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JayPoc
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Any tricks to get brussels sprouts to, well, sprout?
I've got 8 enormous burly brussels sprouts going. The all have a huge number of sprouts all along the central stem. Only problem is all of the sprouts are about the size of a pea or smaller and not getting bigger...at least not very quickly. They seem stuck. Any tricks to getting them to develop?
You're trying to encourage a cool/cold-weather veggie to grow while the weather is much hotter than it likes. The veggie won't do it.
Plant again later. I'm not sure whether August or September is more advisable for your region, but June isn't usually a happy time for brussels sprouts in the Northern Hemisphere.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
Plant again later. I'm not sure whether August or September is more advisable for your region, but June isn't usually a happy time for brussels sprouts in the Northern Hemisphere.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
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applestar
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Like Cynthia said, it's probably too hot. At this point they just sulk through the summer and get eaten up by bugs -- slugs, cabbage white, cabbage moth, cabbage looper, aphids, harlequin bugs.... 
IF you can get them through all that -- and I found harlequin bugs to be the worst of the bunch because they go straight for the sprouts -- they WILL resume growing in fall once temps cool down, and IF you harvest them before they decide to unfurl and bloom due to Indian summer triggering them, you'll get to eat some either this fall or, if there is no Indian Summer to wake them up, even in early spring next year after they fatten up just a little more if your winter is mild enough (you may need to protect them through the winter otherwise).
You may want to put up a hoop frame and cover them in insect netting if your bed is planted to allow that. Since my crops are usually interplanted, I never could protect them that way, but sometimes, there was just the right combination of companion plants, Garden Patrol, and superior dedicated efforts by yours truly to make it happen.
IF you can get them through all that -- and I found harlequin bugs to be the worst of the bunch because they go straight for the sprouts -- they WILL resume growing in fall once temps cool down, and IF you harvest them before they decide to unfurl and bloom due to Indian summer triggering them, you'll get to eat some either this fall or, if there is no Indian Summer to wake them up, even in early spring next year after they fatten up just a little more if your winter is mild enough (you may need to protect them through the winter otherwise).
You may want to put up a hoop frame and cover them in insect netting if your bed is planted to allow that. Since my crops are usually interplanted, I never could protect them that way, but sometimes, there was just the right combination of companion plants, Garden Patrol, and superior dedicated efforts by yours truly to make it happen.
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JayPoc
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Nope...I don't think so...I started them right along with my cabbage and broccoli which both are doing/have done marvelously. Heck, these sprouts survived a 17 degree night. It still routinely gets down into the 50s at night and the usual highs are in the 70s (we've had a handful of days in the mid 80s, but not many). They've done very well, and still look great, just the tiny sprouts...applestar wrote:Like Cynthia said, it's probably too hot.
I couldn't have started them any earlier, and from what I've read they don't reccomend fall planting for sprouts here....
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applestar
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OK, try this -- they are said to be heavy feeders. They also prefer neutral to alkaline soil (how's yours?).
If they have sufficient sprouts, you can top the plant (cut off the top of the plant) which is supposed to make the plant concentrate on the existing sprouts.
BTW -- in my area which is Zone 6b with first avg frost around 3rd week of Oct., I'm supposed to start B. sprouts around late April to beginning of May and plant them out around mid to late June for just after first frost harvest... NOT same schedule as early spring broccoli and cabbage. Maybe your summer is cooler there In the mountains of Va compared to inland plains NJ?
If they have sufficient sprouts, you can top the plant (cut off the top of the plant) which is supposed to make the plant concentrate on the existing sprouts.
BTW -- in my area which is Zone 6b with first avg frost around 3rd week of Oct., I'm supposed to start B. sprouts around late April to beginning of May and plant them out around mid to late June for just after first frost harvest... NOT same schedule as early spring broccoli and cabbage. Maybe your summer is cooler there In the mountains of Va compared to inland plains NJ?
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!potatoes!
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I think there's a day-length component that triggers more growth. they're mostly considered a fall crop because they don't like to produce until the days are short and getting shorter. that triggers growth more than cool fall temps.
re: topping, the idea is you take off the very top growing point, down to where there are sprouts.
re: topping, the idea is you take off the very top growing point, down to where there are sprouts.
The best luck we ever had with brussels sprouts, is when we planted a couple of them in the corner of my mom's yard, forgot about them, and then they got weeds that grew all around them. When mom asked me for help in clearing the weeds the following spring, and the brussels had all winter to grow, we found them and they had sprouts the size of the tip of my thumb. So I think they do need cold weather like the others have said...that and treating them like weeds seemed to work for my mom and I, LOL!