i usually RIP the roots apart when i plant anything...

where are you.. big city name.. its either canada ar GB... based on centre...

what is your base soil type.. clay???

how do you plant ... etc .. have you ever had a soil test done..

do a perc test to see if you have proper drainage..

how long between you planting them.. and then digging them up to look at the roots??? .. nothing thrives if you dig it up;...

how about some pix...

i have no clue what you are referring to as to a auto complete facility

ken

Yes, you can break up the root ball a bit. You can also plant deeply with the soil up to the first pair of leaves. They'll root from the stem for extra anchorage. Were these fully hardened off before you planted them? Did you water them in well? Have you watered subequently in the recent dry spell? Was the soil you planted into friable? And when did you plant them? Judging by the spelling you're in the UK and we've had a horrible long cold spring. p.s. if you are over here, don't worry about percing and drainage. That's highly unlikely to be the problem.

This is the west of Ireland. Yes they seem hardened off. I have watered as soon as the weather warmed. They have been in the soil for a month or so and just when I thought " now we have sunshine and warmth they will really tak e off "and I see they are struggling with the leaves yellowing.

Maybe I am as poor a gardener as this text editor. I seem get worse from year to year .

I will bear in mind your suggestion to plant deep up to the first leaves.

And the friable soil.

@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK what is "percing "?

A typo?

I will have to try using the tablet as this text editor is doing my head in on this phone

How big were the plants you bought and were they rootbound? Brassicas that have grown too long in their pots tend not to do well even when planted. It's always better to start with smaller vegetable transplants when possible.

Where did you plant them: in ground, raised beds, pots? Did you amend the soil at all?

Rodney

P.S. I use the GardenWeb/Houzz mobile site on my phone and it is horrible to type on. So I use a notepad app and cut/paste my comments here. Annoying that I have to use a separate app but it works.

Perc is short for percolation, as in how quickly fluid absorbs/drains into the soil.

Not sure what youkre experiencing that you're referring to as a text editor. I had a minor issue at one point with words randomly doubling, but I think it was a device/browser setting that wasn't playing nicely with Houzz, not something that was part of Houzz. I don't remember what made it go away or if it went away on its own. When using it on an iPad (classic website ... I don't use mobile versions of sites), Houzz does sometimes have a delay in what I type appearing, but, again, I think that's a device/browser-Houzz conflict, not something Houzz is actually doing. I just keep typing and then wait for the text to appear.

Broccoli is pretty easy, and they should grow fine in cool weather. I would look for other possible problems, I've never worried about the breaking up the rootball with Brassicas. Now root maggots can ruin the roots and kill the plant, that is a problem.

Could the issue be the wireworms you have?

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6375715/wireworm-larvae-in-the-cabbage-roots

Any chance of a picture of these sad brassicas?

@ @beesneeds I dug up some cabbages and found wireworm maggots that I hosed off but equally there were some plants that did not have any but were suffering just as much.

My latest theory is that I have planted them root bound ffrom the garden centre ,and not only that they are as a result liable to waterlogging since the root ball seems to hold the water -I water at least once a day in this uncommon heat

Some of them even seem to have slug damage to the growing tip and may have gone "blind "

@ flora no too embarrassed to show .pics

I find your root bound theory for all your plants failure to be dubious. Old plants in pots would be obviously stunted and would have premature broccoli heads on small plants, and the root ball would be wound tight with thin white roots like a ball of thread. I've bought somewhat old brassica plants when there was no other choice and they still try to grow, just not as large. There must be other issues.

So many factors go into whether veggies thrive or fail: sun, soil, weather, nutrition, pests & disease, and of course, variety.

If you haven't been doing it for very long, it can take some time - and failures - to get to where you want to be. Don't give up 🙂

I used to be able to grow broccoli very easily, and I grew a number of varieties too, but the past few years have been failures of one sort or another. This year, it was insect pests, prior years it was animal pests - specifically possums ravaging the plants just as they were starting to bud. I want to give up, but I think I'll try again in the fall.

I don't have any trouble growing Asian greens like tatsoi and pak choi in the cooler season. They do very well in Earthbox self watering containers. I grow lettuces that way too. You can get a lot of greens from one box planter. My growboxes are about 1ft X 3ft - approx. 30 cm X 1 meter.

You might consider trying to grow your broccoli from seed - it's very easy to sow in place, and you can get a lot more plants for your money, but slugs & snails are a menace. I sprinkle iron phosphate snail bait around areas where I direct sow veggie seeds to help the sprouts survive.