Hand of the gardener, growing cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower

9 years ago

It is said that nothing fertilizes a garden more than the footsteps of the gardener.

Lots of gardeners start seed about this time to have cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower plants for spring planting. I've started several thousand seed over the years and have found a few methods that are significantly better than others.

If you start brassicas in seed trays, most of the time, the seed will be planted 3/8 of an inch or so deep in the soil. The plant will get about 3 inches tall and have 3 or 4 leaves within a few weeks, then the weak stem will let the top of the plant fall over against the soil. This does not really harm the seedling, but it does suppress growth a bit and it makes messy plants to set out. I tried several methods of strengthening the stems with little success. You can put a fan on the plants which will do wonders for strengthening the stems, but it also dries them out very fast which can cause problems at temperatures above 70 degrees. I tried various methods of half-filling the seed tray with mix and then filling the tray up after the plant was a few inches tall. This works, but causes proble3ms because seed start mix has to be added over the top where it tends to accumulate on the leaves. The amount of work involved simply can't be justified for anything more than a few dozen seedlings.

Then a few years ago, I tried something that I thought might help and found a new method of growing brassicas that produces strong stems and very healthy plants. I start with a standard 11" X 22" nursery tray with a 1204 cell pack (48 cells). Fill the tray with very moist seed start mix such as Promix BX. Use a rounded off stick to poke holes 3/4 inch diameter down all the way to the bottom of each cell. Drop in a single seed and if the seed is viable it will germinate within 3 days. The plantlet starts by growing roots into the small amount of soil at the bottom of the cell tray, the top gradually grows upward until it is above the top of the soil mix in the tray. When the growing tip is above the soil, I pinch the soil together on the stem of each plant. This can be done very quickly. The soil then provides extra support just below the expanding leaves. As the plant grows, roots will form all along the covered part of the stem which significantly improves the root system. I put a fan on the plants at that point to keep the stems sturdy until the plants are ready to go in the ground.

Give this tip a try, you will love the results!

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Comments (11)

beesneeds
9 years ago
This is going to sound like a dumb question I bet but..

You mean you just leave the hole open after you drop the seed in, then when the seedling gets tall enough to be over the hole, then pinch the hole shut? So you start out with what looks like a bunch of open holes in the seed flat at first?

This sounds interesting, but I wanted to be clear on that point before trying it.
citytransplant(zone5)
9 years ago
Thanks for the tip. I have tried for more years than I can count to grow veggies from seeds indoors.. no luck. They all seem to damp off on me. I am trying again this year. Will try your tip.
1) start with premoistened growing medium
2) plant deep
3) smoosh soil around tender stem

I am going to try this now even if it is early for zone 5, if it works for me, I will plant more later.

I am 72 years old and HAVE to learn how to get the danged seeds to grow while I am still able to work in the garden.
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Sorry for the delay. I've moved almost everything outside. I still have a few late started flowers inside but all the veggies have been planted in the garden. I've been pretty busy with my new containers. My neighbor had som pretty large fiberglass containers he used for raising worms. He no longer uses them so I asked and he gave me a couple to make a raised container garden. I've got one planted and am ready to put the other on blocks. It took $50 worth of soil to fill the first one and it's not quite full but that's ok because after I've trimmed the bottom leaves from the tomatoes planted in it I can finish filling it so the plants can make more roots where the bottom leaves were. Back to the subject, it's starting to get hot here so I imagine I will be working more on the inside planters now to stay cool. One problem I have is the window boxes I have are just a little too long for the windows so I've got to buy a shorter one or use smaller containers. I like the window boxes because they have their own tray. I'm guessing the broccoli and cauliflower is out because they take more light but what about cabbage? Anyone ever grown it inside?
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I started a flat of cole crops first of july. I put them out in my Hoop house(which doesn't have the cover on in the summer)the first or second week of August. I did 2 kinds of sprouting broccoli, which are specifically bred to overwinter. You cut the head at the first sign of it, and they are supposed to sideshoot like mad real early in the spring and continue for some time. The seed pack had days to harvest as 220, reflecting the need to grow in summer, overwinter, then sprout through spring and into early summer. They are supposed to be extremely cold hardy, and if I remember they have some cross with kale in them. Kind of a commitment, but I'm going for winter/early spring harvests out of the hoophouse as much as possible. I also had January King cabbage in the same flat. The sprouting Broccoli plants are about 2 feet tall and wide, so they are big. The cabbage(again, a winter variety) is just starting to form heads now. They are also bigger plants than I was expecting. We have a few more days in the 80's, next week should be in the 60's for a high, and I doubt we will climb into the 70's much after the cold front comes through, so I will be covering soon. I was also thinking of putting in some fall clearance plants from the nursery, but I don't know that they will have enough time to mature into anything. My understanding is for the plants to be approaching maturity when the cold comes, and they grow under protection(slowly) throughout the cold winter and you harvest them as needed. Come spring warm up and longer photo-period, they start bolting. I dunnno, might try anyway. Check out Territorial Seed's winter growing catalog, there is some cool stuff in it, pun intended.
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fusion_power
Original Author
9 years ago
Bees, yes you leave an open hole. It is important that the hole be 3/4 to 7/8 inch diameter and just under 2 inches deep. You can whittle a stick or use the cut off end of a small broom handle of the appropriate size. There should be a thin layer of soil at the bottom of the hole, just enough for the seed to get started growing. When you drop the seed in the hole, you will be able to see it at the bottom of the hole. Leave it just like that. The hole maintains a humid environment just right for brassica seed to germinate. As the cotyledons expand, the plant will grow upward toward the light until it emerges above the soil.

City, if you are having problems with damping off, verify that you are starting with sterilized seed start mix such as Promix BX. Watch carefully that you don't over-water. Phytothora and Rhyzoctonia thrive in very high moisture soils. Tomato and pepper seedlings in particular are susceptible to these soilborne diseases. Overwatering is the usual culprit. It is important with tomatoes and peppers to let the soil dry out until the seedlings start to wilt before watering. This will keep the damping off under control. Please note that this is not needed with brassicas. They are much more tolerant of soil moisture levels.
pnbrown
9 years ago
That's a neat tip, thanks.

Do you use bottom heat?
citytransplant(zone5)
9 years ago
Fusion,

You have given me a lot of tips and new hope for the future seeds I plant. Never heard of Promix BX, but saw that Home Depot has it. Thanks
cindy-6b/7a VA
9 years ago
Hi-

Do you do this with all of your seeds, all varieties?

Cindy
whgille
9 years ago
Great idea! I am going to try it, thanks a lot.

Silvia
fusion_power
Original Author
9 years ago
I use this method with cabbage, broccoli, collards, and cauliflower. I direct sow turnips, rutabagas, radishes and such.
Donna
9 years ago
This is interesting. I start those plants in mid summer for fall planting here. Last year, my seedlings got very leggy before I pricked them out and they were flopping everywhere. I tried burying them like you do tomatoes but they did not root out along the excess stem. I put them on into the ground and by the time they were ready for harvest, the stems had kind of twisted around on the ground, thickened up, and grown straight up.

So, you are saying that if this is caught early, the stems will root out? This is a great tip!
fusion_power
Original Author
9 years ago
Donna, yes, they will root along the stem, but only in the first 3 weeks after the seed germinates. Even if they don't root, the benfit of growing up from a hole leaves the stem better supported so flopping over is less of a problem.
Peter1142
9 years ago
Thanks.. I will be starting cabbage and broc next month. I also bought a grow light to help the legginess. Do you transplant to bigger containers before hardening off? Please detail the entire process :)

Hand of the gardener, growing cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower

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beesneeds

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Hand of the gardener, growing cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower

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