Brussel Sprouts

[duajones]

I like them but have never grown them. Seems like I remember my neighbor having some last year that overwintered well. Down here in Texas, when is it best to plant? And which varieties should I look at.

Duane

[feldon30]

I'm thinking 3-4 week old transplants in September.

[jdwhitaker]

The A&M site says October 1 for Brussels Sprouts from seed in Corpus Christi, Oct. 20 for transplants. I plan to grow sprouts for the first time this fall. There aren't that many varieties out there--I just got the old standard Long Island Improved. The hybrids don't seem to offer anything other than better uniformity. They are supposed to be fairly easy to grow in Texas in the fall, but impossible in the spring.

[feldon30]

Thanks for the heads up on dates. I am thinking I will give them another shot this year. Next year, I need to remember to "top" the plants once they reach about 18" tall so they will produce bigger sprouts.

There are more varieties than you think if you look around. I think Jade Cross is one.

Parsnips and Brussels Sprouts alike are probably best as a fall crop and picked in the spring as they both benefit from light frosts.

[duajones]

I havent even thought about which variety to grow. Im not even sure that I can find seeds locally.

[jdwhitaker]

I've never seen seeds available in any stores, had to order mine. I can spare some if you'd like--hate for you to pay shipping on one pack of seeds.

[feldon30]

I usually see seeds for Brussels Sprouts in the Ferry-Morse racks.

And transplants for Brussels Sprouts were available last fall at Lowe's (this is what I planted).

[duajones]

What varieties do you have JD?

[jdwhitaker]

I have Long Island Improved, said to be the standard open pollinated variety.

[feldon30]

The one I always hear about is Jade Cross.

[michael johnson]

One of the best varieties to ever be grown is called (Trafalgar) it is totaly disease free and a solid column of sprouts all nice and even all the way up, lovely flavour also.

Brussel sprouts are always at their best flavour after they have had a frost or two on them- it alters the flavour to a lovely nutty melt in the mouth flavour.

In some experiments in the UK they found that if you plant the seedlings in july you get sprout up to eight feet tall the following year- which is half as big again as normal sprouts.

My personal favourites are the sprout tops- cut as greens like small cabbages-delicious.

The only problem with sprouts is they are a bit windy, and I usually get thrown out of the house about 3pm on christmas day soon after having them for the traditional xmas lunch - I tried blaming it on the dog, but they wouldnt have it.