broccoli questions

10 years ago

I am making good progress so far with my 12 broccoli seedlings (Belstar variety) that I started in my basement about three weeks ago. Today the seedlings were large enough to transplant from my cell packs into 3.5" durapots.

Since this is my first season growing broccoli (and second season overall for growing from seed) I have a bunch of questions:

1) The snow in my raised beds has finally melted (I live in Northern NJ Zone 6A/6B). When should I transplant them into the beds? Should I wait until April? The long range forecast is showing nighttime lows in the upper 20s through the end of March.

2) How long should I expect broccoli to be productive? Since my raised bed space is limited, my plan is to grow something in it's place after they've bolted. I plant my maters around May 15th but I will be direct sowing cukes, zukes, beans, and others before that date.

3) Would it be better to instead transplant them into 5 gallon grow bags (GeoPots) and place them in my fenced in garden (in between the raised beds) to avoid overlapping growing seasons with the veggies I mentioned above? I used those grow bags for parsley last season. This would give me the ability to put them in my should should we get a really cold night in April.

4) How do you know when it's time to harvest broccoli?

5) After harvesting, is that it? Or will another stalk grow in its place?

6) Any kind of common pests or diseases I should be prepared to deal with?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

digdirt2
10 years ago
1) broccoli can go into the ground now IF you keep it covered/protected from hard freeze. Otherwise wait until there are no more nights below 34 and pray that the heat doesn't arrive too soon and it has time to grow.

2) it can remain productive even after the main head it harvested which averages 60 days from transplanting so don't plan on replacing it in May, more like late June/early July.

3) yes

4) it is a game of chicken - you want it as large as possible but before it flowers. Check several times a day as it gets close and cut it off before any yellowing - first sign of blooming - of the surface color appears. Once it begins to yellow it bolts very fast.

5) Small side stalks will develop on some varieties.

6) Yes of course. Cabbage loopers the most common so dust with Bt.

All you have to do is Google 'how to grow broccoli' for all this information.

Dave
robertz6
10 years ago
I will be following this with interest, as broccoli seems to be the plant that I have the most trouble with in my zone 6.

Spinach and lettuce grow great. Tomatoes and peppers vary a lot year to year. Carrots and onions are so-so, but I often ignore them so I can't complain. But broccoli -- never got a single bite of anything in the four year I tried it in my 14 years of gardening.

Maybe I should treat it like spinach and plant it a number of different times to increase the chances of success.
Related Discussions
another broccoli question :/
Q
Comments (9)
Ditto on Green Goliath. It's the only OP cultivar that I plant. I also do well with Premium Crop Hybrid. While our Louisiana planting guide shows broccoli (seed) can be planted in January, I find that the broccoli which matures in spring has an overly strong broccoli taste. So I've given up on the Spring plantings. I stick with only Fall plantings. Here is a Fall 2008 pic - I didn't take a Fall 2009 photo. If I had, it wouldn't have been very pretty - far too much rain followed by abnormally cold temps. Production was less than 50% of a normal year.
...See More
Broccoli Question
Q
Comments (5)
Okay, good to have more detail. 6 two-inch heads is roughly equivalent to one large head. The plant is capable of supporting a limited amount of that growth, but it will survive the forecast. I would harvest half of the heads prior to the predicted low temperatures, and enjoy that for dinner. I would water after harvest with compost tea or some other hormone-rich low N supplement to help the plant recover. Cover the plant with a cardboard box if you are able to uncover it when the daytime temperature rises above freezing, otherwise use fabric, which will let some light through during the day. Plastic provides less insulation and magnifies the heating effects of sunlight, which you do not want. You could put a bottle of warm water under the cover as well, this will further stabilize the temperature. In a few weeks the remaining florets that you did not harvest will likely have reached a size that is worth a second harvest. Normal broccoli culture aims for one large head, but multiple small heads can equal the same yield. There is a point with most crops when the return won't justify continued effort, and you are better off starting fresh. You could leave one head on the plant to see if it will grow larger as the days get longer, you could cut off all of the florets and see if the plant produces more. or you could pull the plant and replace it with something that will give a more immediate gratification, like some salad greens.
...See More
Broccoli question
Q
Comments (10)
Sounds like the plant is buttoning. It happens when the plant is stressed while young and it never fully recovers (it's a big problem with store bought transplants.) Without pictures, it's hard to determine. I run a website about gardening and have pages dedicated to broccoli. Check out the following link: http://www.vegetable-gardening-made-simple.com/growing-broccoli.html Surf through the broccoli pages. They have a lot of pictures of what you should be seeing as the plant grows and I actually used Packman broccoli the year I took the photos for these pages, so this should definitely be what you should be seeing if your plants are healthy. If your getting side shoots before you harvested the main head, then likely the plant is buttoning (sorry, I haven't had a chance to write about that yet so no pics for that.) If the plant is buttoning, it is still edible, just watch the heads and harvest them as you normally would, just realize they will be small. You won't get the 8 inch grocery store looking heads of broccoli. You can also harvest some of the leaves from the plants and eat those. They can be cooked up much like kale, spinach, or swiss chard. I have a recipe on the site for sauteed brussel sprout leaves that is delicious and you can substitute broccoli leaves instead for the same recipe. Good luck! ~Kelly Here is a link that might be useful: Vegetable Gardening Made Simple
...See More
Broccoli question
Q
Comments (0)
New growth started from broccoli stumps cut in mid June. Will it pruduce any heads? thx
...See More
njitgrad
Original Author
10 years ago
Some followup questions now that my seedlings have really gotten big since I transplanted them into my 3.5 durapots. Another week or so and I will probably take them outside.

1) Is there a hardening process for broccoli?

2) Is the root system of broccoli very large? Will a 5 gallon grow bag be large enough?

3) For the 5-1-1 mix that I'll be using for the broccoli, after adding the dolomitic lime, would I use the same amount of Dynamite 15-5-9 CRF that I would for tomatoes?

4) Does broccoli need a lot of sun like tomatoes do?

5) Do I need to protect the broccoli from animals of any sort? If not, then I may not need to put the grow bags in my fenced in garden.

6) Should I dust with Bt as a preventative or only at the first signs of cabbage loopers?

Here's what the seedlings look now (inter-mixed with Dahlias):

{{gwi:227259}}

{{gwi:227260}}

Along with some pics of my new basement setup this year:

{{gwi:227261}}

{{gwi:227262}}

This post was edited by njitgrad on Tue, Mar 18, 14 at 13:32

broccoli questions

Comments (3)

digdirt2

robertz6

Related Discussions

njitgrad
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

broccoli questions

Comments (3)

digdirt2

robertz6

Related Discussions

njitgradOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

njitgrad
Original Author