Kitchen Garden Forum

Can anybody suggest why a large number of my celeriac and parnship leaves have gone brown and died? It looks as if it might be some kind of disease. If I hadn't been watering them regularly in this dry weather I perhaps would have put it down to lack of rain/moisture so it doesn't appear to be that.
The leaves look very unsightly and I've cut all the dead ones off and plan to leave their respective bulbs in the ground until I need them. Will a shortage of leaves do them any harm at this stage?

Some of mine have done the same. Not sure why maybe someone can tell us. I've left the leaves alone the bulbs still seem Okay.

Beryl.

A lot of my parsnip leaves died off, but the celeriac are looking fine. I put it down to a lack of water.

As far as the Parsnip go, i think it is just the time of the year, as we are nearly into November.

I agree with OH about the parsnips - it's just the time of the year.

As it's also affecting the celeriac, Primrose, I wonder if it is carrot root fly? I believe, with parsnips and celeriacs being umbelliferae like carrots, they can suffer from the same diseases (certainly parsley can). In which case, the foliage usually has a reddish tinge. But perhaps I am barking up the wrong tree!

This is different Monkia. I know what parsnips look like when dying down.

Could be carrot fly, but the leaves are not tinged in red, they have an almost translucent look to them very pale and papery.

Beryl.

Have you had a frost down your way?

Have you dug one up to see what the roots look like - if they are OK I shouldn't worry about it, just use them when you are ready.

If they are damaged by carrot fly, canker or otherwise unhealthy you should be able to work it out by looking and perhaps cutting into one.

Yes my celeriac leaves are very pale and papery - rather like the light coloured beige husks on my tomatillos. The parsnip leaves are different and look quite rusy. As the parsnips are next to my leeks which do seem to be suffering from a little rust I wondered whether this is disease which is transferrable.

I had another look today, the roots are fine, so I'm not going to panic.
I could see a teeny weeny tiny fly on somew of them similiar to one I get on strawberries sometimes that makes holes in leaves.

Just another one of those years I think. And rust is a weather problem, doesn't look very good but does little damage.

Beryl.

Dear Beryl, good to read the roots are fine.
I must admit, i do like Parsnips.

Mmmmm me to OH. What would our winter meals be like without the parsnip.

Beryl.

I've noticed my celeriac is starting to perk up again and make fresh new green growth.
Consensus of opinion on our plot is that we had a cold night with some frost and then a warm day with the sun burning the leaves.

Beryl.

Mine did the same Beryl, one frosty night but the roots are OK ,
Primrose, did your tomatillos come good in the end? I am still picking a few tomatillos and cape gooseberries and a few late autumn gols raspberries.

NB - I ended up with four plants which did grow rather straggly but I picked about 3 lbs of tomatillos altogether so was delighted to get a result. . We turned them all into a tomatillo salsa which we have frozen in small portions to give ourselves several little batches of dipping sauce. I still have a couple of plants in the ground with "lanterns" on but the fruits inside are only the size of a pea, so not sure whether these will grow any bigger now the nights are turning cold.