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Why are all my brusselsprouts  the size of grapes and don`t seem to be getting any bigger. They are covered in whitefly granted. Just wondering if there is any hope of them recovering. Set them at various stages. Tried soapy water and bug clear. Am I going to have to keep buying em from the supermarket.! :-[

Ours are tiny to

Water and feed.

Yep..brassicas are hungry crop..and get some big fat 'babies' ..they need to be well fed and watered.. ;) ;D
If you sprinkle some chicken pellets at the base of the plants..it might still help the later ones that develop swell up.... :-\..while the weather is not wintery, there is still some growth going on.

If its any consolation my Maximus are the size of golf balls and we have been harvesting since 31 August. 8)
The ground was fed with some manure dug in last autumn.  The sprout plants were fed with chicken manure around late July  August early.

when you say feed is chicken poop ok??

Quote from: ktlawson on November 15, 2011, 18:34:04
If its any consolation my Maximus are the size of golf balls and we have been harvesting since 31 August. 8)
The ground was fed with some manure dug in last autumn.  The sprout plants were fed with chicken manure around late July  August early.

Oh I am sooo envious, mine are like marbles - however I thought I had broccoli plants up to a couple of weeks ago

I did feel chicken poop july/aug but wondering while the weather is like this is it worth giving them a feed of liquid poop?

Have you had much rain Cam?  Feeding them wholesome stuff still needs a lot of watering in so the roots can access it  ;)

Ninnys

I have to say that mine have been really good this year apart from the dreaded whitefly. Still edible though :)

Duke

Ours have been much better this year-possibly because they are netted.

Thumbnail size here too.

Am i right that sprouts need a good frost to bring 'em on? If so I'm blaming it on the mild weather (and if its not that i'll just blame the wife instead...)  :-\

Still, even at gnats b#oll#ck size they're still very tasty!  :)

(sorry for being blunt...Im northern..)

the frost helps more with taste and not size it helps bring on the natural sugars of the sprouts

Quote from: hippydave on November 16, 2011, 04:24:03
the frost helps more with taste and not size it helps bring on the natural sugars of the sprouts

ah i see! ;D

Our local radio gardening guru swears by twisting the tops off at this stage to get the small buttons to swell.  :-\

Iv try for 2 years now and all mine keep bursting open where am i going rong..mind you my hens love them ..now all i got is good winter feed fot my hens

Mine were all blown as well. In fact, they were so dreadful I've dug them up. Disappointing after a good crop last year (on a different patch). I have assumed I was over-watering them during the summer, but could there be a more likely reason?

Use the F1 hybrid seed-and plant on firm ground
wellington is a good variety to try-hard firm sprouts

I was recommended to give them a feed in August.  So gave half of them a good amount of BFB.  After a while this was still on the surface so I started watering them as well.   I was rather wary since I did not want them to blow.  The fed ones are about four times the size of the unfed ones.  The patch was well manured in the autumn before.   

I am growing Amaroso pity they are no longer available in the UK.  I have found them very good on light soils.  I find they have no bitterness at all.  You can get them from Holland but the P&P is much too high. 

I got some lovely Brussels this year, unfortunately some B***ard stole them off the plants the day before I was going to harvest them, not much chance of having home grown sprouts this winter.