I'm thinking starts, too. I've been busy and tired lately and my soil sucks.

Yeah, I have tried growing brussel sprouts 3 times now, to no avail. This spring, they seemed like they were doing well, but they never budded out! I am going to give em one more try. Last year, I started some in the early fall and they burned up. So I think I am going to start some in October, and hope for a warm winter!

I was at Home Depot and Lowe's today and I didn't see any Fall starts.

Yeah, they'll show up in September.

I don't think I have time to go out to Tomato Man's Daughter, she probably has fall brassica. Maybe if my dad gets to go home tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath.

She closed for the year yesterday. :( And she didn't have brussles sprouts anyway. And I've seen nothing at Lowe's or HD either. Stringer's said they won't be getting fall starts of anything. No idea about WalMart.

Well at least you saved me a trip south. I don't know what I'll do. Maybe they need to be fed.

Brussels sprouts abhor heat so that's their main problem. They do need to stay constantly moist and well-fed or they won't grow. If they are staying too hot or too dry or too hungry their growth will stall and they'll be stunted.

I plant brussels sprouts later than OSU recommends because planting them on time usually gives me hot, unhappy plants that don't grow much just like yours are doing right now Amy. The transplants usually hit the stores here in late August or early September at stores that carry transplants from Bonnie's Plants. It sounds like your plants are barely hanging on in this heat, but if you can keep them alive and happy, they ought to take off and grow and produce just fine in fall as long as being stunted or stalled in the heat doesn't affect their ability to rebound in cooler weather.

I can get a crop of brussels sprouts in spring if I plant in January and cover them up on nights we are expected to go below around 20-22 degrees, but they produce much, much better in fall. This year was a great year for spring brussels sprouts and cauliflower in southern OK since it was a warm winter and we could plant them very early. Many years we get hot so early that they bolt at the same time they are just beginning to flower so you don't get much of a crop at all in spring. A fall planting often will produce all winter here unless it is a really cold winter. Even in a really cold winter, just covering the plants with row cover on cold nights will keep the plants happy and producing for a long time.

For spring planting I like to choose varieties that produce quickly, like Rubine (sometimes also sold as Red Rubine), that have an estimated DTM of 80 days. Most varieties have an estimated DTM of 90-100 or even 110 days. For this fall/winter I'm growing Rubine and also Jade Cross, which has an estimated DTM of 85 days. From a September planting I'll normally get the first B.S. harvest in December. They'll produce for at least 6 weeks and sometimes quite a bit longer if the weather cooperates.