Sunday, November 2, 2008

Harvest Day - Strange Mustard?

I noticed that after my Osaka Mustard had finished flowering and the thin stems had bent to the ground that new leaf rosettes started forming at the leaf axils. Some of these even look like they might reflower.

I also found this?

Photobucket

What is it? The petioles appear swollen which is a characteristic of some mustards and this bit of the plant was more cold hardy surviving a frost that wilted the rest of the plant. Not only that but it looks to me like a gall?

I broke it open and it is made of spongy tissue with no buggy inside that I could find. What is it? From the information I have found, I think it might be a gall from a swede midge.

Any clues?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you tried to look for a source of pheromone traps?

It looks like a nasty problem, I hope you don't have them. Do you rotate your brassicas?

Ottawa Gardener said...

Yes, I rotate them and I haven't noted damage similar on anything else. I haven't looked into pheromone traps though I might just do that if I notice anything else similar that might suggest the pest. I'm hoping it's not the swede midge as I haven't seen any reports in Ottawa but they are in Ontario.

Apparently they are in Europe. Have you ever encountered them?