Although mesh can be laid straight over the plants, it is best supported on hoops. Insect-proof mesh, being more ventilated, is a better option to protect plants after this. Fleece traps so much warmth that it is likely to ‘cook’ the crop after the end of May. This should be done before the first hatch of the pests in April. Giving affected plants plenty of water with some liquid feed may also help overcome the damage.Ĭlosely sown crops in seedbeds, or sown where they are to crop (eg swedes, turnips and radish), can be protected by covering them with horticultural fleece or insect-proof mesh. Earthing up affected older plants will sometimes let them root above the damaged areas, and may save the plants. The maggots are usually too deep in the soil or inside plants for the insecticide to get at them. Typically, the fibrous roots will have been destroyed, and sometimes the plant will produce more fibrous roots from the base of the stem. When you pull a plant, it comes up easily: most of its roots will have been eaten, and they will often be covered in maggot-like larvae. The first sign of attack is when the foliage turns a blue/red colour and appears stunted. Lime is cheap, so this is the most economic way to keep down clubroot. Acid soils can be made more alkaline and much less prone to clubroot infection by the addition of lime or chalk. Use treated boards, for example, to make beds 1-1.5m wide and at least 15cm higher than surrounding soil. Making raised beds is a good way of doing this. Wet and acid soil are the favoured conditions of clubroot. These roots may then escape infection for long enough for the plants to produce a crop. However, you can earth up the plants in the hope that new roots will be formed further up the stem. Once your plants are attacked, there is no cure. Some of the most spectacular galls occur on Chinese cabbage and other oriental greens. Galls vary from lumps covering the swollen bulbs on turnips and swedes to finger-like projections on fibrous-rooted brassicas. Infected roots soon rot into a foul-smelling mass, discharging spores into the soil. They typically recover from the wilting at night. The plants wilt, appear stunted and go grey/blue as their roots are destroyed. You can recognise clubroot damage as swollen roots with 'finger and thumb'-like projections are the typical signs. There are several fungal leaf spots that attack brassicas causing discoloured spots to develop on the leaves. As a precaution, soak your harvest in salty water before cooking to get rid of any caterpillars that may be on them. Pick the shoots regularly when the buds are fully formed. However, temperature, rainfall and time of year can all affect how long the plants will last before starting to form flowers. Some varieties last longer before bolting, so grow these if you want to avoid gluts. Coming up to harvest time, check the plants at least twice a week, as the tight green buds may quickly open into yellow flowers, ruining your crop. Some sprouting broccoli varieties produce a small terminal head and then the smaller side-shoots after this is harvested. We included it in our trial but it bolted too quickly to provide any harvest.ĭiscover our Best Buy calabrese varieties How to grow It’s popular in Italian cuisine and has a slight mustard flavour, slender stems with small florets and lots of leaf. You may also come across broccoli raab, or rapini, a turnip relative whose seed is sold as Cima di Rapa, which translates as turnip tops. oleracea, which has small broccoli-like florets on thick stems with more leaves than sprouting broccoli. Calabrese is the large-headed type often sold encased in a tight plastic sheath broccoli is the sprouting type, whether that’s purple, green or white sprouting Tenderstem is a trademark name for sprouting broccoli (it even has its own website) and then there is Chinese kale, another cultivar of B. They are all members of the brassica family – Brassica oleracea to be precise. The term isn’t much used in the UK – we just call everything broccoli, but there are several different types. What most of us call broccoli is in fact calabrese but search any of the major supermarkets’ online sites for calabrese and you’ll draw a blank.
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