Puny Broccoli

[TorontoJoe]

This was the first year I really tried growing any amount of broccoli. I thought it would be a good idea plant them in the raised beds after the onions came out. I've always been told one can grow them late into the fall because they handle some light freezing... which I have not had yet. On the bright side the bug pressure is off... but all of my plants are growing like this.... with puny little heads on them. Way smaller than advertised. They've been fed well. 

I thought I just needed to wait longer but one went to flower without getting any bigger than this.

Anyone have any thoughts on why broccoli would produce small heads?    


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[Figless]

@"TorontoJoe"#1 
It's most likely buttoning Joe. This happens to broccoli when the weather gets cold enough. It causes the broccoli heads to get very small or not to form at all. You probably need to build a little Greenhouse over them and use those magic heating cables that you have to get the temperature inside up just a bit.

 

[Wisner]

I'm thinking your plants did not grow well and resulted in small heads.  Did you plant transplants?  Were they kept in their planting containers too long and got stunted?  Did they grow in very dry conditions ? A broccoli needs to put on a lot of good growth before they start forming a head to produce a nice sized head.

 

[ktrain]

I wanted to grow some too, but haven't yet.
Having tried brussel sprouts for 2 years now with no success.
How do the pests know when you grow a specific item...they show up and devour it!

Sucks when thing will not turn out like you plan.

 

[Wisner]

I wanted to grow some too, but haven't yet.
Having tried brussel sprouts for 2 years now with no success.
How do the pests know when you grow a specific item...they show up and devour it!

Sucks when thing will not turn out like you plan.

Brussel sprouts don't do well here. Not sure why.  Broccoli is fairly easy to grow in the fall here if you can start out with some good healthy plants.  I prefer to buy my plants instead of growing them from seed because they have to be started in the late summer and they struggle to grow in the heat until it finally cools down.

 

[ktrain]

I wanted to grow some too, but haven't yet.
Having tried brussel sprouts for 2 years now with no success.
How do the pests know when you grow a specific item...they show up and devour it!

Sucks when thing will not turn out like you plan.

Brussel sprouts don't do well here. Not sure why.  Broccoli is fairly easy to grow in the fall here if you can start out with some good healthy plants.  I prefer to buy my plants instead of growing them from seed because they have to be started in the late summer and they struggle to grow in the heat until it finally cools down.

Yeah in 2 yrs of trying Brussel sprouts, about 12 plants each yr...only 1 made it to about a foot tall with sprouts starting on it.
But soon as they start to come up, the cabbage loopers or cabbage worm, whatever you call them, show up in hoards.

So I give up for now, I need the space for other items I can grow with no pest issues.

 

[TorontoJoe]

I'm thinking your plants did not grow well and resulted in small heads.  Did you plant transplants?  Were they kept in their planting containers too long and got stunted?  Did they grow in very dry conditions ? A broccoli needs to put on a lot of good growth before they start forming a head to produce a nice sized head.

I did plant them from transplants. I started them about six weeks before it was time to pull my garlic so I had them ready to go into the raised beds. Now that I think about it, things got a bit busy and I recall, putting them in a bit later than I wanted. The irrigation has been regular, but perhaps it got too cool out before the heads had an opportunity to develop? For me bolting is usually the reverse. Things are too warm so plants go to seed. I never considered that this could work in reverse. do you think perhaps I was a few weeks late in getting them in the ground?

I have some cauliflower that I put in the ground at the same time. The plants are beautiful and big… But they have no heads at all yet.

 

[Figgerlickinggood]

Reminds me of the peppers I planted this past season,  only grew to the size of golf balls then stopped.

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I wanted to grow some too, but haven't yet.
Having tried brussel sprouts for 2 years now with no success.
How do the pests know when you grow a specific item...they show up and devour it!

Sucks when thing will not turn out like you plan.

Brussel sprouts don't do well here. Not sure why.  Broccoli is fairly easy to grow in the fall here if you can start out with some good healthy plants.  I prefer to buy my plants instead of growing them from seed because they have to be started in the late summer and they struggle to grow in the heat until it finally cools down.

@Wisner where is here?

 

[Wisner]

Reminds me of the peppers I planted this past season,  only grew to the size of golf balls then stopped.

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I wanted to grow some too, but haven't yet.
Having tried brussel sprouts for 2 years now with no success.
How do the pests know when you grow a specific item...they show up and devour it!

Sucks when thing will not turn out like you plan.

Brussel sprouts don't do well here. Not sure why.  Broccoli is fairly easy to grow in the fall here if you can start out with some good healthy plants.  I prefer to buy my plants instead of growing them from seed because they have to be started in the late summer and they struggle to grow in the heat until it finally cools down.

@Wisner where is here?

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I'm in SW Louisiana zone 9a.

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I'm thinking your plants did not grow well and resulted in small heads.  Did you plant transplants?  Were they kept in their planting containers too long and got stunted?  Did they grow in very dry conditions ? A broccoli needs to put on a lot of good growth before they start forming a head to produce a nice sized head.

I did plant them from transplants. I started them about six weeks before it was time to pull my garlic so I had them ready to go into the raised beds. Now that I think about it, things got a bit busy and I recall, putting them in a bit later than I wanted. The irrigation has been regular, but perhaps it got too cool out before the heads had an opportunity to develop? For me bolting is usually the reverse. Things are too warm so plants go to seed. I never considered that this could work in reverse. do you think perhaps I was a few weeks late in getting them in the ground?

I have some cauliflower that I put in the ground at the same time. The plants are beautiful and big… But they have no heads at all yet.


@"TorontoJoe"#1 Seems like they should have grown big like your Cauliflower.  They like the cool weather.  I'm not sure about the timing of planting.  I think they should have still grown well with no freezes.  I do fertilize mine  regularly to keep them growing strong.

 

[Nora]

I did plant them from transplants. I started them about six weeks before it was time to pull my garlic so I had them ready to go into the raised beds. Now that I think about it, things got a bit busy and I recall, putting them in a bit later than I wanted. The irrigation has been regular, but perhaps it got too cool out before the heads had an opportunity to develop? For me bolting is usually the reverse. Things are too warm so plants go to seed. I never considered that this could work in reverse. do you think perhaps I was a few weeks late in getting them in the ground?

I have some cauliflower that I put in the ground at the same time. The plants are beautiful and big… But they have no heads at all yet.

Bolting at the wrong time is a sign of stress. In the case of broccoli, it is commonly heat, but not always. What variety of broccoli did you plant? There are so many varieties, maybe the small head variety?

 

[TorontoJoe]

I think @"Figless"#18 and @"Wisner"#90  are on to the issue. I think my getting busy was what pooched me. A couple of weeks earlier and the heads would've had a chance to grow in longer days with slightly warmer weather. Next year the broccoli needs to go in as the onions come out. 

These are the seeds I grew from. I'm not sure if it's ideal. Just sold at a local garden centre. 


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[TorontoJoe]

I was out at my raised beds earlier staring at the puny headed broccoli plants. I was thinking it’s a shame, because the plants were huge and the leaves were beautiful… Just a heads didn’t grow. Then it occurred to me that I wasn’t going to waste all the beautiful leaves. So I made broccoli chips.

I washed them all down really well then toss them in a big bowl with a little bit of olive oil so they were all coated



Then on to a sheet where I sprinkled on a bit of salt and garlic



Into the oven at 140° for 16 min (rotating the tray after 8 min)

A healthy and tasty snack

 

[SpiritFarmVa]

Our best luck with broccoli is in the spring. Started early in the greenhouse. We use soil blocks which make for easy transplanting. This year was the first of three years trying broccoli, that ours really made nice heads.