Hi Beerhog, Mine already produced sprouts and are done, and I've yanked them out of the beds. It is really hard to get them to produce in spring because they are cool-season plants that need to form the sprouts while the air temperatures are still cool. Have your plants not started forming the little sprouts down low on the plant? They form low and then continue to form higher and higher up the stem. When the sprouts form in cool weather, they are little and tight like tiny cabbages. Once the sprouts are forming in hot weather, they are sort of loose, more like loose-leaf lettuce than tiny cabbages, and really aren't edible. Their quality really suffers in the heat.

I assume since you are in zone 7 that your weather is very similar to mine? If it helps, for comparison's sake, my average last frost date is March 29th, and we usually start hitting the 90s in early May. I have to put brussels sprouts plants in the ground in late January and protect them from very cold weather with floating row cover in order for them to form sprouts before it gets too hot, and some years it still gets too hot too early.

To get good brussels sprouts off your plants in spring, you need for the plants to be large enough to form and mature their sprouts while your air temperatures are in their 60s. This is really hard to do most years because we get too hot too early. That's why they normally do better in zone 7 as fall plants. I plant them in August from 3-5 week old transplants, and then they are able most years to form sprouts in October or November, depending on the DTM of the variety. I am in zone 7b. If you are in 7a or close to the border between 7a and 6b, you might need to plant your fall brussels sprout plants in mid- to late-July to get a harvest before your overnight lows in the fall start falling into the low 20s, which normally kills the plants.

I think that brussels sprouts plants which have not produced sprouts by now are not going to produce anything worth eating no matter what you do. It is just too hot now. The hotter it gets, the less likely they are to form sprouts. Once the temperatures are above 65 or 70 degrees, any sprouts that do form tend to stay very small and loose and have poor flavor. Often, once it is hot they just don't even try to form sprouts.

My best brussels sprouts in spring have to form sometime in April of most years. By May, the daytime temperatures are too hot and the plants become a waste of space. I yank the plants out and replace them with something else for summer.

Hope this helps,

Dawn

Ok. They are about 3 foot tall and are just now showing sprots so I guess I will just pull them.

Sorry. That's what usually happens with brussels sprouts in the heat. I hope you'll try them again for fall.

Another crazy story - my mom loves Brussels Sprouts, so my dad planted them last year - too late, but his one main plant grew...and grew...and grew...no sprouts, but it continued growing to the end of the summer and into the fall. It grew to be over 6 ft. tall!! When he finally yanked the stalk out of the ground, he saved it and let it dry. It is completely dried and tough enough now that he's carving it into a potentially very interesting cane. :-)

Sharon

lol. That's such a funny story, but not a surprising one. Brussels Sprouts are related to kale, and there's a variety known as walking stick kale that gets tall like that and the stem can be used as walking sticks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Walking Stick Kale

Yes! That very much resembles what he had growing in their garden - it looked like a palm tree for much of last summer :-)

Sharon

It's funny really, every year I plant B-sprouts (as I call the! m) and never get a one! Now I know why....*snap*

Sharon, I love fun stuff like that walking stick kale.

Ezzirah, Well, now you know. We get so hot so early here that cool-season crops need a lot of special handling in our climate. Most grow better for me in fall than in spring. Try the brussels sprouts for fall and I think your chance of getting a harvest is pretty good.

Dawn