Coping With Club Root

Club Root is a universal problem for brassicas:  cauliflower, broccoli, kale, mustard, etc. You notice it when your leaves turn yellow and wilt.  The plant eventually loses its structure and dies.  When you look  at the roots, there will be small ball like structures on the roots.  Once you have clubroot on your plot I'm afraid you are stuck with it. The good news is that you can, in most instances continue to grow brassicas successfully with careful cultivation and crop rotation. (I have heard it suggested that crop rotations start at four and be as much as seven years for large gardens) It is a bit more difficult for raised bed growers.

First practice good hygiene. When your brassicas are finished carefully remove all the roots and do not compost them, either treat as household waste or incinerate. Remember that the affected family includes radishes and mustard, do not use a mustard green manure and remove radishes that have gone over promptly and do not compost them. This will reduce the reservoir of the organism in the soil.

Start your brassicas off in modules using bought in composts to which a small amount of lime has been added and pot up to 3" and then at least 5" pots before planting out. This allows the plant to develop a good root system prior to infection.

Clubroot thrives best in acid wet soils so ensure your brassica bed is well dug adding grit if need be to keep the soil free draining, Take the pH up to 7.5 or even as high as 8.5 by adding lime (see the information on garden lime). Before planting, dig a hole at least 30cm deep and in diameter and then dust with lime to whiten the soil in the hole. Fill the hole with bought in multi-purpose compost and then plant in this.

This method has been proven to work and enable good quality crops to be taken - even prize winning cauliflowers. It is a lot of work and you may feel that just growing completely in containers is your best solution.