bubbly spinach

 

hello!
having a nice crop of spinach just lately (first time ever!)

it's not a big deal, but i was wondering if anyone knows why some of my
spinach plants get "bubbly" leaves - it's as though the edges of the leaf
stop growing at some point, but the bulk of the leaf continues to expand, so
you get a wavy sort of surface to each leaf on the affected plants. some
plants are like this on every leaf, others not affected at all. the cultivar
is "medina" fwiw.

thanks if anyone knows!

kylie (who is enjoying spring enormously thank you very much).

 



I thought that the bubbly leaf is an invariable attribute of the
Silverbeet group of spinaches.

Not, though, of English spinach.

http://www.taste.com.au/how+to/articles/293/spinach

Richard

 


exactly, it's not! :-) the spinach in question is true spinach, not
silverbeet. (i never worry when the silverbeet goes bubbly).


... like the lower two in the photograph.
it also occurred to me that the bubbly plants don't grow tall like the
middle bunch there - they stay short & get sort of wide.
thanks!
kylie

 



IIRC, wide rather than tall in silverbeet is some sort of nutriet/trace
element deficiency - perhaps the same thing applies to Spinach.  Knowing
your soil, it's rather poor.  Have you tried adding a pinch of trace
elements when you'd done your bed preparation?  Or even a one off
application of packet chemical stuff at the start.

 


thought of that, it's certainly possible, although i'd now describe my
veggie soil as rapidly improving!! thing is, the good & bad ones are as
little as 10cm away from each other. which does happen, i know. but still!

i must say i do have the problem of dud plants that just go nowhere, yet
sitting right next to big healthy ones. my manuring is perhaps a little
haphazard, resulting in an irregular spread.

 Have you tried adding a pinch of trace

don't know anything about that stuff even if inclined, so no. i've been
adding in blood & bone periodically as well as keeping the mulch going, and
have even been organised enough to have limed a few times! :-)
oh well, thanks farmie.
kylie