Celeriac Pests And Diseases

Luckily if you choose to grow celeriac then you will be pleased to know that it grows strongly once established and is affected by very few pests and diseases. Indeed its strong growing characteristics make it a good choice for those new to growing vegetables as it is a great tasting vegetable that requires little care or maintenance. The main celeriac pests are the celery fly, and slugs and snails.

The good news is all of these pests can be fairly easily treated. Celeriac can also we affected by a fungus known as Leaf Spot.

Firstly let us look at celery fly – These small flies lay eggs on the leaves, which in turn become maggots, typically these will appear on the plants in April and May. The first sign that the celeriac is affected by them is the white, semi-transparent marks start to appear on the leaves of the plants, in time these marks on the leaves will go brown, the leaves will then start to become distorted and start to shrivel up.

The celery fly can be treated by using pesticide sprays but they only work if applied if the problem is spotted early on. The easiest way to avoid the celery fly is to plant celeriac in late May or early June, when the celery fly is less of a problem.

Slugs and snails will attack celeriac just as they love to attack just about any vegetables in the garden, they can be treated by the use of slug pellets, which will need putting down every time it has rained heavily. Or you can place slug traps around the plants, typically these attract the slugs and snails in to them by using beer as the bait! The slugs and snails then drown in the beer. Crushed eggshells can also be placed around the plants as neither pest like crawling over them, the slug pellets and traps however will kill them, but the eggshells will merely deter them.

Leaf spot is a fungus that can develop on the celeriac leaves and it mainly develops in wet and warm conditions. It takes the form of brown marks developing on the leaves, starting as small brown spots they will spread and join together eventually killing the leaf. The leaf spot can be prevented by removing any infected leaves from the celeriac plants as soon as they develop.

Of note is that any infected leaves should be burnt or disposed of in domestic waste, they should never be placed in your compost bin as the fungal spores will remain even after the leaves have decomposed, and they will then be transferred to the soil wherever you put the compost.

Also see How To Grow Celeriac

By Richard Allen -