[Anton]

Winter cauliflowers left standing in the vegetable garden managed to survive thre fairly harsh freezes but I noticed two today that were keeling over, the green heads were still surviving but their stalks, barely hanging on by a thread, had been hollowed out. I have never had this before. It is the first time growing these in my new allotment but I grew them for the previous five or six years in another allotment without too many problems (leaves attacked by some blueish insects but managed to control them  and attacked by pigeons in early spring, dispelled by wire netting).

See pictures. Any idea what the beast is that did this damage please?

Anton

[Yorkie]

Did you say that pigeons could not come into contact with the plants?

[missmoneypenny]

Something similar happened to mine , I noticed it a couple of months ago, the stalk was rotten. I put it down to the December frost. If it’s a new pest I don’t want to hear . Lalalala.

[Gardener and Rabbit]

Hi Anton,

They don't look to have any roots left,  and a slightly bluish colour,   so I'd maybe consider cabbage root fly,  the maggots eat the roots and into the base of the stem and if the plants survive they struggle afterwards. If the roots were thick & swollen take a look at club-root:

https://www.allotment-garden.org/vegetable/brassica-information/

G&R

[Anton]

Sorry for getting back to you so late. Thanks for the replies.

Anton