch of rhubarb in the hole where they plant the cabbages etc,have not tried it myself.Upto now have not had a problem with clubroot.

[DD.]

Dont know if this works but the old hands on our site swear by it,before transplanting all brassicas to their final position they put a pinch of rhubarb in the hole where they plant the cabbages etc,have not tried it myself.Upto now have not had a problem with clubroot.

I've heard the same thing beansticks.  Section of rhubarb stem about an inch long as I recall.  Like you, I don't have clubroot (actually don't have rhubarb either).

NO IT DOESN'T WORK - he shouts. Tried that with my sprouts this year and club root has ripped through the lot.

[dave]

2 more suggestions, untried yet by me

1) solarisation; ie cover ground with transparent plastic a week or two before planting and if weather warm enough, bakes the clubroot spores.

Found this out by googling around- sounds worth a try

2)there is a product called armillatox which is sold as a patio cleaner etc but used also to be used for clubroot control, but since, the manufacturers say, it's too expensive to put through the required safety testing as per recent  safety regulations, it can no longer be advertised for this purpose.
Their current leaflet says "reduces the severity of clubroot by drenching the soil or dibberholes with armillatox diluted with 100 parts water etc etc"

I intend to try it his year

hope this may be helpful

[diane g]

I've tried all sorts but nothing works apart from sticking to club root resistant varieties-trixie (calabrese)from Chase organics manages fine and provides a fine crop for the caterpillars, kale (Russian red kale seed was given to me from someone who subscibed to heritage seed spot at doubledays and this is the best most tender and tasty kale ever) and of course purple sprouting.  Liming maybe reduces the damage and I have tried sticking to one plot, liming and resistant varieties-smaller plants than non club root ones.  Also never composting or leaving infected roots in the ground. And growing on quite big before transplanting

This year I have tried a new method-variation on bigger transplants. Having been given some good sprout plants I transplanted them into some small ex seed compost plastic sacks, holes made in bottom, using some soil from home-not allotment-rolled down the sides so approx 2ft tall and let them grow.  When too big-amazed as all brassicas have been pretty paltry specimens in past- dug hole big enough for the sack, ripped open the bottom and put into hole-they are now huge and healthy