[rowlandwells]

On one of my lottie plots the Guy who had the lottie before me used to get all his brassica  plants from anyone who had left overs the result is the ground is full of club root completely unsuitable for brassicas and I've been told wall flowers encourage club root to is this true and does club root last in the ground for years

the question is how does one rid themselves of this pest lucky for us we have another plot away from that one that will grow brassicas on but i have another pest on this lottie that i can't rid myself of its an annual weed Redshank a real pain any suggestions how to get rid of this to  will be most welcome  

[spottymint]

Hi

Wallflowers can certainly suffer from clubroot, more so I believe on acid soils (discovered this after buying seeds to grow them), as to encouraging club root ? Not sure, if they really encourage it rather than just suffering in infected soil.

[DD.]

Wallflowers won't encourage it, but they certainly will perpetuate it.

Here's a useful link to club root on our very own site:

http://www.allotment-garden.org/vegetable/brassicas/Plasmodiophora-brassicae-club-root.php

[Yorkie]

Wallflowers are part of the brassicae family, I believe, hence suffering from club root in infected soils in the same way that cabbages will also suffer from it.

Yes, club root will persist in the ground for years.  It is a disease, not a pest, and there is no way of ridding yourself of it.

DD recommends growing clubroot-resistant varieties of cabbage (I'm sure he'll be along at some point to say what that variety is).

Also, start plants off in clean compost and delay planting out until later than you would normally do in order to ensure a good size root ball from the off.  And put a handful of lime into the planting hole in order to protect a bit further against the impact of the disease.

One thing to be scrupulous about is hygiene of your boots, gloves and equipment.  If you are not careful, you will transfer clubroot-infected mud / soil onto your clean plot.

[DD.]

Kilaxy cabbage, Clapton caulis.

Grow them in 3" pots and put them in with a good root ball and a handful of lime.

[savbo]

on the second question, a nuisance with Redshank isn't something I've come across before - it's a 'ruderal', meaning it likes disturbed ground. It's typically the kind of thing that turns up on demolition sites. I'd expect a flush of it then for it to tail off the next year. How long has it been a problem?

[rowlandwells]

well savbo it's been a real problem for many years it spreads like mustard and cress every dam year i rotavate the rows of  spuds and weed  them before ridging them up that keeps them at bay for  that season but then there back in perfusion the next year

i have resorted to setting my brassicas in black poly sheeting but found if you leave open ground between the poly strips redshank comes up very quickly especially if we get a shower of rain as for the est of the crops set it's hand weeding

i don't know if it lays dormant in the ground because if you leave one plant when it seeds in the autumn it skaters thousands of seed over the lottie i am going to set this years brassicas in a poly sheet hopefully this will stop the redshank growing in the brassica patch 

[digalotty]

as DD says , you can succesfuly grow brassica's on club root infected soil if you do as he says and get a good root established first and lining the hole with lime before you transplant .

be carefull as club root can be spread to the other plot if yo dont clean off your boots , im sure others will advise you a little better on this

[savbo]

well savbo it's been a real problem for many years it spreads like mustard and cress every dam year ...

sounds like a real pain. Garden Organic website mentions it's supposed to like soils deficient in lime, so maybe you could try that as well as the hoeing?

Good luck!

[hamstergbert]

Just looked up redshank here. 

The line that sprung out at me (after the paragraphs on how rudedy adaptable it is) was "Seeds can remain viable in soil for 45 years. "

Holy shimole!