I planted a few varieties of broccoli, they all have their little broccoli heads popping up but just recently their leaves started showing a little red tinge some just on the tips and some on their lower leaves, now we've had crazy weather here in Mobile with freezing temps for about 2 weeks but I still made sure I covered them at night when the temps where in the 20's. Is this weather related or is it a problem with maybe a deficiency in the soil?
I think a lot of veggies in this family show a reddish tinge as a response to cold temps. In the older leaves the chlorophyll starts to fade and the red shows through better. The same thing happens with my brussels sprouts in the fall.
Mine are showing the same thing. I think it's from the cold because it appeared so quickly even on the large leaves and only after the extreme cold. I have it in all stages from making side shoots to tiny heads to not even starting to head. My big concern is whether to pull it and start over.
YooooHoooo Farmer Dill. I think I remember him saying that if the plants suffered arrested growth by a period of extreme cold that they'd just try to go to seed instead of worrying about producing an edible crop. Is that right?
Yep. Buttoning produces little heads about the size of a coin. Usually to much younger plants than carminators photo tho. Those plants should be ok. maybe not as large as normal, but the plant is large enough to support some head development. http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/M1247.html
Thank you so much I was affraid as twiggy mentioned that I had to pull my plants out. Farmerdill you are right the broccoli I have, the plant itself is not very big, in fact I have seen a lot bigger plants of broccoli here on Daves from the same species that I am growing.
One thing is the plants are taking a long time to grow, sometimes more than the time that says on the seed package, I know mine are but for what I understand things don't grow as fast in the cold winter right?
I'm germinating more seeds and by late February most of the real cold weather should have passed. I've got seeds for tropical varieties from Evergreen Seeds so I'll see if I can still get some results. I've never planted cole crops this time of the year before so it'll be good to see what happens
Thanks Farmer Dill. I'll give my existing plants a side dressing and see what happens over the next 3 weeks.
What do you side dress with twiggy? I feed weekly with fish emulsion (foliar feed).
http://foodforeveryone.org/fertilizers/
I got the idea from Cricket of Cricket's Greenhouse that used to post here often. She grew 12' tomato plants, 2 plants to each 5 gallon growbag, for a living.
I had great tomatoes last year until the heat shut them down. I also found out that I didn't need as much as is called for. I planted them with 2 TBS of triple 8 and after they started blooming good they got 1 tsp. per every 10 days or so. I mixed it up with 25lbs triple 8, 1 pack of micros, 3lb epsom salts. I left out the borax and calcium nitrate the recipe calls for. I mix it in a wheelbarrow and store it in those large coffee cans. I figure it works for everything.
I also use some compost and some soil that had fish offal buried in it for at least 6 months. I make compost in nursery pots that set under my fruit trees so anything that leaches out goes to a good cause. I always run short on these natural goodies so have to purchase something.
Thanks for that info twiggy!!
This is the organic mix I have been using, I just started so i really don't know how good it will be to my plants.
All measurements are in terms of volume, not weight.
4 parts seed meal
1 part dolomite lime
½ part bone meal -or- 1 part soft rock phosphate
½ part kelp meal
