CLUB ROOT AND FINGER-ANDTOE DISEASE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20708, 4 May 1929, Page 7

CLUB ROOT AND FINGER-AND-TOE DISEASE.

Some vegetables, such as cabbage and turnips, are sometimes given to “clubbing,” or club-root, anbury, or so-called “ finger-and-toe ” disease. Carrots and parsnips may he fork-rooted, or finger-and-toed, not from disease, but from rank farmyard manure having been dug into the soil shortly before time of sowing, For these, root crops the manure should be very evenly distributed through all the layers of soil, thoroughly well mixed with it, in fact, and preferably this is best done when the manure has been applied to a previous crop, excepting artificial fertilisers, of course. “ Clubbing ”in cabbages may be prevented by puddling, or soaking, the roots of the young plants (just before planting) in a mixture of soot, lime, soil, and liguid manure. Dressings of lime are beneficial for soils liable to “club,” canker, or turnip disease. But such soils must be worked under favourable weather conditions, so as to avoid any tendency to “ souring ” or acidity. If forked or hoed when wet and pasty, the result is injurious. Many such soils should not be stirred too much if very dry in the spring time when the turnip seeds are about to be sown. If watered to allay the surface dust, let the moisture sink well into the soil or disappear from the surface through evaporation, before touching the plot with fork, hoe! or rake.