…… Broccoli help

[Tarryn]

This is my broccoli plant today. I planted it in march. It got huge, survived the heat of the summer and our first two frosts. The plant looks healthy. But not a single head of broccoli was to be had. I planted 6 broccoli and 4 cauliflower. Got nada to eat from them. What would cause this?

 

[moldy]

Not sure, but maybe too much fertilizer. I've had poor luck with cauliflower but broccoli usually does pretty good. This year all my garden was pretty poor, though.

 

[summerthyme]

Hmmm... interesting. You have a lot of bug damage, but I've never seen that cause a lack of heading!

I honestly don't have a clue. Cauliflower can take a long time to produce a head, but broccoli generally starts producing buds around 55-65 days after transplanting.

There can be reasons... too hot or cold, planting in shade, or too much nitrogen fertilizer. Here is one overview...

Gardening: Why broccoli and cauliflower plants aren’t producing heads

Q: First I’ll give you some history of my planting for this year. I bought a four-pack of broccoli (Premium Crop) and six-pack of cabbage (Bravo) plants at Hickory Grove on April 10. The cabb…

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Summerthyme

 

[Martinhouse]

If it is just the one plant, could it be that whatever has eaten all the holes in the leaves has also eaten out any buds that would have formed heads? Those holes look more like what grasshoppers do to my plants than what the icky little striped worms do to all my greens.

 

[Tarryn]

It was all the broccoli & cauliflower that I planted. They all got huge but no heads. This beast was just the one that has survived everything that the year threw at it. It was at least 2.5 feet tall. I took this picture right before I pulled it down.

I cleaned out all weeds and old plant remanents before I covered the garden in leaves and grass clippings.
This was my first year of not killing the broccoli plants in their infancy.
My gardening was lacking to his year.i have not been diligent in upkeep because my work schedule got overloaded. I need to also figure out what was eating it so that I can watch and treat for it next year.

 

[Martinhouse]

Oh, okay. Anyway, did you know that the leaves of broccoli plants are as nutritious as the heads? They just don't have that one cancer-fighting chemical that gives the heads that purple cast when they first start maturing.

I can't wear dentures and I hate cooked greens of any type, so I dehydrate all my kale and broccoli leaves and powder them up to use about a heaping tablespoon of them in mashed potatoes, well done rice, or well-done and fine-chopped spaghetti or egg noodles. I love raw broccoli heads with French dressing, but since I can't eat that any more, I give all of them to my sister.

 

[China Connection]

The trouble is that you have used too much nitrogen with whatever else you have used.

The only nitrogen my garden gets is pee full stop. I have very limited bug problems. Bugs love nitrogen.

Green growth loves nitrogen.

Try some rock phosphate if you can get it.

I use a hydroponic mix without the nitrogen.

 

[Tarryn]

I haven't had to add to much of anything in the past. I try to only do natural in this garden.
I added a couple bags of commercial compost and some peet this year. The peet was to help break up some dense areas. I haven't done s garden in this location in a couple years.
I will probably have to try the phosphate. And probably get the soil tested too.

 

[China Connection]

The rock phosphate has a lot of other minerals in it.

 

[ioujc]

Oh, okay. Anyway, did you know that the leaves of broccoli plants are as nutritious as the heads? They just don't have that one cancer-fighting chemical that gives the heads that purple cast when they first start maturing.

I can't wear dentures and I hate cooked greens of any type, so I dehydrate all my kale and broccoli leaves and powder them up to use about a heaping tablespoon of them in mashed potatoes, well done rice, or well-done and fine-chopped spaghetti or egg noodles. I love raw broccoli heads with French dressing, but since I can't eat that any more, I give all of them to my sister.

I hate wearing my dentures! SO I DON'T.

But if you cook the heads via steamingor boiling, they are basically soft enough to eat. You can also do this when you stir fry....just use more liquid. I LOVE BROCCOLI?!!

 

[Martinhouse]

ioujc, I do know that about cooking green vegetables, but the smell of any and all of them when cooking makes me dry heave. I actually have to fight vomiting if I smell them being cooked. So, since I can't chew them fresh, dehydrating them and powdering them is my only way to get the good nutrition I need from green vegetables. I've tried dehydrating things like Romaine lettuce, but they carry so much static electricity that they're nearly impossible to work with once dehydrated.

I do like cooked green peas, but I get sort of tired of them sometimes.