This is my favorite tasty radish-stays crisp and edible for longer than others in my area. In spring, I plant thicker than suggested in a 'salad' bed with lettuce, beets, carrots and onions and use the pulled radish thinnings for salad greens. Have never had maggots. Also plant this radish in rows with cukes and squash and let grow all season as it seems to repel a number of pests. Some of the radish bulbs are over 6" just now and some plants are blooming. When the seed posds are small, they are tasty in salads and stir-fries.

The only insect that enjoys the radish leaves is a flea beetle, who dines and leaves tiny holes. Leaves still edible.

A friend who had problems with root maggots uses wood ashes overtop each planting, probably a handful per 2 sqft.

I like French Breakfast very much. It is pretty and good tasting. It seems to do better than most in warm weather.

Root maggots are a problem here. Floating row cover is a sure fire solution. It needs to be installed immediately after sowing.

Jim

My first sowing of these did great. The second one - nothing. They have proven to be a great trap crop for flea beetles however.

Thanks for the feedback.

I've been trying them for two years. I've never had any pest problems. I plant them anywhere I have a little extra room (my garden is split between an 8ft window box, two small tilled areas, and two raised beds). These are my first radishes so this advice might be universal for them: I only had success with light loamy soil, and thin them early!

I just had to taste one today. It was almost an inch wide and a little over an inch long. Very yummy and had a zip to it! What's nice about French Breakfast is that if you leave a few to seed, you'll have free seeds for next year.

Some of my French Breakfast radishes have a strange problem. The white part has a gray discoloration in the skin. I don't know what the discoloration is and don't know if they are OK to eat, but the appearance is unappetizing and I don't eat them. My guess, and it is pure guesswork, is that the gray is some sort of soil borne infection such as a fungus.

Not all of the radishes have the discoloration. A few inches away in the same row there are radishes whose white part is sparkling white as can be. Any info on this?

Jim

Keepitlow wrote:

"Anyone try it? How is it with root maggots and taste?"

Well, they taste a lot better WITHOUT the root maggots! :=)

(Sorry, couldn't resist! Twenty lashes with a limp carrot or something!)

Root maggots! Ptooey!

Jim