Soil-borne wilt: look at the vascular brown before you fertilise

What you see in the field

Dead plants: look at the pipes first, not drought alone. A sketch — don’t fertilise from the picture alone.Patches plus brown pipes, then add fertiliser. A sketch — don’t fertilise from the picture alone.

Tap to enlarge. The caption says what to photograph. Missing field photos are marked as to-be-added.

Why it looks like this

The field looks like this because the root cannot take water or nutrients the usual way. Fix the soil condition first — drainage, salt, acidity, compaction or a salt of fertiliser — then a thin feed. Rates live in the range on this page; confirm with a local station and the label.

Easy to mix up

• Looks like “Shortage of water”

  Dry-soil wilt eases after water; Fusarium wilt still wilts when wet, with brown vascular tissue.

• Looks like “Bacterial wilt”

  Bacterial wilt often has ooze on a cross-cut; fungal wilt browns the vessels with little ooze.

Do this / don’t do that

1. 1Compare the worst plants with a neighbour ridge. Photograph whole plant, close-up and soil surface before you add fertiliser.
2. 2Match roots, leaves and the soil surface to this guide. If they do not line up, do not copy a bag count.
3. 3Use the rate range on this page only as a range. Confirm with a local station and the product label.

Rate range

These are ranges. Confirm with your local extension station and the product label.

When you see Patch death; brown vascular tissue in a cut stem. Not simple drought, test. Mix several spots of the tilled layer; skip the edge and the manure heap.

Lesson video