I planted some broccoli transplants a week ago and noticed that they already have little buds already. Should I take these off since the plant is still small or can I let it go ahead and produce?
Kim
question on broccoli transplants
I'm glad you posted this because I was wondering the same thing. I grew a bunch of 'Arcadia' and 'Packman' from seed, but I set them out a bit early and they got hit with a cold snap. The 'Arcadia' lived thru it but the 'Packman' cultivar is more heat tolerant and apparently not cold tolerant because they all died. So I replanted the 'Packman' and bought some 'Early Dividend' transplants from a local nursery. A few days ago I noticed several of the 'Early Dividends' have small heads forming already on like 6-8" plants...
Kim, your plants are "buttoning", which usually means they have been sitting in thier pots too long or have become otherwise stressed. They will never form the large central heads. They may give you some side shoots later on, but as a general rule never do much.
well....I guess lowes is to be blamed for that since that is where I got them. Guess I'd better get new ones....
Kim
So that's why I never got big heads! Got tons of buttons, and they were delicious -- adding them to cheddar broccoli soup mix is a very good use of them. I was wondering. Live and learn.
Here's my 'buttoned' Early dividend shortly before I ate it today...
This Pic is of some De Cicco Broccoli I grew from seed and overwintered. I was worried these were buttoning too even though these are full sized plants. On another thread Farmerdill told me that this cultivar actually makes these smaller heads on purpose. Had no idea when I planted it... I ate quite a few of these today also and highly recommend them. They're the sweetest Broccoli I've ever tasted.
Jeff
Kim - I even put out the little ones from Lowe's when the weather was cool and they still did the buttoning thing. It's getting way too warm for them in Houston, now, so I let them go and the blooms are really pretty yellow flowers! Just not what I had in mind... I read on another veg thread that their own seedlings are doing much better than the HD/Lowe's store-bought. I'll try again in the fall planting my own seedlings with some other cool weather veggies I want to try - spinach and lettuce. But looking on the bright side...the flowers are really pretty...
And honeybees were all over mine when I let them go to flower.
'Tis true! Those little buttons are mighty tasty and some varieties will produce smaller side-shoots. At this point in time though I'd suggest you pull the leaves, slice them, a quick stir-fry (in olive oil/garlic) or cook them as you would collards and you will love those "greens".
bookworm, you got the right idea, I prefer broccoli grown as a Fall crop...it really lets it come to a full size head plus there are much less worms to deal with.
Shoe
One of our biggest sellers are "sideshoots". We found Gypsy broccoli to be the best for us. We get a nice big head to start with, then it starts putting out side shoots. We can harvest them about once a week, all summer long. Last year freezing weather finally stopped it. We would bunch the shoots together to make a 4½ to 5 inch diameter "head". Sold them for $1 a bunch. Sold all we took to market. Sometimes up to 75 bunches. Most of the shoots on the Gypsy were about 2" diameter.
Bernie
I have not grown Gypsy, but if you have a good market for floretes, you might want to try one of the sprouting cultivars like deCicco or Green Sprouting Calabrese.
Sorry, they can't hold a candle to Gypsy. These are little heads, not the florets.
I eat any of them that haven't yet opened into yellow flowers :) I can't believe how good the small floretes taste whether I get them from the Decicco or the Early Dividend. They're sweetest right before the blossoms open. I went to pull up the Decicco today to plant something else and couldn't do it because there were bumblebees all over it. Apparantly they prefer it to the dogwoods out in the woods.
Jeff...best to let all your brassica's flower if you can...those small flowers really bring in the pollinators as well as the beneficial bugs. 'Tis the best thing you can do. (And in the process, go pick the flower buds of any brassica...the turnip flowers (now referred to as Brocolli Raab), the collard flowers/buds, etc. Very tasty! (I tend to catch myself grazing in the garden!)
Shoe
Now I never thought of eating the leaves or the flower buds, Shoe! But I'll wait until the bees go for my tomato blossoms before I do. I'll look into getting some gypsy or dicecco seeds.