Kitchen Garden Forum

As Peter has reminded us that we have a Technical section for issues about growing products I'll pose this one on here.

Foe the second season running my leeks are starting to look as if they're developing a bad rust infection.
I try to move them around on mu veg patch every year but location options are limited. Is this is a soil infected problem or caused by weather conditions?. When the rust hits this early it really seems to impede their growth and I wonder if there's anything i can do to halt it. i've stripped away some of the worst infected outer layers but last year when I did this the infection still continued .

We also have "Weeds, pests and diseases." which is where a discussion about Rust would fit better.

Technical Data is meant for comparing varieties, or , highlighting errors, discrepancies and misinformation on seed packets or seed merchant websites.

Saying how varieties perform undet varying (stated) conditions fits in with that.

On a pc a popup should appesr when you hover over the forum sections explaining what each one is for.

OK I'll move it to there.

Hi Peter,
With the greatest of respect may I suggest you read the pop-up above Technical Data.
JB.

Hi Clive,
Initially we were quite impressed with "Moonlight" in year 1 and year 2 was reasonable year 3 hopeless and year 4 even worse. We had purchased new seed from different suppliers in years 3 and 4.
Last year we had a total failure of all beans due to a pest chewing the roots off all the plants. We steriliszed the soil and this year the beans have been very good. Varieties grown this year are Wisley Magic, Lady Di, Galaxy, Streamline and Scarlet Emperor.
Streamline have done well and out-yields all the others with the exception of Wisly Magic which have been magnificent.
With Wisley Magic I have one truss with 14 set beans on it and all growing according to plan. Yesterday I picked the last three beans from what had been a large truss and they were 13" to nearly 15" without any of the signs of ageing. What more can you ask of a plant.
Sincerely,
JB.

Hi Johnboy!

I've looked through the catalogues that are already dropping through the door & no mention of Wisley Magic. Do you know who is the best supplier?

Many Thanks
Westi

This is not now just an issue of just rust on my leeks but another complication. I noticed this morning that they seem to be covered in tiny black insects that actually seem to be causing the plants to rot. In the space of the last few days the insects have spread to my nearby healthy bunching onions and caused them to die right back.

They don't appear to be black fly. i'm at a loss to know what they are, how to kill them and whether the plants have gone too far to be rescued . Have never seen my leeks infected like this before. I tend to garden fairly organically and don't have any insecticide sprays to hand.

Any idea what I could use? Would soapy water spray help?

Hi primrose,

It sounds like the same thing that got my chives about a month or so ago - black insects covering the stem. I cut them back to a few inches and sprayed with a general bug spray. The chives have grown back, but I had a look at them today and there are still some of the bugs on them so am going to spray again. Never had a problem like this with chives before. I believe bunching onions are like chives, so you could try something similar?

If I can get a decent photo, I will and post on here to see if it's the same problem.

Pawty

The first time the chives were completely covered... (Sorry - had to resize so great quality).

Yes , these seem to be the same insects I've got on my leeks. I've never noticed them before.