Kitchen Garden Forum

Our Musselborough leeks have been great so far this winter, but one I dug up at the weekend had gone to s soft mushy paste in the middle, starting at the top and going down towards the roots. Our first thought was that rain may have got in at the top, and as a result of alternate freezing and thawing, started a rot going. Is this a likely explanation, or could it be something more sinister (such as the dreaded white rot)?

Dont think it is white rot, which attacks the roots first. But of course I cant see the leek.

It may just be that they are coming to the end of their season being a mid season variety. The weather may also have been an issue with very mild, damp conditions being followed by vary hard frosts.

If it is white rot then I am very sorry.

Jerry

I had the same problem on the odd musselborough leek.

Its not white rot, its just that they dont like freezing and thawing if they are not in tip top condition. Burn the affected ones to be safe rather than composting.

Hi Ken,
I live at 500ft elevation and an area of high wind and many frosts that an awful lot of people do not get. I always earth-up my Leeks to prevent what has happened to yours. I always fetch out a 6" 'V' groove and then put the dibber into the bottom of the groove and then drop the young leeks in. I then earth up as they grow and since I adopted this method over thirty years ago I have not had any problems. Also by this method you get a larger blanched area. I have always grown Musselburgh along with very many other varieties.
I used to grow Goliath but this has been superseeded
by Tornado which is what I am currently digging.
I used my Musselburgh up at the begining of January.

Hi Johnboy

I like the idea of planting in a groove, I've always just used a deep dibber hole. I've not had any problems with rotting but I'm going to give it a go all the same.

Chantal

Thanks, everybody. Sorry I've been a bit slow to acknowledge your comments, but as you know the forum has been down for a couple of days.
Good to hear that the trouble probably isn't white rot. The leeks themselves have been quite well blanched - inserted to the full depth of my biggest dibber, and then submitted to the indignity of having a toilet roll inner inserted over them as they grew taller.
Anyway, I'm happy to blame the weather for the recent problem.

Hi Ken,
I fear that the loo roll may give you that little extra blanching but in fact could be part of your dificulty. I suspect that the loo roll will always be damp and that will freeze and not give any protection but if you earthed them up the moisture will always drain down and the leeks would not be subjected to frost in the same way. Only a thought mind!

Thanks, Johnboy. As you say, 'only a thought', but you could well be right. This was the first year I'd tried the loo rolls. I recall someone writing in KG that they had switched to using lengths of plastic drain pipe because loo rolls weren't big enough. Boasting, I thought. However, some of my biggest leeks this year effectively burst the (damp) loo rolls...