Broccoli Seed Start Woes
I'm hoping someone here will have some advice!
I have been seed starting for several years now, and I am very careful, rigorous, etc. I throw myself into my garden every year and seed starting is kind of a ritual now! All this is just to say that I'm not doing this as a back-burner hobby. I really pay attention and try my hardest. And most of the time, I have had very good results.
However...I have never in all my years been able to start broccoli successfully! What am I doing wrong? I have a large set-up of florescent lights, I use two different kinds of grow bulbs for the best spectrum possible, I keep the lights close to the plants, and I use the APS system, which waters consistently from the bottom.
Yet every year my broccoli are leggy, tall, and unruly. I have broccoli starts right now, growing next to beautiful, perfectly formed geraniums and other annuals, great-looking alliums, and healthy cabbage. But the broccoli are all over the place! It's the same thing every year. They get long, stringy, and leggy. The stem near the soil line is thin and flimsy.
Am I not getting the light close enough? Is there another secret to growing broccoli I don't know about? I am deciding whether or not to rip these little starts out and begin again. I started very early bc I've had this problem before and I wanted enough time to re-do the broccoli if necessary, but that time is upon me, if I'm going to try again. I just don't see how these seedlings can become healthy broccoli plants!
Any advice or suggestions?
Thanks!
--Shepherdess
Comments (19)
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Comments (1)Mine still has not come up and at this point I think maybe the seeds aren't viable because it's usually one of my early sprouters. I'm fine with it, though, because it probably should be a fall crop here so I'll try again in late June or early July....See MoreIs it to late to start broccoli from seed?
Comments (2)This response is too late to help you this year but incase you wish to try boccoli next year, here is my experiences: I bought broccoli transplants (Pac Man) from Pike's nursery. I planted them on Sept 1. I havested my first 8 broccoli heads on Oct 28. The next 4 heads were harvested on Nov 3, an additional 4 heads on Nov 10. I have 3 heads remaining. I did use shade cloth for a few weeks while we still had high temps and covered them in Tulle to keep out the pests. I also experimented with planting broccoli and Kholarbi seeds directly in the garden this year. I planted 4 seeds each week. The first ones were planted on Aug 4, 4 more on Aug 11, 4 more on Aug 18, and the final four on Aug 25. None of the broccoli planted from seed outside has formed heads yet. All of the broccoli is now the same size so planting Aug 1 in the heat did not help getting broccoli any earlier. I guess I should have listened to everybody and started my seeds indoors and transplanted them on Sept 1. Cabbage - I bought "45 day" cabbage transplants from a big box store and planted them on Sept 1. They are all forming heads but they are small, I guess because of the variety....See MoreLeek starting woes
Comments (16)Wild Haired Mavens I am growing American Flag (Broad London) and Megaton from Johnny's. I also soaked overnight and bottom heated soil to somewhere around 70-75 F. I believe I have pinpointed the main difference in my crop that germinated in 7 days versus the one that took over 20. Bottom heat may have played a part, but I realized that my soil mix changed. The mix that produced in 20+ days was a cheap seed starting mix that was mostly peat and was very tough to fully saturate, so I think the seeds remained dry for much longer than the pro-mix I added vermiculite and sand to on the second batch and drained pretty freely and saturated more evenly....See MoreBroccoli Varieties to Start From Seed in Zone 6a
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