Club Root Getaround!

Our site is a new one only 2 years old, most of the people on there are from the old site that was buldozed to make way for a new school.

So, i was talking to one of the Senior members yesterday about his brassicas and how good they all looked.

He said they used to have a bad clubroot problem on the old site and he/they had come up with a prety good workaround for it but in doing so they also found that they got far better crops too.

So after a little more chat he eventually told me what they do!

In January they dig out a trench 8inch deep by 12inch wide and line it with 2 layers of cardboard up the sides and ends too to effectively create a box in the ground.

They then mix lime in with a 50/50 mixture of well rotted manure and compost and fill the trench so that it is slightly domed by around 2inch, this is then left until planting time by which the dome has levelled off and the trench has firmed up.

They then plant into the trench and water with a weak limey water solition.

Apparently the cardboard acts as a barrier to the clubroot and the initial dose of lime stops the clubroot from getting into the trench too.
The constant watering with the lime solution also bolsters against it and the gives the plants exactly the right conditions they need to grow.

By time the roots do get to the main body of soil the plant is so strong and well developed that any clubroot makes very little difference.
I will be addopting this method next year and we don't have clubroot on our site yet.

I hope this gives hope to others 


I have never seen such good, well conditioned and green brassicas ever!

I did ask him about doing it through the winter like a bean trench but he said that the rotting veg (etc) in there causes a slightly acid environment which clubroot likes.

Thats why they only use well rotted manure and compost and the lime off sets the acid manure and more.