Can time really be a great healer?.

Hello to you all.

I hope I dont "ramble" on too much with basic stuff, but apart from growing up watching my father looking after his vegetables Iam a novice.

Here goes.

I have taken over the family home which I was born in the year it was built in Glasgow (1966).
As I am led to believe, from the off my father managed to have great results growing : pot's, cabbage , leeks , beets, turnip, b/sprots lettuce. The bulk being the potatoes one 1/2 of the garden for them the other half filled up with the others. now for some unknown reason my father got top soil delivered from a farmer friend ( tons). From that date until approx 15yrs ago when he gave up, "Clubroot" had set in and would notleave. He tried I think everything and the name "Armillitox" semed to be a word in constant use. So for the past 15yrs the garden has had a lawn with some roses on the borders.
The big question is if as I would love to re start growing veg would the clubroot still be their and if so can it be managed today.

Fingers crossed
tks

 

You can grow anything you like in a soil with clubroot except brassicas. So as long as you dont mind missing out on neeps, cabbage and brusslesprouts you will be ok. Club root thrives in acidic soil so adding lime can reduce the symptoms but i know from experience that it can survive dormant for years. My advice would be to lay out the garden in a way that would make rotating different types of crop easy and try a neep or two to see how it goes. After such a long time it may be ok. On the positive side if you have a low ph (acidic) you are likely to get a decent crop of tatties. Hope thats some help but post again if you think i can answer any further questions.

Cloudy

 

PS I wouldnt swear but i think that armillitox has been banned for garden use.

 

I think your right Mrs cloudy, it is now banned for garden use. BUT YOU CAN STILL BUY IT. Know what I mean?

 

many tks to u both for the comments.

Your spot on, after a wee word with my mother she told me the same re neeps , brl/sprts etc. She recalls describing clubroot as looking like a contorted lepar like hand. Through all this disease as commented, the spuds stayed A1.

I really do think my father did ALL he could back then, he even went as far as having a soil sample tested, but for the findings ( apart from the obvious )I have no idea. Any advise seems to have had no effect.

I think all i can do is TRY it. Even as Iam typing more memories are coming to me. I can see the crops now . All looking good up top, then on the day of lifting , seeing that sight . Yukkkkkkkkkkkk. lol

tks again
d

 

Even Wallflowers too are a member of the brassicas and are affected by clubroot

On the banned but still available note, Jeyes fluid is banned for garden use but still available as a disinfectant!

 

Davie

You can test for clubroot yourself by taking a representative sample from the garden and puting it into a large seed tray or similar. Cat litter tray is ideal. Sow cababge seeds and grow in a greenhouse to encourage faster growth. Once seedlings are a reasonable size, 4-6 leaf start checking a couple a week for any signs of disease. Club root is quite obvious but if in doubt get a book out of the library and check against photos. I completely disagree with Steve about using banned chemicals, particularly in this case. Armillatox was banned not least because it didnt work very well in comparrison to the harm it caused. Im not a complete greenie and would be lost without Roundup but i dont see the point in using lots of chemicals when you can get good results by growing what your site likes.

Cloudy

 

Did I say use banned chemicals???

 

I think the problem with something partially banned is it leaves some grey areas....Jeyes fluid is banned for garden use but still ok as a disinfectant? so therefore its ok to disinfect your greenhouse glass/benches/pots etc but not for spraying on leaves!

If anyone is in doubt then they should read the instructions or put Jeyes Fluid into a search engine....if its ok to use it in a search engine that is

 

I think there is a difference between something which is 'banned' and something which is 'not cleared for use'in certain circumstances.
I'm not sure but I think we can thank the E U for this situation.
I believe they decided that unless a chemical (which we had probably used for years with no ill effects) went through a very costly testing programme it would not be 'cleared for use'.
This meant that a large amount of chemicals became unavailable, or restricted use.

 

I read somewhere where thats the case Pete..its very costly to go through the testing procedure and much more economical to withdraw the item and bring out something similar

 

Hope I'm not too late with this one. Armillatox has been banned for use as a fungicide, the manufacturers, rather than withdraw sales, have simply re-labelled it for another use. The active ingredients (tar acids) are known carcinogens; Neurotoxins; reproductive & developmental toxicants & ground water contaminents. Now I don't know about you, but I'd rather not have that in contact with something I want to eat!!! & into the environment. Check out www.foe.co.uk. You could try growing in raised beds with fresh topsoil, regular crop rotation as mentioned before + don't grow stocks & candy tuft either. Soz to go on, but there are ways to get round these things without going all chemical.
Bayleaf

 

As Steve pointed out in the funny section, cigarettes are known carcinogens, but you can still buy and use them.
Perhaps if Armillatox had a government tax on it you would still be able to use it.

 

Doesn't it have VAT? + why would you want to use it anyway? At least if you have a cigarette, you can do it in private & not pollute the environment (not much choice now anyway!!)

 

Just by living every one of us pollutes the enviroment, we always have. Its just that now there are far too many of us.