SPROUTing about

I feel like this might be getting a bit repetitive. Maybe in the near future I will switch up the format a bit, however, right now it still works so....

Today's informational post is all about brussel sprouts!

tiny brussel sprouts growing on the junctions of the plant, very cute

SEED

Brussel sprouts take a long time to grow and are pretty hardy in cold weather. Supposedly, they actually get a bit more flavor after dealing with a little frost. I would start growing them inside around April as they should be started about a month before the last spring frost. The seeds should be planted about half an inch deep.

I’m not sure if I mentioned this in a previous post, however it is important, when growing the plants inside, to label which plants are which. Unlike when they are outside, the seedlings get moved around and it is very easy to mix them up. That’s how we accidentally ended up with one or two broccoli plants growing in our brussel sprouts last year! Another thing to remember when we are growing the seedlings inside is that plants tend to grow towards the light. Therefore, please remember to rotate the trays around so that the seedlings do not end up lopsided.

PLANTING

Despite being cold weather plants, brussel sprouts like to get at least 6 hours of sunlight everyday. Thus, we should make sure to put them in a bed that gets plenty of light! We also need to take into account that they are from the same family as broccoli for crop rotation when we are planning.

Additionally, brussel sprouts grow to be fairly tall so when we transplant them into the bed, they should be two feet apart. It will look lonely initially, but over time you’ll see that they definitely need that space. Also, once the seedlings are 6 inches tall, they will need to be thinned out. I’m not exactly sure at what time this will occur—whether it will be before or after they are transplanted—so once they reach that height, thin them out so that there is one seedling every two feet. In essence, the goal is to not let two plants grow on top of each other.

GREENHOUSE/CONTAINER

Growing brussel sprouts in a container would be interesting. To do so, we would need to use a container that has at least a foot diameter and a foot tall. Some websites suggest using a five-gallon bucket, although, we would probably need to add drainage holes. The reason I think it would be interesting as it would mean that we could extend the brussel sprout harvest into winter, especially with succession planting. We could probably leave them outside at least until we expect snow, and then move them into the greenhouse. As mentioned above, brussel sprouts are believed to have more flavor after the first frost and thus, we could leave them outside the greenhouse until then.

MAINTENANCE

After a while, we should stake the brussel sprouts so they do not fall over. For this, you can just use string to tie a plant to a bamboo stake placed in the soil about 2 inches from the base of the plant. As they have a shallow root system, you will need to be careful both when you stake them and when weeding. In terms of watering, make sure that they get between 1 and 1.5 inches of water every week. To encourage growth of the actual sprouts, you can remove the lower leaves of the plant; leave the top leaves alone as the plant needs them to photosynthesize.

PEST/DISEASE

As it is part of the same family as broccoli, brussel sprouts also deal with the same pests and diseases. Therefore, you can just look back at the previous post about broccoli to get an idea.

HARVEST

Once the sprout is about an inch in diameter and firm, you can harvest it. Not all the sprouts will be ready to harvest at the same time and they will mature from the bottom up so keep an eye on the bottom of the plant to know when you should harvest. Be careful since if the sprouts get too big, then they will taste bitter. To remove the sprouts, you can either cut them off or twist and pull them. A new sprout will not grow from where an old one used to be. Also, as the plant matures some leaves may turn yellow; the yellow leaves can be cut off.

One suggestion is to cut off the top six inches of the plant in order to encourage all the sprouts to mature together. This should be done if the plant keeps growing up instead of focusing on developing its sprouts. I would use this more as a last resort as after the top leaves are cut off, there will not be any new sprouts growing.