CLUB-ROOT

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 51, 1 March 1934, Page 20

CLUB-ROOT

DIFFICULT TO EXTERMINATE

Club-root attacks not only cabbages, but all weed plants belonging to the QJJL er Cruciferae-, and for that reason is difficult to exterminate. Even if affected cabbages are lifted and destroyed as soon as the condition is obvi-

ous, the disease still does great-damage to crops. The use oiMimo is ono of the valuable preventive measures to keep it in check, and it has been found that since thi> use of acid artificial fertilisers became commpn,-and tho use of lime declined, the disease has- increased. A method of control is to lime the ground immediately. after an affected crop is taken out, and withhold the planting of cabbages or cauliflowers for at least twelve months. The rate of application is about lib of lime to the square yard. The symptoms of club-root are;.very generally known, but' newcomers to gardening are enlisted every year, and it may bo worth indicating its effects. On taking young cabbage plants from tho seed-beds for transplanting, the roots sometimes show irregular thickening or knob-like swellings. These swellings rapidly increase and check normal growth, the leaves being small and turning yellow. No head is formed, and'if tho plant, be pulled lip the typical deformity, the fancied resemblance to fingers and toes, which gives the disease its name, is: noticeable.' When the diseaso is well advanced, a blunt woody stump; may be all;'that remains of tho roots.- Swedes and turnips are also affected by club-root. There is no-cure when the typical deformity has appeared. Prevention must be -the aim. Careful, attention should be given to the seedlings as they are lifted from the seed-bed, and any which show-the disease should be destroyed. If sbmo ground has been affected, every effort should be made to prevent the carrying of soil on boots or tools from the affected to clean land. Scraping off tho soil and dusting with lime is a safeguard. Diseased plants must be burnt, and not thrown on tho refuse heap. As soon as diseased plants are cleared off tho ground quick-lime should be applied at the rate already-suggested, viz., lib per square yard. The lime corrects any sourness in the soil, and also kills the spores of club-root with which it may come in contact. Mercuric chloride solutions have also proved very satisfactory for tho - control of the disease. Its use is valuable where cabbages are grown on a commercial' scale, but corrosive sublimate is a deadly poison and must be treated as such; ata the averago gardener will find lime, although a 'slower medium of destruction, a safer method' of control.