Q&A Diseases:

My cabbages always suffer from club root. I do not want to use chemicals. Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening again?

Mary Payne: At present, there is no chemical control for club root on brassicas, which thickens and distorts the roots, often leading to the death of the plant, but there are steps you can take. Firstly, make sure your soil is fairly alkaline as the disease dislikes alkaline soils. Another trick is to grow your brasicas seeds and young plants in pots of multipurpose compost, so when you plant them out, you have a block of club-root-free compost surrounding the roots that will give the plant a good start, before the roots get into the surrounding club-root-infested soil.

A recent breakthrough in cabbage breeding is the variety 'Kilaxy' which shows a strong resistance to club root disease. It is available from Suttons Seeds