I don’t know about you, but I find all the different plant diseases and their symptoms quite difficult to distinguish between. To me, all these ailments – chlorosis, blight, downy mildew, grey mould, leaf spot, nutrient deficiency – can look much the same and at the same time totally different depending on which plant is affected. Downy mildew on cucumbers seems to look nothing like downy mildew on brussels sprouts, for example.
I think that this is downy mildew that I’m seeing on my sprouts although I’m not 100% sure. However, I do think that the remedy for all these things seems to be much the same, and since that seems to be the case, I thought I’d share the following treatment which can kind of be applied to anything!
- Remove the affected leaves
- Give the plant a liquid feed to restore nutrients and water regularly to boost health
- Be careful to water the plant at the very base, so as to avoid the water sitting on the foliage
- Make sure there is adequate space for air to circulate between plants
In general, the younger, new leaves should be reasonably healthy and if they are you can be reasonably confident that the plant will be ok and that you will be able to harvest from it.
This is my approach to the brussels sprouts plants – hopefully they’ll make a good recovery and give me some sprouts in time for Christmas!