Latest Symptoms, Identification and Control Methods for Clubroot in Chinese Cabbage

Chinese cabbage is grown very widely; its taste is fairly sweet, and its price is fairly affordable. But do not be fooled by how cheap it is - our country has no shortage of Chinese cabbage growing bases. However, when growing Chinese cabbage, many pests and diseases appear, and clubroot is one of them; clubroot will cause Chinese cabbage to become stunted and develop yellow leaves, the roots become severely deformed, and the fungus can persist for as long as ten-plus years. So what are the symptoms of clubroot? How should it be controlled? Let's take a look together!

1. Disease characteristics

Clubroot is a fungal disease. In the early stages of the disease it cannot be observed normally; the fungus invades the roots of the Chinese cabbage, causing tumors of various sizes to appear on the roots. About half a month after the disease sets in, the plants above ground gradually wilt, grow extremely slowly, and in the later stages simply stop growing. Then the leaves gradually turn yellow and show symptoms of water shortage. This is the time when growers are most easily misled - many people think it is caused by a lack of water. In fact, it is because the root tumors are too large, which prevents normal water uptake, thus producing the symptoms of water shortage.

2. How to diagnose

There are only two causes of tumors appearing on Chinese cabbage roots. The first is root-knot nematodes feeding on the roots; root-knot nematodes bore into and feed on the Chinese cabbage roots and cause the roots to gradually swell. If you pull up a diseased plant and find no root-knot nematodes, you can use microscopic examination, and if you find 5-6-sided fungal bodies present, then it is most likely Plasmodiophora brassicae, the pathogen that causes clubroot. Plasmodiophora brassicae mainly lies dormant in the soil and then spreads through diseased plants, water and various other media, causing clubroot to occur on a large scale in Chinese cabbage.

3. Disease patterns

Among pests and diseases, clubroot has a relatively low incidence rate, but according to experimental surveys, in recent years there have been cases of clubroot in various places, and the number is still rising steadily. Plasmodiophora brassicae can survive in the soil for a very long time; as long as cruciferous vegetables are grown, the disease will occur from time to time, and it can also spread through the flow of water and fertilizer in the soil and through various insects. It is especially severe during rainy weather and when the field is relatively moist, and spring each year is a period of high clubroot incidence.

4. Control methods

First, when selecting seeds, we need to choose varieties with strong disease resistance, then do a good job of disinfecting and sterilizing the seeds; you can use seed-dressing bis powder for seed dressing. Continuous cropping must not be practiced, and if the previous crop in the soil was a cruciferous plant, planting should be avoided as much as possible; for rotation, you can grow some melon and fruit vegetables and fruits. The planting plot must be disinfected; you can use agents such as Fushuaide suspension concentrate, mix it into the soil, and then sow. Do the preventive work well, disinfect regularly and strengthen the management of the vegetable garden.

The above is the introduction to clubroot. You may not be very familiar with clubroot, because its incidence is relatively low. But in recent years the incidence rate has gradually increased, and the level of harm from clubroot among diseases can be said to rank among the top few. The editor also hopes everyone can pay attention to it, which is why I specifically introduced clubroot. That is all for today's article. This article is for reference only, and I hope it is helpful to everyone.