Leaf curling on my celery

[Arielphf]

Last year, I planted my celery, cabbage, parsley and kale in the same area of my garden and they did not do well. My celery just up and died. Cabbage rotted from the stem up, and while the kale started out well, it too succumbed to rot before the season was over.

This year, I planted my brassicas and celery in another bed, but half the celery is trying to die the same way they did last year. The plants are showing very subdued growth and a curling and distortion of the leaves. I haven't seen this elsewhere, but I am not even sure what to call it to look it up. Has anyone seen anything like this? Please help.

 

[Chuck]

This looks a lot like herbicide damage and if I were to guess I'd say Picloram. This stuff lasts in the soil for years. Do any broadleaf weeds grow well in that soil? If not, that's what it is.

 

[Arielphf]

This looks a lot like herbicide damage and if I were to guess I'd say Picloram. This stuff lasts in the soil for years. Do any broadleaf weeds grow well in that soil? If not, that's what it is.

I have a very healthy crop of weeds in that same spot this year since we let that bed go fallow. I have been gardening that bed for years with no problems and have never used herbicide. I will keep your suggestion though if we can't find any other cause.

 

[Chuck]

I have a very healthy crop of weeds in that same spot this year since we let that bed go fallow. I have been gardening that bed for years with no problems and have never used herbicide. I will keep your suggestion though if we can't find any other cause.

You don't have to use any herbicide to be contaminated. The herbicide can come from manure and from straw/hay used as mulch. But, since you have healthy broadleaf weeds it is not herbicide damage. If the weeds look different in any way then it is herbicide damage.

 

[Arielphf]

They were exceedingly healthy before I mowed them off! Lol! Honestly, I haven't put anything on this garden but home compost and leaves and grass clippings from my home. Unless we have a guerilla herbicider running around, I don't see how any chemicals could get on this.

Doing a bit more searching, I find something called celery anthracnose that looks a lot like this from the picture, but I've never seen it in anything but pictures. I hope some who reads this can give me an idea if it looks like this.

 

[Marck]

I agree the symptoms are very similar. Here is a good resource for Celery Anthracnose.

Celery, Anthracnose

Once uncommon, anthracnose has become an important disease of celery in the past decade. It has been reported in most major celery growing areas worldwide, including Japan, Australia, and the USA. Identification Curled, distorted leaves and twisted petioles are characteristic of celery...

ag.umass.edu

 

[Arielphf]

Whoa, that certainly sounds and looks like this, even to the point of them saying the damage looks like herbicide damage as the first commenter thought! Excellent! Thank you!

 

[Chuck]

Whoa, that certainly sounds and looks like this, even to the point of them saying the damage looks like herbicide damage as the first commenter thought! Excellent! Thank you!

It also said seed contamination and possibly debris contamination was the cause. Do you save your seed and what is this about you mowing your celery? Apparently, this is a new disease and not much is known about it yet. I would be doubly careful with my gardening techniques and not leave ANY plant debris on the ground. From my limited research on this disease it appears that it can affect peppers, tomatoes and spinach. It would be wise to have a local expert such as your county extension agent to have a look.

 

[Arielphf]

I don't save my seed and I didn't mow my celery. I did mow the grass and weeds that came into that section of my garden because I left it fallow this year. I am quite diligent about removing infected plant waste; this is not my first year gardening. I posted on this forum because I'd never had trouble with celery before and wanted to ask if anyone knew what this issue was. If it is a new pathogen, that explains why I and other folks haven't seen it before.

 

[Arielphf]

It also said seed contamination and possibly debris contamination was the cause. Do you save your seed and what is this about you mowing your celery? Apparently, this is a new disease and not much is known about it yet. I would be doubly careful with my gardening techniques and not leave ANY plant debris on the ground. From my limited research on this disease it appears that it can affect peppers, tomatoes and spinach. It would be wise to have a local expert such as your county extension agent to have a look.

Forgot to add, I will most definitely be contacting the Extension office though, good call. If a home gardener like me is getting hit, it's around for commercial growers too.

 

[Chuck]

Forgot to add, I will most definitely be contacting the Extension office though, good call. If a home gardener like me is getting hit, it's around for commercial growers too.

With any kind of luck at all, it will be something else.