[tankgirl]

has anyone else tried this (or heard of it!)?
i have a copy of John Seymours self-sufficient book which has loads of great info/advise, in the veg section he suggests placing pieces of rhubarb in the hole prior to planting up brassicas (cabbages,cauliflowers,kale etc) and spraying rhubarb water over the plants to deter the club root fly.
so this week when i was transfering my plants to the lottie i have been putting a small piece of rhubarb stalk under the seedlings in the ground, and today much to my youngest daughters amuzement i have put chopped up rhubarb stalks and leaves in a bucket of cold water to soak overnight to make rhubarb water....unfortunately John doesnt give instructions in his book on how to make this so hoping im not suppose to boil the rhubarb in water 
i have also taken the added precaution of putting a disc round the base of each plant to prevent club root flies and then making a fleece cover over them to keep out butterflies 
im also going to spray garlic water over my carrots tomorrow to trick any lurking carrot flies before thinning out.....well it will keep the vampires at bay if all else fails 

[MrRee]

I think,and hopefully Rusty will be along soon to confirm it,but the rhubarb water is made over a longer period,say a week or two (a bit like nettle leaf liquid plant food). If you're not going down the organic route,dip the cabbage roots in thiophanate-methyl before planting out and make sure the plot was limed two weeks beforehand too......... Ree

[rustyme]

yes Ree , I think you are right . I seem to remember that some of the old timers used the leaves to make a foul smelling liquid that would kill anything it touched , including humans, I think it stops your heart very effectively. I have heard about the thing where some people pop a bit of stalk or leaf in with the cabbages against club root, but have never tried it myself. If anyone does try the leaf water bit , go very careful ...never leave it where children or animals can get at it . It will KILL them. Like boiled tobacco , it will kill any if not all insects and bugs very well , just go very careful. I am not sure how good it would be at fending off clubroot though as clubroot likes acidic conditions, hence the reason for adding some lime to help fend it off . Raise the ph level and it will take much longer to take hold , by which time the cabbage has grown large enough to cope. However adding rhubarb leaf water would be adding Oxalic acid ( the stuff that kills you ) which would be adding to acidity... not sure about using the stalk though ?
 
cheers

Russ

[Fluffywelshsheep]

rhubarb water add the leaves to a bucket of water and cover it up add the leaves everytime for about 3 months then you can use it the more leaves and the longer the times is always better, not used it before but watch a tv prog about allotment and it was on their. Also a new one to try is garlic water, Add a clove to boilling water 30mins) then strain and add a tablespoom of garlic water to a gallon watering can of water and it surposes to stop the slugs.

Linz

[tankgirl]

thanks for the advice Russ and Ree, i really dont want to use any chemicals on the plot and trying to use any natural remidies though i dont want to end up making anything dangerous 

thanks also Linz, ive left the rhubarb leaves soaking in a bucket out of reach of the cats, hope it doesnt get to smelly or my neighbours might complain! went and sprayed my garlic water today, i also remembered (just in time!) to stand down wind as it was very strong smelling even the little cat who hangs about the pond looked a bit disgusted with the smell and walked off 

[Fluffywelshsheep]

how did the garlic water go?