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Vegetable Gardening

broccoli leaves turning purple

lower_swmichigan

15 years ago

HELP! My broccoli leaves are turning purple. I planted them in the garden two weeks ago from transplants bought at the local garden center. I have never seen this before. Does anyone have a clue as to what is happening? Could it be soil/fertilizer issues?

Thanks in advance.

Cindy

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Comments (4)

plant-one-on-me
15 years ago
Mine did the same thing when first planted, don't know why. The new leaves are green, large and healthy, except for the ones the caterpillars got before I caught them and squished them LOL. I am starting to seed tiny broccoli on mine.
Creativeguy_z6_CT
15 years ago
I don't have an answer for you, but I do have a similar circumstance with my broccoli plants. One day recently I noticed that the mulch beside one of my plants was disturbed. Basically, the mulch had been scratched aside near the plant. Within a day or two, the plants leaves turned purple. I don't honestly know the two events are connected, though the coincidence seems odd. The plant has since grown new green leaves, but the original purple ones remain. Growth of the plant has been severely retarded, though it didn't die and would seem to be in good health at the moment. None of my other broccoli plants were affected, and they are all now much larger than the purple plant. I would also mention in the interest in providing all of the available clues to the mystery, that my garden is enclosed on all sides with netting of one sort or another. There are no holes larger than that of chicken wire for critters to get through, including on the ground underneath... I overachieved a bit in my war on garden pests. If anyone can explain the purple leaf issue I'd certainly be interested to hear it.
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Yes - in a soil report, the borax is to add boron. In most of the Eastern states and in the Pacific Northwest, soils generally are low in boron. There is a map on the 20 Mule Team Borax site that shows where the low-boron soils are. It's a big area! I am in Georgia, and soil reports from UGA have the recommendation that YOLOS cites, to use one tablespoon of borax for 100 feet of row. Boron is an essential micronutrient, and it is totally possible to use too much. Kelp meal or liquid seaweed (like knittlin suggests) may be safer options than borax, because they are less concentrated. Follow package directions, and the bonus is that lots of different micronutrients will be included, not just boron. Purple leaves on other plants, like tomatoes and corn, often indicate phosphorus deficiency. There can be plenty of phosphorus in the soil, but in cooler weather those two crops can't take up phosphorus as well as they do in warmer soils. Broccoli is a cool-season crop, though, so I would have thought that it could get its nutrients in cooler soil. It's an interesting puzzle! -Amy, who used to work at Cooperative Extension in Cobb County, in horticulture (Earlier this monthI wrote about boron on my garden blog - how lucky is that?)
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HI Chops, I have checked the two Celeste trees in question and they have not gone dormant. The upper two/thirds of the trees are bare, while the lower third still has it's leaves. The tips of the bare branches are blackish in color. I found this in a Q&A on the ND State Univ site: "That black, sooty stuff is aptly described as "sooty mold." Sooty mold is a charcoal black fungus that appears as a black coating on the surface of leaves, fruits, twigs and the branches of many deciduous and evergreen shrubs and trees. This fungus is not pathogenic to plants, but obtains its nourishment from insect honeydew. Honeydew is a sweet, clear, sticky substance secreted by insects, such as aphids, mealybugs, scales and whiteflies. The honeydew drops from the insects to the leaves and twigs. Wind-blown sooty mold spores (seeds) that stick to the honeydew then have a suitable medium for growth. When spores germinate, they send out black fungus strands (mycelial threads) that bring about the discoloration. A heavy coat of black mold may build up on twigs during more than a growing season. To control or prevent sooty mold, control the insects causing the honeydew deposits. The insects have to be in large numbers somewhere, on the infected plants or tree branches overhead. They will not disappear without some intervention on your part." I have had problems with just about every kind of bug this year. I guess it should be no surprise about the sooty mold. I will try dormant oil once the trees go dormant to see if it helps the situation next year. ~james
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A photo would really help. Words alone can mean very different things to different folks, But based on the info so far I'd be questioning the magnesium and the azomite additions. Such additions are unusual unless based on a professional soil test and could easily create problems. Dave
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rangerbubba
15 years ago
Same problem here! What is it?
ginabean
14 years ago
One of my broccoli plants was lost to this purple-leaf disease/pest, and it looks like another is going the same route. Like the other posters, my broccoli first had purple leaves at the base (the lowest leaves were purple), and very stunted growth. When I pulled up the first affected plant, almost no roots ripped out, the plant practically fell out of the ground in my hand.

I am thinking nematodes damaged the roots but some places I'm checking seem to indicate that nematodes don't bother broccoli. The linked page discusses aster yellows - maybe the purple phase we've all noticed is really the second stage of aster yellows damage (they say brown). Root rot due to certain microorganisms is another possibility (see link here).

Anyone have any thoughts or answers about our broccoli-killer?

Here is a link that might be useful: Vegetable Disease Problem Solver

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