Isn't fall too late? I have to plant them around June and they would be ready around October which is our Thanksgiving.

All the research I've done says to put them out by June/July depending on variety and get them to sprout up during the cool wx in fall... Mine last year went out way too early and ended up failing, plus I grew some crappy variety.. I ordered some hybrids for this coming fall.

Yes, if they are flowering, going to seed, you won't get any sprouts from them.

As the others have mentioned recommended planting time for them is early summer, 90-120 days (depending on variety) before your first frost. They are then harvested after that first or second frost.

Dave

Brussels sprouts are biennial, which means they bloom and produce seed in their second year of growth. Yours have been through a winter and are entering their second year of growth, when they will produce seed.

I agree with others who said they needed a longer growing season last year. The sprouts didn't have time to develop before winter arrived.

Jim

Thanks all...another lesson learned. Darn, I really wanted to eat some home grown BSs!

Brussels sprouts are biennial, which means they bloom and produce seed in their second year of growth.

I think you're thinking of artichokes and I suggest you look up the meaning of biennial.

Plant in late spring/early summer to get sprouts in late fall/early winter. A frost improves the taste and texture.

Yeah, that happened to mine too
It's probably a "planted at the wrong time" thing, but I'm new to this area and no expert

The little minisprouts were cute
and I used the leaves to cook up some delicious greens
-ExNJer

I would love to hear of someone with Brussel sprout success here in the NC piedmont. I planted some transplants as soon as they were available in my area, late September, and had only tiny sprouts form.

Nicole

"I think you're thinking of artichokes and I suggest you look up the meaning of biennial."

No. I was not thinking of artichokes. Artichokes are not biennial, they are perennial.

Brussels sprouts are biennial and biennials have the life cycle I described. You can do a Google search to verify this. I save seed of rutabaga, another biennial, and am quite familiar with how it works.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Biennial Plant

In non-mountainous NC brussels sprouts are best seeded directly in mid-July/August or put in from transplant in mid-August.

You can usually get both a November and February/early-March harvest off a single planting. You can get Nov-March with season extensions (row covers) in most of non-mountainous NC.

taz6122 I can't think why you said that unless you were thinking that the sprouts are the fruit of the Brussels sprout plant (which they aren't) and therefore they must be annuals. Sprout plants bolt ie flower and go to seed the year after they are sown.

Just because artichokes might not flower until their second year it doesn't make them biennials because they do not then die. In the right climate they are perennials.

I plant my Brussels Sprouts in August and early September and get a harvest cycle similar to what nc-crn describes. I get the first sprouts in late November and December, followed by a hiatus in January, and then more sprouts in February and early March before they switch to flowering. The plants I planted last August are beginning to flower now.

I am fascinated by the life cycle of biennial plants. They grow so fast once they begin flowering.

I never said artichokes were biennial. I misunderstood jimster. That seems to happen when I get in a hurry. Sorry Jim.

No problem, taz. We just need to keep information on these forums as accurate as we can. A lot of people read these threads and we don't want to misinform them.

Jim

I have just sown my Brussel sprout seeds in peatless compost. They will be planted on into 3" pots when they are big enough to handle and then I will grow them on in the pots until they are about 6" tall. They will then be set out into the soil about 2' apart each way. I do not add any compost or fertiliser to the soil because this makes the buds "blow" or open out. Also during the year I tread around the base of the plants and then hoe them up so that they do not blow over during windy weather. Although they can be harvested from October to November where I live, I find they taste much better if you pick them after they have had a frost on them. They taste their best if you can prepare and cook them within an hour of picking.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tony's allotment garden blog

I still keep the plants around if I don't need the space for the leafy greens. They are just as edible as the sprouts and work out much like their cousins the Collards.

From northern CA: I planted sprouts and cauliflower from purchased starts after the first autumn rain. Cauliflower did great; 5 of 6 harvested before Mar 23. The one planted in deepest shade has not formed a head yet. Five of 6 sprouts bolted well before Mar 23 and 6th (in shade) still ok. I thought the winter sun might be low enough in the southern sky to get by. Hits 80s next week so ... I need to try again next year. Cold - weather crops are low - maintenance in ncalif in winter, our (only) rainy season.

Here in Oklahoma we start seeing Brussels sprout plants for sale in February. We had so much rain last spring and summer that my plants didn't do anything. They didn't even grow much at all. They survived the winter and This spring they have yellow flowers on them and from what I am reading here they are going to seed. Do I just let them seed and start forming new plants or harvest the seeds and try to plant them later?

I am in northern NY. I grew Brussel sprouts last year, cut off the stalks. I now have plants growing from the stalks still in the garden. Several from each plant. Now they have flowered. Do I cut off the flowers, or dig up the plants and start over again. Our weather has been bouncing between snow and high 70 degree weather in the same week.