I'm no expert but I think if nothing else they need a bigger home. Either a bigger container or in the ground. My brocoli plants started to look a little stressed after they had been in a smallish container for too long. Transplanted them into my raised beds and within a week or so looked much better.
the heat probably isn't helping either. It's a cool season veggie.

Your problem is most likely caused by:

A. Too much water, container has no holes and roots are wet more than they need to be.

B. Too small of a container. I'd put them in a much larger container or in the ground.

Also, 90 is too hot for broccoli. When the buds form they will bolt (flower) and this will cause a bitter taste in the broccoli.

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Thanks. I was hoping the container size was not the problem, it's one of the most painful to fix for me. I still have more of my own stuff to plant and I'm already out of containers (money is seriously tight right now) and nearly out of room on my porch. Since the kids were the ones begging me to keep them, it would have been nice if their parents helped with containers, lol.

BUT - those little containers do have drainage holes, I made sure of that :) I water til they drain out the bottom just like I do with the other containers.

New Question: I just finally found shade cloth locally and I plan to "screen in" part of my porch with it... will that lower the temp enough for the broccoli to be happy?

(I also FINALLY found 2 little tiny cabbage loopers that have been eating my leaves. At least now I know what I'm looking for!)

CR

See if you can't get some restaurants or fast-food places to give you their left-over 5 gallon pickle buckets. They often just toss them. My local Burger King always has several waiting for garbage pick-up. They'd be just right for one broccoli plant -- recommendations are to space them 18-24" apart. That's how much soil-space the roots and plants need.

My experience w. cole crops tell me that the lower leaves turning that color is a natural part of what happens w. them. In fact, w. Brussels sprouts, you are supposed to strip the lower leaves once they turn yellow anyway. Could it be you are supposed to w. broccoli as well?

Anney, thanks for that idea, I have two neighbors that work for restaurants and I've asked them to bring me home some buckets if they can!

Bomber095, that's interesting! I didn't know that about brussels - I googled around to see if it was recommended for broccoli and still didn't turn anything up. I may try it on one or two plants just to see what happens.

Also... I'll ask again in case my last question was missed...

I just finally found shade cloth locally and I plan to "screen in" part of my porch with it... will that lower the temp enough for the broccoli to be happy?

CR

One more thing. About screening part of your porch. It looks like it's a concrete floor, right? Concrete tends to hold the sun's heat, so if you're able to screen part of the porch, I'd see if I couldn't make sure to screen it so the floor is shaded. All your plants will appreciate their roots being in cooler temps, particularly broccoli.

Anney, I had planned it that way without trying, really! :) I'm going to nail/tack the shade cloth to the overhang and secure it probably with garden staples to the ground just off the edge of the porch, only because I couldn't think of any other way to secure it - and in West Texas wind, *not* securing it wasn't an option, lol. I hadn't thought of the extra benefit of shading the containers.