Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: andyww2013 on May 28, 2019, 09:42

Title: Sprout plant dying
Post by: andyww2013 on May 28, 2019, 09:42

Hi,

Any suggestion of what might be causing this plant to die.  It’s the only one in the row which is like it.  A friend suggested it might be club root?

I've attached a picture.

Thanks

Title: Re: Sprout plant dying
Post by: lettice on May 28, 2019, 12:00

Its early in the growing stage, and if its just one plant, it may just be a week plant.
Water in some grow more around the plant base (sprouts are hungry plants and like a load of homemade compost and plenty of growmore before planting and a few topups of growmore in their first few months of growing. Make sure the soil is kept moist.

Club root will show more in the roots swelling up around the base of the plant and is normally from mid summer to autumn.
Liming is the normal cure if it is clubroot, but you would need to check the ph of the soil to not over do it.
Ive always made sure mine is PH 7 for my sprouts and they work well, my soil and homeade compost luckily always comes out right for that.
Never had the clubroot problem with sprouts now for many years, but they are vulnerable plants when first starting out and do need a little help to get going.
The last few years and so far this one with the drier weather, have needed to keep the soil moist most days for them.

Always found Sprouts need a good weed hoeing, so worth doing so they get all the energy from the ground and not the weeds.

I always grow an early sprout crop, this year I am trying Cascade, in a dedicated bed, so far so good.
But have for many years grown my favourite Groninger in the bed that grows my Broad beans. So once the broad beans have finished mix in a load of homemade compost, check the ph and then plant out the sprouts
Have those Sprouts from Autumn through to late Winter.

Title: Re: Sprout plant dying
Post by: Nobbie on May 28, 2019, 17:57

That looks like it's been attacked by cabbage root fly which lays egg at the base of the stem which grubs hatch out of and eat the roots. I'd pull it up and check the roots for grubs. You can protect by fitting collars around the stem at planting time.

Title: Re: Sprout plant dying
Post by: andyww2013 on May 28, 2019, 19:28

Will do, is there anything you can do with mature plants to either protect them or kill the bugs?

Title: Re: Sprout plant dying
Post by: andyww2013 on May 29, 2019, 13:19

You were exactly right.  Pulled up the plant this morning to find the root covered in small white maggots.

Arrgghhhh  >:(

Anything I can do to try and save the others?