It looks like it is right at the edge of the range of that drip line. Is it getting as much water as the others?

It does. All plants have smaller lines running to within an inch from their stems.

Oh, I see it now! Sorry about that. So odd, with nothing behind different between them.

I don't have Brussel Sprouts, but when I have plants that look like that, that fast, they usually need water.

All good, I appreciate the replies either way :) the soil I use is a mix of moisture retaining soil, cow manure and compost. These are raised beds so plenty of drainage. Right now if anything the soil is too wet. I attribute that to this plant currently not taking up any water. Almost 10pm now and it has cooled down a lot, looks like this one is not bouncing back :/

From what I read, this is far from an ideal climate for B. Sprouts but they have survived this long... Wouldn't they all be dying if they hated it here?

I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow, maybe the morning sun will revive it. I'll definitely add some shading to these guys though just in case.

9am next morning; the leaves have hardened a little, they don't feel like wet paper towels anymore but it didnt bounce back.

I don't know if i should shade it today or if it needs the full sun to recover...

Seems awfully late for brussels sprouts - esp. in 10b. Might it be disease? Did you check for insects?

Brussels sprouts in FL

I have not met anyone that recommends growing sprouts in my zone, it's why I want to try :) The challenge (and i really like sprouts).

There have been whitefly issues but they focussed on the bell peppers mostly. A mix of neem and water cleared that right up. I have not seen any other insects on the plants. The ants cleared out as soon as theyr white fly supply dried up, the ovcasional snail snacking on my stuff is swiftly evicted. The usual stuff.

10am the sun is starting to hit the plant, hoping it'll revive the plant a little.

As a result of the wilting and sudden very hot days I may have overwatered. I make this assumption because one of my tomato plants is starting to wilt as well and it's a heat tolerant variety.

With moisture retaining soil I'm guessing I overdid it. I won't water them all day and see if the sun dries everything up enough and if it makes a difference.

Please let us know how it turns out. I've killed a lot of veggies down here between the sun, too much water, or bugs, but I'm still trying to get them to work...

I will.
Being completely new at this I inew there would be trial and error, probably for a few years until I know what grows best, where and how to care for it. But it still bums me out to lose plants.

I have been using seed pods up until now to start all my seeds (outdoors in part sun). Thinking of cutting that out and putting stuff directly in the soil from now on. This should eliminate transplanting stress and the need for hardening.

Learning as I go but happy to do so. Hopefully when I get a bigger house with a good size yard I'll have enough knowledge to grow at least a few meals worth of food :)

Jay, looking at your plants again, it might be that the water is coming stronger on that plant? I see some yellow leaves too.

Here are my kale sprouts in the middle of the hot day and watered this morning.

Silvia

I've lost some bottom leaves on all plants, figured thats part of the process. All the top leaves look healthy.

Attached pic is one of the (i think) healthy ones.

The white/brown beads is all purpose fertilizer tgat i sprinkled around last week. Letting it seep into the soil, it's 10-10-10.

Your plants look good!

In the photo i just took for you I noticed black spots on the most bottom leaves. What the... Going back out to see what those are.

The light doses of neem mixed with water took care of whitefly some time ago but this looks bigger.

I have also applied diatomacous earth in the past for pests and nutrients.

Jay, you have better eyes than me,lol. I did not see the black spots till you told me, check this info http://www.harvesttotable.com/2009/06/brussels_sprouts_growing_probl/

Silvia

Here are photos of the bug, super enlarged:

Oh great link! From descriptions I read these are aphids of some sort so I guess it's time for more neem and/or diatomaceous earth! The wilted plant that started this thread does not seem to have them though, some others are clean too. Very random.

I tested about 5 of them and they all appear to be dead, just stuck to the leaves...

Just lost 4 more sprout plants and 2 tomato plants. It doesnt start happening until the afternoon hours so only conclusion I can draw is the heat.

I can't do anything about heat so I guess if it dies now it's just not meant to be.

A bit strange two of my tomato plants wilted in a matter of hours too because they are supposed to be heat tolerant.

Jay, to save whatever is left from your plants try to shade them. I grew tomatoes in Arizona with shade cloth. Also try not to spray when is hot, I always spray very early as soon as the light comes up and I can see. For me the heat tolerant varieties of tomatoes are not really that tolerant. The only thing is thicker skin handles the heat better, also smaller fruit varieties. Look at your plants in the morning, if they are still wilted, if they are too wet, or dry. On the cole crops if I see aphids I just hose them down, they can take the wet foliage.

Silvia

On the close ups of the aphid, I may be seeing things but it looks like scale too. Small, circular bugs, some pale white and some clear. Am I imagining it?

That's what is left over of the diatomaceous arth after it got wet, it wipes right off.

At 4pm when i noticed the other sprout plants wilting i shaded them right away. Seems i was in time as they bounced back immediately.

Let's see if i can find a more permanent solution and keep them alive until harvest. Definitely won't be attempting brussel sprouts again ;)

Buying seeds now that are suitable for zones 10-11

Thanks for all the great replies, love this forum! I'tt be quite some time until I can contribute and help others but I'm definitely sticking around.

Jay - did you check out the link I shared yet? Good info from the University of FL on Brussels sprouts...

Have not had the chance yet. The Houzz iphone app really s*cks and crashes as soon as I click the link. Will have to do it once I'm at the computer.

Jay, looking forward to hear in the future your adventures in veggie gardening, we all have to learn something sometime.:) Check at the link Carol gave you, timing is very important in Florida for your success. Do you like collards? they produce well here. In the picture above I have Tronchuda cabbage also known as Portuguese kale and it grows like collards, it is good for soups,stir fries, wraps, I even made chips with them, the ribs are like celery. You can start them indoors or seed them straight in the garden.

Silvia

Was able to look at the link, great (yet discouraging) information. Will be checking out that site for other info, it's in my bookmarks, thanks carolb! Looks like even if I manage to keep the sprouts alive and bring them to harvest, the sprouts may not be great lol. If they struggle this much during the spring I can't imagine they will make it through the summer though. I'll stick with it until they keel over.

I applied full shade for today, this morning everything seemed the same, no better no worse. Still haven't watered everything so as the soil dries we'll see if things improve.

Silvia I am not big on collards but my wife is so I might give it a try. Trying to stay away from other crops that grow wide as I have a very small back yard and beds. However leaving it a dry wasteland is not helping anyone so might as well! :)

I was at a farmers market last night and I was in a conversation with someone when I mentioned I lost half my garden in the last two days. Immediately at least 7 people turned towards us and said "Me too!!" so at least I'm not going crazy thinking it's me doing something wrong! The farmers said it's most certainly the heat, to apply shading and water frequently, same as suggested here on the forum. The shading is mostly done, holding off on watering until the soil gets back to normal from my overwatering. Even though I am not having much success I am having a blast experimenting and learning :)

Today I'll be investigating some other stuff going on in my garden, will be posting separate forum threads on each rather than cluttering up this one.

oldmangroot, carolb_w_fl, whgille and Silvia thank you for the feedback and making a rookie feel welcome :)

You're welcome - and your Brussels sprouts may not be a complete loss; you can harvest & eat the leaves of brussels sprouts(& broccoli as well) much like collards or kale - they are very healthy too, just like kale. Older leaves will have a stronger taste & take a bit longer to cook than younger ones. I like them sauteed w/ carrots & garlic over pasta w/ parmesan cheese.

Silvia - what is the variety of kale that produces sprouts, please? That sounds fascinating.

Jay, you did great improvising the shade. I have a small garden too and try to use up all my space, nothing is empty. Once something gets harvested something else goes in. You might want to look at the Asian type of greens, they produce fast and some are heat tolerant, some are very mild like lettuce others are more pungent. Summer in my garden, it is time to harvest the fall and spring veggies and enjoy the fruit trees, then I take a break and start growing for the fall, the circle of life. To have a garden is to believe in tomorrow and be optimistic.

Carol, I bought the seeds 2 years ago and still have some for this season. They take a long time to make the sprouts but I do enjoy the pretty and mild tasting leaves, also they are more cold and heat resistant for me and they do get big. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8665-kaleidoscope-mix.aspx

Silvia

I hope to get such an ecosystem going at some point :)

This is the shading I applied to the bell peppers (see attached pic), it seems to have helped the yellow/very light green leaves and the dark green is starting to come back (see other attached pics), that makes me hopeful.

I haven't watered in 24 hours and when i test the soil at root level with finger and a soil moist meter, it's very moist. Think I'll give it another day as it doesn't seem to evaporate even though the day is pretty much 89-92F. I did apply a mist over the entire yard tonight just to get the leaves wet, figured the plants appreciate a nice cool shower :)

The black stuff I use is not shade cloth, it's a fabric liner I used to line the raised beds with. Assuming this is way too dense to permanently use as shade material (light comes through but no sun, just a little light), what is good material to shade with?

Shade fabric is expensive from what I've seen. Is there something I could buy at a clothes fabric store that would do the job equally well?

Worried that using the current material for too long will deprive the plants of too much sun and I'll have those issues to deal with.

Those leaves look like a nutritional deficiency - maybe potassium?

Here's link to a page of nutrient problems in peppers:

http://www.haifa-group.com/knowledge_center/crop_guides/pepper/nutritional_requirements/nutritional_disorders_in_peppers/

Thank you Silvia - those look really intriguing. Do they taste like Brussels sprouts?

Great link. I thought the same so last week I added some fertilizer. The dark green wasn't there before, the whole leaf including the veins were light green/yellow. This looks a lot better than it was.

Either the fertilizer took some time to kick in or the shading helped (or both)...
The fertilizer doesn't say how long it takes to kick in, it mentions I have to mix it into the soil but from what I read on various websites sprinkling it on top of the soil should have the nutrients seep into the soil over time.

That link also mentions by Magnesium: Sometimes magnesium deficiency occurs when excessive applications of
potassium have been made. It may also show up under extremely hot dry
weather.

I have not applied excessive fertilizer and it has been very hot the past week. I don't know, I hope the soil biology will sort itself out. It's good soil with cow manure and fertilizer mixed in at the recommended portions. No chemicals are used and the PH shows a neutral 7. Apart from adding a bit or fertilizer like I did last week I'm not sure what else I can do.

I also water from the tap through a filter that removes the chlorine and all the other stuff that shouldn't be there.

Have you checked out this Univ. of FL publication yet? It's their FL veggie gardening guide - full of useful info & planting dates for various regions...

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021

I did look at it, lots of info. I bookmark all of those links for future reference :)

Jay, I think there are a lot of choices to use instead of a shade cloth, I bought a few years ago a big roll of insect barrier cloth that I use it as a shade cloth or to protect plants from freezing, I even have a lot of cut outs to protect the seedlings from the sun. You could probably use some fabric like tulle?
All my peppers are grown in part shade except the hot ones that take anything, the friends from the community garden just told me that they cannot grow peppers in their plots, so I showed them mine and they realized about some shade. They also don't like to be watered as often as the tomatoes, I only water them when dry.

Carol, I don't think they taste like brussel sprouts, they are milder flavor like kale. In any case, after I prepare the greens, they take the flavor of the seasonings. I can eat greens every day. This reminds me that the other day I saw a very accomplished gardener that has his huge plot like a showcase for selling the properties where he worked. He asked me what I was growing and I said a lot of kale. He was silent and because he is very polite did not say a word. And I said to him, I know kale is not that popular with men, and he just laugh.

Silvia