club root resistant swede

**Snadger** · 16-11-2008, 08:42 PM

I grow clubroot and mildew resistant Marian swede..................doesn't taste any different, just dont get clubroot or mildew!

PS Parts of my allotment have the clubroot fungus in the soil and without these varieties I couldn't grow ANY brassicas!

**nemo** · 18-11-2008, 06:57 PM

thanks snadger swedes on my plot for 09

**baggyman** · 19-11-2008, 09:37 PM

I grew Marian this year and have got some as big as a football and they still taste good!
BTW I have found if you grow them under glass and then transplant out, they grow a lot better than putting the seed straight into the ground.

**Snadger** · 19-11-2008, 09:50 PM

Originally posted by baggyman View Post

I grew Marian this year and have got some as big as a football and they still taste good!
BTW I have found if you grow them under glass and then transplant out, they grow a lot better than putting the seed straight into the ground.

I agree baggyman..........this year I sowed some early indoors and some a bit later outdoors!

I sowed two or three seeds in each module and didn't thin them out before transplanting........next year I'll thin them to one plant as I have reasonable swedes but not HUGE ones which I prefer!

**BrideXIII** · 19-11-2008, 09:51 PM

Ok I am going to have to ask, what exactly IS clubroot, and how do you know if you have it?

i have checked all my toes, and THEY seem ok, and i have been up to my ankles in mud all day, but now i am worried about my veg.

**Snadger** · 19-11-2008, 10:08 PM

Originally posted by BrideXIII View Post

Ok I am going to have to ask, what exactly IS clubroot, and how do you know if you have it?

i have checked all my toes, and THEY seem ok, and i have been up to my ankles in mud all day, but now i am worried about my veg.

Clubroot is a nasty fungus to have in your soil as it means you will have problems growing any of the brassica family for countless years to come (normally at least 12 years)!
It is a microscopic fungus that attacks the roots of brassicas causing them to deform (like a club foot) the plant can sometimes keep growing but rarely comes to anything. The majority of the roots are killed and the plant wilts very easily...........no roots mean it has no soil attachment and usually keals over and dies. The 'club' on the root then turns into a slimy spongy mess of spores contaminating the land even further.
There are clubroot resistant swedes, caulis and cabbage at the mo but the seeds are a lot more expensive and you are faily limited to varieties. Kales, with their tree like stems and roots have a bit of natural resitance to the fungus and most of the clubroot reistant veggies use kale somewhere in there hybridisation methinks!

You won't know you've got it until you try and grow brassicas and then there will be no doubt.
If you haven't got it, and don't want it, always grow your own brassicas from seed and never accept gift plants. keep the brassica bed limed as clubroot favours acid soil!

Here endeth the first lesson.........you did ask!

**BrideXIII** · 19-11-2008, 10:43 PM

glad i did too, not sure what you mean about limed, i avoid chemicals like the plague cos of the animals, is there anything natural i can use instead?

it will be my first attempt at brassicas next year, so we will soon know, if i get it , tough, i'll go back to containers for the brassicas, have enough buckets after all, one to a bucket, no problem

**Demeter** · 19-11-2008, 11:25 PM

Don't think lime will do animals any harm? (it is just crushed up limestone as I understand it). Believe you could also use chalk??
Dunno - expert will be along soon!

**Snadger** · 20-11-2008, 07:17 AM

Originally posted by Demeter View Post

Don't think lime will do animals any harm? (it is just crushed up limestone as I understand it). Believe you could also use chalk??
Dunno - expert will be along soon!

Theoretically if your soil is already alkaline you wouldn't need to add lime. Maybe a soil test would be hepful?

I would say anything above neutral i.e. Ph 7 don't lime!

Another way of alkalining your soil is to add wood ash!

**Terryr** · 30-11-2008, 02:22 PM

My soil is rotten with clubroot as garden is over a hundred years old.
I used to sow in pots and plant out into heavily limed soil with some success.
This year I tried the new variety of resistant cabbage-Kilaxy with brilliant results.
It was very strange pulling out stumps with no smelly fungal growth on them.
Tastes pretty good as well. If this is what GM research can do, bring it on.

Terry

**Alison** · 30-11-2008, 05:02 PM

Originally posted by Terryr View Post

If this is what GM research can do, bring it on.

Kilaxy is an F1 hybrid not a GM crop.

**Terryr** · 01-12-2008, 11:13 PM

Hi Alison
I do not think that these terms are mutually exclusive.
F1 crops have been genitically manipulated though not necessarily in the manner that is apparently disliked by so many people.

Regards
Terry

**Snadger** · 01-12-2008, 11:34 PM

Some interesting reading!

Genetically modified organism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I must admit, without reading through all the above links contents, I've always asumed that F1 hybrids are just a cross between two distinct varieties?

Whether the two species crossed, were genetically modified stock is a worrying matter, spose!

**Two_Sheds** · 02-12-2008, 08:58 AM

Originally posted by Demeter View Post

(it is just crushed up limestone as I understand it). Believe you could also use chalk?

Lime is natural, not synthetic. Garden Lime is made from pulverized limestone or chalk.
here's the science bit: Garden Lime - the vital fertiliser. Why lime, how much to lime and when to lime

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