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Saturday, 26 November 2011

Try not to peak too soon!

My Purple Sprouting Broccoli is thoroughly confused by the weather conditions. The heads have developed at least 3 months earlier than I would expect. The variety in my photos below is "Rudolph", which I know is an early variety, but I don't usually start cropping it until at least February. This year it is ready now - in fact it is already going "over". The flowers seem to be very loose, and are beginning to show some yellow petals, which makes me think they need to be picked before the flowers open fully.

PSB "Rudolph", November 2011

The spears are long and spindly, just like the secondary ones you usually get late in the season.

PSB "Rudloph", November 2011

I think I will cut the main head of this plant in the next couple of days and just hope that some of the spears will be held back by the cooler weather we are having, and will develop at the "proper" time. [We had our first, very light, frost of the year on Wednesday 23rd November.]

Just for comparison, here is a photo of a "Rudolph" plant taken in March this year, just before harvesting. It looks much better!

PSB "Rudolph", March 2011

Has anyone else got the same problem?
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10 comments:

  1. Anonymous26 November 2011 at 17:54

    Good grief, PSB in November! The world is going mad. I hope it tastes good.

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  2. cathy@home26 November 2011 at 18:06

    Mark is it a lot warmer than last year or not so wet?

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  3. Mark Willis26 November 2011 at 18:39

    Hi Cathy; This year the Autumn has been much milder, much dryer and much less windy than normal.

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  4. Liz26 November 2011 at 22:40

    I get the occasional plant doing that - usually one that is planted too close to other things, or else gets too hot or too dry. I feel silly asking but could it be suffering from heat stress? Are all your plants doing the same thing - sometimes its just genetics.

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  5. becky308627 November 2011 at 01:43

    I think my broccoli is going to be well on its way to heading up before we get any cold weather too only mine is not a sprouting broccoli. The weather has been strange all year.

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  6. elaine27 November 2011 at 09:43

    I have cut the central head off one of my plants - but luckily it isn't throwing any stems yet. I rely on the PSB for supplies in the new year so would be disappointed if it starts too early. Fingers crossed the weather does its proper seasonal thing.

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  7. Malay-Kadazan girl27 November 2011 at 12:12

    I did not get much luck with PSB last cool season. Our PSB don't even look close like the one you have now. Hope it taste as good as your previous harvest.

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  8. Shaheen27 November 2011 at 13:17

    This happened to me a couple of years ago, still can''t figure out what went wrong.
    http://allotment2kitchen.blogspot.com/2009/07/psb-in-july-how.html
    Still a bonus!

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  9. David27 November 2011 at 15:18

    Can't say that I do. With temps around -6C this week we're done here.

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  10. Damo27 November 2011 at 17:51

    Can't believe PSB that early, just checked mine and nothing at all!

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