Brussels Sprouts - what's wrong?

The last couple of years I've been growing Brussels Sprouts Catskill from seed and the heads aren't what I remember when we grew them while I was growing up, and I'm not sure why.

The heads I remember when growing up were very firm. The heads I'm seeing are very loose but visually resemble a head. This last year the couple of spouts a the bottom of the plant started growing "stems".

I plant one Brussels Sprouts plant in the center of a 3' square with broccoli or cauliflower on the corners (depending on the square). I've started all of these from seeds inside and then transplanted into the garden in April.

I'm thinking my problem is more related to the variety I'm growing then anything else and am looking at trying another variety to see if that helps, possibly Oliver or Long Island Improved.

Any ideas, suggestions, or impute on the varieties I'm looking at would be appreciated!

I have no answers for you, but I'm also trying to grow Brussel Sprouts this year and I have a couple questions. Are you trying to grow them as an early summer crop or a late fall crop? I read somewhere else that they won't form tight heads if they haven't been 'kissed by frost'. I have a bunch of seedlings I've raised inside so I'm hoping that's not true because I'm going to try them this spring.

Question 2, what kind of soil have you been growing them in? Is it heavy or light and how did you fertilize it?

I grow Brussels Sprouts every year and have about the same results. But I am in zone 5a. Farmerdill says he can't grow them wherever he lives in Georgia. So jkehl, that could be your problem. As I understand Iowa, brussels sprouts should do well there.

Brussels sprouts like to be planted in cool weather and bolt if it gets too hot. Mind you, it gets to the 90's here in northern New Mexico, but the nights are cool and mine never bolt. They begin forming heads, as I recall, around the solstice. The new ones are tight and hard. As the plant grows, the ones on the bottom become larger and looser and the new ones are small an hard. They are really yummy when they are small, but they are good when they are looser.
I do think they are tastier when they have been nipped by frost and they grow better during the last cool days before winter. But they do not need frost to make sprouts. And the key word is nipped. During the light frosts of October and even November I got great brussels sprouts. By the hard freezes of December, they didn't taste very good anymore. Won't do that again.
I bet your problem, iagardenwolf, is the variety. I am not familiar with the one you mentioned but some popular ones are Long Island Improved and Bubbles. I used Oliver. Rubine is a georgeous red, but not as productive as the green ones but has the benefit that all my neighbors think it is a flower. I am sure there are many varieties that would do well in Iowa. I bet your county agent would know.
Best of luck iagardenwolf. My condolences, jkehl, -- but email Farmerdill before you give up. He really knows farming in Georgia -- and most other places as well.

I've been planting them in the early spring but not harvesting them until the first frost because I've read they taste better after they've been 'kissed by frost". Maybe when I'm planting them and when I'm harvesting them is part of my problem and something else I was going to mention. On one hand I've read where Brussels Sprouts are a cool season plant and can handle the cool of the early spring, but I've also read where they taste much better after they have been frozen. I know growing up we didn't plant them early and planted them when we planted the tomatoes. I don't know if I'm trying to make a plant do too many things - planting something early but expecting it to be in great shape 5 months later and expecting great heads. If I remember right, I thought I checked on the "density" of the heads during the summer and they didn't seem very tight. One thought I had was to start the seeds later and plant them a little later in the spring.

The soil is on the clay side, but the last three years we've put lots of compost and horse manure on it, and it is much better then the surrounding soil. In the spring we will till in dried horse manure, and DH will toss a 10:10:10 fertilizer on it maybe 2x during the summer.

I am not sure that brussels sprouts need to be planted all that early. I rarely do, but I know they enjoy the cool spring weather. They don't grow all that fast at first. I assume they are laying out roots. Then mid season they really start to grow.
I think clay isn't a huge problem as long as you ammend it and it sounds like you have done a first class job of that. I get the feeling b sprouts are heavy feeders. They have to be, they get so big and the sprouts are so full of leaves.
Anyhow, except for treating aphids and cabbage loopers on them, I have never had a problem with brussels sprouts. You may need to start picking them earlier and I know you don't have to hurry to get them in in the spring. I say experiment with timing and with varieties. I bet you will do well.
B. Sprouts are probably good when frozen for the freezer, but then you blanch them first. I wasn't impressed with mine after a really heavy freeze.

Pajaritomt, the Catskill variety I have been using I bought at Lowe's a few years back and are from the Ferry Morse Start Smart Collection. They sounded good on the side of the packet. I probably got them 3-4 years ago - back before I started researching varieties, buying seeds on line and utilizing Dave's Garden! ;-)

Another thing I haven't done is to pick leaves as the sprouts begin to form, but I don't think that affects the heads being tight and hard.

Pajaritomt, when do you usually plant your B. sprouts? Do you start them from seed, and if so, when do you sow your seeds?

In addition to changing varieties, maybe I need to break down and pick the older heads before the frost, blanch them and throw them in the freeze like you mentioned.

Yeah, I got the impression from what I have read that my Brussel Sprout seedlings would never work here in Georgia. Plants that like to start out in cool temperatures and finish in cold temperatures won't ever work outside here. Guides written specifically for Georgia say to start them in late August and grow them over the winter. The problem(s) are, it is still very hot here in late August AND low cold temperatures will probably kill them in winter. Starting them in late summer in Iowa might work though.

I won't give up on my seedlings, but I think I may have some luck starting them inside in late summer and protecting them outside form cold temperatures.

Jkehl, I hope you do have some luck growing Brussel Sprouts, even if the deck isn't in your favor.

I have done so many different things with B. Sprouts that it is hard to say what I do. Ideally, I plant the seed in March under lights and then move it outside in about a month to a place on the south side of my house. It stays there until I get it in the ground which could be April or May. Sometimes I buy the plants. The last few years I buy them at the nursery and set them out as soon as I can, but probably not until the end of may or early June which would be considered way to late here. Probably I would get better production if I put them out early, but I get pretty good production anyhow.
So, I guess, by accident, I put my B. Sprouts out late. But I think they do nicely if I put them out early as well, in fact they get larger sooner.
One way or the other, I rarely have a problem with Brussels Sprouts except aphids and cabbage loopers and not so many of those.
There are recipes for B. Sprouts where you separate the leaves from the sprouts and toss them as a salad.

I've had great luck with the Long Island Improved. I, too, started my seeds indoors and planted out when appropriate. The first year they weren't ready when we pulled plants at the end of the season, so I dug them up and put them in a big black trash bag. Brought them inside and set them on a table in the bedroom, right near a window. For some reason they just never got moved and the one plant gave me several meals. Sure made for an interesting conversation piece.

Hey Sequee- when do you start your seeds? And when did you plant out? I thought since we're neighbors, I might copy you. I haven't grown them before, but I ordered some seed this year of LI Improved. Thanks, Jen

The first year I didn't start my seedlings until mid-May, so they didn't get out until early July. Those are the ones I ended up growing in the bedroom!

The second year I direct sowed into a cold frame in April, and planted out in June. Those matured in September are were pretty tastey.

Last year I started my seeds in March with my other crops, and planted out in early May. The BS's matured outside, but the heads were a little looser, and they had to be cooked as soon as they were picked or they got bitter.

Don't really kow what the correct way is, I haven't exactly mastered the brassica family!!! This year I am going to try brocolli, caulflower, kohrabi, and BS in in a more uniform manner, so hopefully I can get a better handle on it!

I did a little research and here's what I came up with:

"They may be grown as a winter crop in the South and as early and late as cabbage in the North. The sprouts, or small heads, are formed in the axils (the angle between the leaf stem and the main stalk) of the leaves. As the heads begin to crowd, break the lower leaves from the stem of the plant to give them more room. Always leave the top leaves; the plant needs them to supply nourishment. For winter use in cold areas, take up the plants that are well laden with heads and set them close together in a pit, a cold-frame, or a cellar, with some soil tamped around the roots. Keep the stored plants as cool as possible without freezing."

(Guess I hit on the corrct method year one, without a clue!)


This message was edited Jan 22, 2007 1:34 PM

Thanks Sequee. I've read to start them 4 weeks before the last frost date and then plant them out when the seedlings are four to six weeks old. And most brussels sprouts take 100 days or more to maturity. And to harvest when they are between 1/2-1" big. That's a lot smaller than what I've gotten at the supermarket. So I would have been waiting for them to get bigger had I not read that.

The one time I tried to grow broccoli, it was from nursery starts, it bolted and I never got to eat much.

Since then, I've shied away from brassicas. This year, I wanted to give it a try again. And I'm starting my own plants. Fingers crossed.

Me, too! I think the most c'fusing thing to me is the fact that they don't like hot weather, need 100 days, do best with a cold snap. Like - how do you get from spring to fall without getting the hear. Mystifies me. I think sometimes too much information scares us off. Like I said - the best luck I had with them was dumb luck! Leaving them in a drafty but sunny window in an unheated room. (Not that I'd recommend THAT in my secret diaries!) Maybe we can share our tales of success in a few months (or %&#&%#&%^* our tales of woe!).

Sequee. Heat means 30 days or so with temps from 100 - 110 degree F. I had no trouble in the New River Valley Z-6b setting the in late June for October-November harvest. I would pinch the tops off at Thanksgiving and the remaining "sprouts' would size up by Christmas. Had the best results with Prince Marvel which is no longer available. There most everything would grow in July-August, which was our main harvest time. Here most everything quits in late July till late August. Brussell Sprout plants just won't live through it.

Good to know. I just could NOT understand the logic. (And I can assure you, if we ever get 30 days in a row of 100-110 degrees, the planet is in very serious trouble, and brussels sprouts are the least of our worries!)

I think I will go will a different variety for sure - probably Long Island improved several people have grown this variety and have had good luck. If we get our first frost in late September to early October, 3 months (100 days) before that would be about mid-June. If I start the seeds about April 1st, that would hopefully allow enough time for the heads to mature without bolting before the frost "kisses" them. How does this sound for a plan?

Sounds good. By the way never had sprouts or any other brassica bolt in the fall. Seeding is triggered by increasing daylight so spring can be a problem. You should be able to get most of your harvest before a hard freeze, which would be your fall/winter worry.

Sequee- " I think the most c'fusing thing to me is the fact that they don't like hot weather, need 100 days, do best with a cold snap. Like - how do you get from spring to fall without getting the hear. Mystifies me." My thoughts exactly!!! So glad I'm not the only one and we have davesgarden to talk these things over. I think I drive my DH crazy with my thinking out loud about gardening stuff.

Okay, I feel much better about brussels sprouts and broccoli, now.

Thanks farmerdill for your wisedom.

Farmerdill - thanks for the pat on the back! Hopefully I'll have better luck this year! Stay tuned - I'll try to remember to report back on my results in 10 months!

Thank you for starting this thread! I think we all learned alot!

Looking forward to hearing your reports and seeing your KILLER photOs!

I thought Broccoli and califlower were supposed to bolt.Isnt it the flower heads we are eating.

Yes, although cauliflower is a modified seed head. Buttoning on either is a bigger problem. That is starting a tiny head then going directly to blossoms and seed pods.

gardenwolf - just an aside question, since I am considering brussels sprouts for this year....do you grow them under row covers here in Iowa, or do you just let them be exposed? I had real problems with broccoli here in Urbandale and I figured I'd have the same with the b. sprouts.

C.

What type of problems did you have with the broccoli in Iowa?

C, in the past I've started my Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli inside about late February to early March and planted them in ground about mid-April after I've harden them off. I don't plant them under row covers, although last year I frantically went to Menards, Home Depot & Wal-Mart trying to find rose cones for a couple nights where it got below freezing. The only problem I've had is with the rabbits eating the tender, tasty plants. This year I'm going to plant the Brussels sprouts a bit later in the spring to counteract some of the bolting I've seen the last couple of years. I've not had too many problems with pests on these plants. I am considering planting my eggplant transplants under row covers to help with the flea beetle issues I have had. What kind of problems are you seeing with the broccoli?

Hi, I didn't start my sprouts, but bought them. I'm thinking I put mine out in late April when I planted spinich, peas, onions and daikon radish. I didn't cover them or do anything special. I had a good harvest from three plants. My mistake was not picking some of the largest ones fron the bottom and eating them. They burst.

This year I'm going to try from seed and am trying Bubbles.

It's official - I've decided to give Long Island Improved a try, but will wait until April before I started the seeds. I'll have to report back in the fall how I thought this variety did compared to what I've seen with Catskill the last couple of years. Thanks again to everyone for the information they provided - I learned a lot from this thread!

Here's the 4 month update!

I started my Long Island Improved seeds on 4/22. I ended up planting them in the garden on 5/21. I know I mentioned above I was shooting for mid-June. Well, I got tired of remembering to water the 2 flats on plants I had under the lights yet, and thought they were big enough to handle the outdoors, so I planted 2 plants in the garden and turned off the lights in the basement.

I plant everything but tomatoes in 3' squares. One square has the Brussels sprouts in the middle, surrounded by four cauliflower plants in the corners, four nasturtiums in between the cauliflower (to be followed up by spinach in the fall) and Red Burgundy onions on the perimeter of the 3' square. The other square follows the same set-up except there is broccoli and carrots in place of the cauliflower and nasturtiums, and red bunching shallots around the perimeter.

Here's the picture of the square of the cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and red burgundy onions

Here's a picture of the square with the broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and shallots. Both pictures were taken about a month ago, and things have grown. I've got a head of broccoli that is about ready to be picked soon.

where did you get your seeds?

Phicks, I got my seeds from Seed Savers earlier this year.