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Vegetable Gardening

Favorite brussels sprouts varieties?

11 years ago

The most productive (and very tasty) hybrid I've grown the past couple of years is Churchill, but Jade Cross II surprised me by producing as well in 2012 (I just went out and picked a big batch from plants of both, before our expected snowstorm). The purple variety Falstaff was a bust this year - plants lacked vigor and the relatively few sprouts stayed very small.
Others that have done well for me in the past are Catskill and Long Island Improved (which may be the same variety - at least they resemble each other closely).

Any other hybrids/heirlooms that you recommend?

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Comments (3)

sunnibel7 Md 7
11 years ago
I find brussels sprouts difficult to time properly here. They can't be spring planted for fall harvest, in late summer the weather needs to cooperate to get them making sprouts before the cold stops them, and winter needs to be on the mild side for them to make it through to spring. So I don't know that my preferred types would have any meaning for you.

I think this year the LI Improved did well for me for fall (my garden notebook is somewhere unknown after the holiday cleaning), and last year I grew Rubine. Rubine was quite beautiful, but didn't do anything before winter set in, then in spring I had some nice sprouts from it. But last winter was so mild, I wouldn't want to count on those results as normal. All previous years were part of learning when and how to sow the darn things. Cheers!
rusty_blackhaw
Original Author
11 years ago
"They can't be spring planted for fall harvest, in late summer the weather needs to cooperate to get them making sprouts before the cold stops them, and winter needs to be on the mild side for them to make it through to spring."

Wow, it's hard to believe your climate is so radically different from mine that growing brussels sprouts is impossible.
I always get plants out in spring for fall and early winter harvest, and they grow nicely through summer, providing sprouts as early as late summer (even the past very hot and dry summer here (record number of days above 90F) didn't affect the crop). I picked a lot of sprouts just before our late December snows and cold snap (down to 10F this morning), and there may or may not be much that makes it through to the next thaw. Still, the 2012-13 harvest was very good, even if my plants didn't look as orderly and nice as the catalog photos.

Chiltern Seeds has a couple of new brussels sprouts varieties listed in 2013, one of which (Montgomery) I'll be trying.
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Agreed about the reds. The heirloom red I tried (Roodnerf?) was a total failure. I've grown Long Island Improved with limited success. Gustus has done well for me this time - still harvesting the last few sprouts. They're crisp and quite sweet.
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I recommend Jade Cross (Jade Cross E) as a hybrid crop. I grew these last year and they performed excellently. They did not have problems like I had with Long Island Improved Brussels Sprouts. I'm trying Gustus hybrids this year.
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I'm having the same debate with myself about some sprouting broccoli from spring. Now that the fall broccoli seedlings are up and growing, keeping the old plants seems like a bad idea. They are too big for row covers, so I'd have to spray them with Bt regularly and I don't think they will be worth the hassle. Around here spring-planted brussels sprouts always blast (produce loose, leafy sprouts) because they mature in hot weather. If your plants have held their fire this long, they will probably start budding soon. I suggest staking the plants, even if they seem sturdy now. In my experience, upright plants produce much better than those than tilt.
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Frank, Last year I didn't get any brussel sprouts either. I think it was a combo of a very rainy summer, and I planted pole beans and had them growing ten feet tall, which cut off the morning sun. I had brussel sprouts two other years. I had a purple variety (not sure which) that was really flavorful. But the sprouts were small. And I had the traditional green ones too. I'm not home or I'd tell you what I put in this year. It is some kind of heirloom Christmas variety. We can definitely grow them here. In fact I have harvested them as late as early December. I bring them in before deep snow covers them. I always start them indoors early. This year I didn't get them out until late May / June 1. The ones that I planted are doing well this year. Today I started three more seedlings indoors as I was aware of the fact you might be able to start them later; not sure how that works, but I'll find out. Spring came so late.
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Masbustelo
11 years ago
I'm in 5b. I got mine in the ground as early as possible. And as Eric said they survived the heat and drought, and December 11th I picked armfuls of the plants. I think they made significant growth all through November. I think they are very long season plants given their desires.I started the seed in early March.

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