Multikeeper Cabbage Seeds

FY - Fusarium Yellows

Scientific Name: Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. conglutinans

Type: Fungus

Fusarium Yellows is a soil borne disease that affects the growth of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, radishes, rutabaga, turnips, and watercress. It is a warm weather disease affecting cabbage throughout the United States. Cabbage and radish crops can be completely destroyed when the soil is infected with the disease. Symptoms include the curling of the leaves and the leaves turning a dull green to a yellowish-green color within a month after transplanting into the field. Young plants may be stunted, turn yellow, and die rapidly in warm weather. The leaves will turn yellow, then brown, wither, and eventually drop off the plant. The infected plants usually die within 2 weeks, other may die slowly. The surviving infected plants will have poor heads of cabbages that are non-desirable. The disease is sometimes confused with black rot, where the leaf veins turn black, rather than turning brown. The disease is favorable when temperatures are 80-85 F. Since the disease can survive in the soil for a long time, crop rotation, fungicide treatment, and destruction of crops, will have little impact once the soil is infected. The only option is to use disease resistant varieties.

TB - Tip Burn

Type: Physiological Disorder

Tip Burn is caused by inadequate transport of calcium to rapidly growing tissues. It has caused severe loses to growers in the United States and Europe. It affects Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and lettuce. Uneven rainfall and watering, high temperatures, high humidity, windy conditions, dry soil conditions, and rapid growth are all factors. Tip burn consists of a breakdown of the plant tissue near the center of the head and develops as the crop approaches maturity. The inner leaves of heads of cabbage are affected, often without external symptoms. The inner leaves turn dark brown, then to a black color. Symptoms can extend from a few small brown spots on interior leaf edges, to large areas of the leaf turning brown and eventually decaying. Secondary rot caused by bacteria can follow tip burn and heads of cauliflower can be severely affected. No completely effective controls are known, but excessive soil moisture and insufficient soil moisture have both been suspected as contributing to a calcium deficiency. Managing irrigation can regulate and control plant growth and calcium deficiency. The best option is to use varieties resistant to tip burn.