New Broccoli

[jmsieglaff]

I'm trying two new varieties of sprouting broccoli this year.

For the past 3 or so years I've been growing Apollo Hybrid Brokali--which is a sprouting broccoli, that we eat more for the tender shoots and young leaves. It usually gives us about a 4-5 week harvest from very end of May to about July 1, depending on the heat.


This year I'm trying two new ones:
Aspabroc Hybrid Baby Broccoli (like broccolini in the fancy stores)
Summer Purple Sprouting Broccoli (the description is: A new sprouting broccoli bred specifically for summer harvest. Plants exhibit good heat tolerance and require no winter chilling to produce their delicious purple spears. Regular picking will ensure high yields from midsummer to fall. Makes a pretty addition to salads and veggie trays.)

Anyone grow any of these themselves? Especially my two new ones? I'm intrigued by the prospect of summer broccoli that goes into the fall. I haven't had much luck with fall broccoli--either it gets too cold before they're ready or it's hot too late and they don't like to grow much.

[simmran1]

jm, I'm also growing Asbabroc F1 for the first time, will compare later

[z_willus_d]

I'm trying Bay Meadows (F?) Hybrid this year. I am late, and my seeds are just sprouting in the garage. We're already hitting 100+ temps regularly here, so I expect this will be an experience with futility, but I thought I'd give it a try. I'll try and mulch well and give the broccoli some shad cloth. They probably will not be ready to transplant for another 3 weeks. I've never attempted broccoli in the dead of summer. Seems like a long shot, but my family eats a good $3 of organic broccoli a day, so it would be a huge saving for me if they can grow successfully in our heat.

Good luck.
-naysen

[Labradors2]

I grew Pacman Broccoli and Piracicaba Broccoli in pots (in NC) this past winter. Perhaps my pots were too small, but the Pacman gave me one good harvest, but after that, the little sprouts didn't amount to much and I had 5 plants. The winter was pretty chilly and I took all my pots in on nights below freezing. The Piracicaba gave longer, skinnier stems and I also harvested the leaves at one point, but I wasn't enthused by the production either and think I will try Kale instead this winter.

I'm late too Naysen. When I read the seed packet it said to start 4-6 weeks early, so I'm only just growing my Spigarello seeds. It has received some rave reviews, BTW. Perhaps the sprouting broccoli does better in the summer time and not in pots. It is supposed to be very heat-tolerant.

Linda

[greenthumbomaha]

How did the sprouting/ broccolini work for you? I'd like to try some in a container this spring. Seeds are expensive !

- Lisa

[jmsieglaff]

The Apollo (returning variety) and Aspabroc (new variety) were indistinguishable to me in yield, DTM, flavor, and habit. We enjoyed them both. Since they were indistinguishable, I'll just go with the cheaper seed most likely.

The summer purple sprouting broccoli plants grew very well and quite tall, probably 3'. But the small purple florets didn't start producing until the very end of September in my garden and we got very few. This was with a ~April 20 plant out date. This certainly won't be making a return to the garden in 2015. We will just enjoy the spring/early summer sprouting broccoli.

You could probably do the smaller broccoli in a decent sized container. To try the summer purple sprouting broccoli you'd need quite a large container, the plants were huge and root system quite expansive.

[peebee]

What a coincidence, I was planning on growing both the Apollo and the purple sprouting ones too! But I'm glad jmsieglaff mentioned how the purple ones performed; the description in the catalogs made it seem like it would grow well during the summer months and with my zone's mild winters and long summers I thought it would be a perfect match.
Also, I thought Aspabroc and Apollo were one and the same? They are both hybrids of broccoli and gailon (Chinese kale). I just thought some companies changed the original name of Aspabroc to suit their needs. From what I read, Sakata Seeds in Japan created Aspabroc and named it to reflect the taste, which they claimed was a cross between asparagus and broccoli (not to be confused as an actual hybrid of the 2). Can anyone shed some light on whether these 2 are the same? There are also other names online if you Google Baby Broc or Broccolini also.

[Labradors2]

Update

I grew that spigarello in the summer of 2014. As I recall, it was a huge plant and the tiny little shoots it gave were not worth all the trouble and growing space

I'm still searching for a good sprouting broccoli.

Linda