Troubled Sprouts
Elsi
Posts: 10
in Fruit & veg
please can somebody tell me what's making my Brussel sprouts look this unhealthy? Not sure if they're diseased or malnourished ????
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Elsi
Posts: 10
Elsi
Posts: 10
Elsi
Posts: 10
Posts
It's not caterpillars is it, I'm sure you would have noticed. I had a problem with them, I picked 50 off the first day, 30 the next day and a few on subsequent days, then no more trouble at all. I hope they pick up, are any sprouts forming?
It is quite common for some of the lower leaves to yellow & fall off however your plants do look extra stressed. These are very hungry plants & need what my father would have called good strong ground.
The plants do seem rather closely spaced but it is hard to tell under the netting. The holes could be slugs & snails if there are no caterpillars. I would lift off the net and remove all the yellow,dying leaves. Check for whitefly there are organic sprays based on rapeseed oil that will reduce their numbers significantly if you don't want to use chemicals. Give them a good dose of seaweed based feed water on with a fine rose or a hose end diluter if you have one, repeat at 2 week intervals. Brassicas of all types respond well to seaweed feed it gives them dark green leaves & seems to toughen the leaves up helping them resist pests & diseases. Deal with any slugs or snails in the usual way!
Don't forget to put the nets back to keep the birds off. Good luck.