CARRIAGE OF CLUB-ROOT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 73, 16 May 1944, Page 6

CARRIAGE OF CLUB-ROOT

FARM BOOTS AS VEHICLE

The surest Avay of introducing j club-root into a paddock is by inoculating tlie soil with it. Another fairly sure way is by carrying the disease on one's, boots from an infected paddock into a clean one. Neither practice is to be recommended (dryly remarks a mulletin. issued by Massey Agricultural College). In., fact, adds the bulletin, farms and even home gardeners should be careful not to carry disease on their footwear. It can be easily done, and, once the infection has spread, no cruciferous crops can be safely grown on that land until the organism lias had five years in which to die of starvation.The spread of club-root on farms and in gardens can frequently be traced to the destructive 1 organisms having had free rides on someone s boots. Liming helps to counteract this disease of swedes, turnips, rape and, to a lesser extent, choumoellier; and there are some good dis-ease-resistant varieties, but their yield is generally lower than that of the more susceptible strains. The damage noticed on the foliage of club rooted crops is only a slight indication of the severe setback the plants have suffered below the. surface of the ground. The only effective prevention of further trouble —in addition to wiping one's boots on leaving an inj fected paddock, as a poor substitute for putting them in a corrosive sublimate bath (the use of which is whollj' impracticable in farming)— s 10 use a ciop rotation which will >p ;il tli - ; iiam .nuciferous crops for l»ve years.