Rhubarb raised bed.

[pawl]

A stick of rhubarb and a bag of sugar. Memories of childhood.
But don't eat the leaves 👎👎👎

How much truth there is in the following.Rhubarb leaves can help to prevent club root in brassicas.Place a portion of leaf in the hole when planting I believe the leaves contain oxallic acid.which prevents club root

 

[Profpointy]

Rhubarb crumble - yum yum ! Not much left from today's pudding

and in a month or so, rhubarb gin

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

That's interesting. It's the oxallic acid that makes them inedible.

Round here the farmers net turnip and swedes to prevent attacks by cabbage rootfly, but they don't net cabbages. I dont understand that unless they can spray cabbages but not root crops.

 

[Profpointy]

How much truth there is in the following.Rhubarb leaves can help to prevent club root in brassicas.Place a portion of leaf in the hole when planting I believe the leaves contain oxallic acid.which prevents club root

Oxalic acid is proper poisonous. In school we were warned against mouth-pipetting it in chemistry as someone in the year before us had had to go to hospital to get their stomach pumped.

Don't suppose they mouth-pipette anything these days, and even back in my day we tended to use the rubber sucker bulbs for anything too dangerous

 

[Tail End Charlie]

How much truth there is in the following.Rhubarb leaves can help to prevent club root in brassicas.Place a portion of leaf in the hole when planting I believe the leaves contain oxallic acid.which prevents club root

I don't know about that, but I know my chickens used to eat rhubarb leaves, they're some sort of emetic for them.

 

[rualexander]

Slugs are invertebrates.

Invertebrates are animals

 

[weareHKR]

Whoooo... I do love a Rhubarb Crumble... Unfortunately, no one does in our house so rarely have!

 

[PaulSB]

That's interesting. It's the oxallic acid that makes them inedible.

Round here the farmers net turnip and swedes to prevent attacks by cabbage rootfly, but they don't net cabbages. I dont understand that unless they can spray cabbages but not root crops.

I'm guessing with this. Once a cabbage crop is established the larger root system may be less susceptible, that is it can recover, to attack. Clearly it's the cabbage which is harvested so minor or recoverable attacks may not be of economic importance. Swedes and turnips are root vegetables so if attacked by a root fly the crop is ruined.

Saying this I've never seen turnips and swedes netted but often do see cabbage established under fleece after transplanting.

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

We are on the moss where vast acres are farmed. Every year swedes and turnips are netted until harvest. Yes, cabbage are netted after transplant but the nets are soon removed.

No brassicas - cabbage, sprouts, cauliflower etc. are netted long term and as you say this could be because the roots are not the cash crop.

What I haven't been able to get to the bottom of is farmers killing potato tops. Why? The herbicides they use would normally travel down to the roots meaning that the tubers are inedible. But it doesn't seem to work like that. Why do they kill the tops and why are the tubers unaffected?

As an aside...there are vast acres of crops that have not been harvested and are being ploughed back in. Presumably the lack of catering and hospitality venues means the food just isn't wanted. A real shame, especially if the farmers are not being paid.

 

[Profpointy]

Whoooo... I do love a Rhubarb Crumble... Unfortunately, no one does in our house so rarely have!

That makes no sense. If no one else likes crumble that's more for you !

Seriously though, it is a the easiest thing in the world to make

 

[PaulSB]

We are on the moss where vast acres are farmed. Every year swedes and turnips are netted until harvest. Yes, cabbage are netted after transplant but the nets are soon removed.

No brassicas - cabbage, sprouts, cauliflower etc. are netted long term and as you say this could be because the roots are not the cash crop.

What I haven't been able to get to the bottom of is farmers killing potato tops. Why? The herbicides they use would normally travel down to the roots meaning that the tubers are inedible. But it doesn't seem to work like that. Why do they kill the tops and why are the tubers unaffected?

As an aside...there are vast acres of crops that have not been harvested and are being ploughed back in. Presumably the lack of catering and hospitality venues means the food just isn't wanted. A real shame, especially if the farmers are not being paid.

When you say the moss I'm right in thinking you mean what I'd refer to as the Lancashire mosses - Tarleton, Banks, Burscough etc?

The potatoes are being sprayed off, probably with glyphosate, to aid or ease harvesting. Two points here. First killing off the top growth simply clears the soil so machinery can easily pass over. The second could be to control growth for one of two reasons - the tubers have reached the required size or there is no market. Either way the tubers will stop developing/increasing in size.

The tubers are unaffected because glyphosate is a contact herbicide. There are five types of herbicide, contact, residual, selective, non-selective and systemic. Contact herbicides basically kill whatever they land on. Systemic herbicides are absorbed by the plant and attack all areas from within. Residual sit in the soil for months. While selective and non-selective either target specific plant types - broadleaf weeds for example - or kill everything in sight!!

There is evidence glyphosate used in this manner is allowing it to enter the food chain.

 

[neil_merseyside]

I thought they burnt the tops off spuds with acid?

 

[steve292]

if you take the top growth off the spuds, it makes them less vulnerable to blight as well

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

When you say the moss I'm right in thinking you mean what I'd refer to as the Lancashire mosses - Tarleton, Banks, Burscough etc?

The potatoes are being sprayed off, probably with glyphosate, to aid or ease harvesting. Two points here. First killing off the top growth simply clears the soil so machinery can easily pass over. The second could be to control growth for one of two reasons - the tubers have reached the required size or there is no market. Either way the tubers will stop developing/increasing in size.

The tubers are unaffected because glyphosate is a contact herbicide. There are five types of herbicide, contact, residual, selective, non-selective and systemic. Contact herbicides basically kill whatever they land on. Systemic herbicides are absorbed by the plant and attack all areas from within. Residual sit in the soil for months. While selective and non-selective either target specific plant types - broadleaf weeds for example - or kill everything in sight!!

There is evidence glyphosate used in this manner is allowing it to enter the food chain.

Thanks for that.
Yes just south of Southport. My normal roads are inland as far as M6, north to Hesketh Bank and south to Skem. Pan flar and always blowing a hoolie.
It Is interesting watching the fields ebb and flow with the seasons. Lots of free veg by the roadside that has fallen from the trailers 🙂

 

[PaulSB]

Thanks for that.
Yes just south of Southport. My normal roads are inland as far as M6, north to Hesketh Bank and south to Skem. Pan flar and always blowing a hoolie.
It Is interesting watching the fields ebb and flow with the seasons. Lots of free veg by the roadside that has fallen from the trailers 🙂

Oh and when it's blowing a south-westerly if we ride out that way it's headwind out and back!