[AlistairMcLennan]

Hi folks,

My Cauli's and Cabbage's are looking sorry for themselves, they looked a little wilting on sunday then today several looked like they had died.  Pull then out and they have virtually no roots.

What gone wrong, has something eaten them or did I plant them too early?

[Yorkie]

It does rather look as though the root wasn't big enough before planting out, unless you can remember there being a decent sized rootball?

If it was something like clubroot I'd expect to see some symptoms related to it.

[AlistairMcLennan]

Opps, maybe I was a little premature 

Yorkie - How many leaves would you wait to be on the plant before potting on?

[Yorkie]

I'm not an expert, but I'd look for roots coming out of the bottom of the pot / module?

Others will have more experience and hopefully will comment.

[Beetroot queen]

I potted on my cabbage two days ago as they had their first two real leaves and my darling son had sowed 3-4 per module  they needed the space, they looked great last night and today so they obviousy needed some teenage space.

Will leave them a few more weeks and out they go. They are outside on the wall in a neat little line.

[shoozie]

The earliest I transplant is when they have their 3rd true leave through with the 4th just on the way.

Despite my 'sticks' (some not thick enough- my fault) we've lost half a dozen to cutworm over the last two weeks - but that's not the problem in your photo Alistair.

Did you check for anything in the soil around the roots when you lifted them?  Root fly larvae will damage the roots of young plants and cause wilting and collapse over a few days.

[AlistairMcLennan]

Hi all,

Once again many thanks for your replies and help.  Virtually of of the rest have now wilted 

I dug the rest out and could not find any creatures to speak of so I took a pic of the plant, it looks like the stalk below ground is a lot thinner than above ground.

Attached is a pic so hopefully those with knowledge will be able to help.

[fatcat1955]

Did you puddle them in when you planted them? I mean PUDDLE so there is water lying on the surface. With the weather we have been having the soil around the plant act's like a sponge and suck's all the water away.

[barley]

I had this with a few of mine so I dug them up and potted them back up again and put back in the green house and beleive it or not most of them are starting to recover 

why I don't know.....  but worth trying nothing to loose

[shoozie]

The second photo appears to show something grazing on the stem - a cabbage I lifted yesterday, showing similar damage, had a very small cutworm snuggling just under the root ball.   The first photo with the small roots is a puzzle though.  Hope you've got enough spares to replace the losses - I've only a few to spares left so hope this first phase of attack can be weathered!  Good luck