brussel sprouts « TopVeg – growing veg,fruit&herbs

November 1, 2011

Cabbage Whitefly on Sprouts

Filed under: pests&diseases — Tags: brussel sprouts, Brussels sprouts, sooty mould, whitefly — TopVeg @ 10:34 am

Cabbage white fly are a problem on the sprout plants. The white flies are found on the underside of the leaves, and fly off when disturbed, forming a cloud of flies when there is a bad infestation.

whitefly-under-sprout-leaf

The flat, oval nymphs actually stick to the leaf.

The whitefly usually disappear when the cold weather arrives and the sprouts grow away from any affects. But this year they have done a lot of damage to the buttons already, before it has got very cold. Is this an affect of global warming?

Brussels-sprout-row

In a bad attack of white fly, sooty moulds will start growing on the sugary honeydew left by the white fly. The sooty moulds are a consequence of the whitefly attack & can have serious effects which ruin the sprout buttons. This has already started to happen and we will have to take another look at how to control cabbage white fly on sprouts.

Comments Off

December 16, 2009

Black sooty mould on Sprouts

Filed under: brassicas — Tags: black, brussel sprouts, mould, sprouts — TopVeg @ 10:30 am

Black sooty moulds are appearing on Brussel Sprouts.

brussels-sprouts

The black sooty mould can be sticky and is the result of a whitefly attack.
Cabbage whitefly overwinters on brussel sprouts as adult insects.
Adult whitefly and their nymphs suck sap from the sprout plant and excrete a sugary substance (honeydew) onto the leaves.
Sooty moulds then grow on this sugary substance – and can make a real mess of the sprout buttons.
The warmer the weather the worse the problem is.

Click the link for more information on Cabbage whitefly which is the cause of black sooty moulds on brussel sprouts.

Comments Off

October 13, 2009

Black sooty moulds on Brussel Sprouts

Filed under: pests&diseases — Tags: brussel sprouts, Brussels sprouts, mould, sooty, sprouts — TopVeg @ 7:18 pm

Black sooty moulds are appearing on Brussel Sprouts.

Brussels-sprout-row

The black sooty mould can be sticky and is the result of a whitefly attack. Cabbage whitefly overwinters on brussel sprouts as adult insects. Adult whitefly and their nymphs suck sap from the sprout plant and excrete a sugary substance (honeydew) onto the leaves.

Sooty moulds then grow on this sugary substance – and can make a real mess of the sprout buttons. The warmer the weather the worse the problem is. Click the link for more information on Cabbage whitefly which is the cause of black sooty moulds on brussel sprouts.

Comments Off

September 29, 2009

What sprouts should look like now

Filed under: brassicas — Tags: brussel sprouts, Brussels sprouts — TopVeg @ 5:49 pm

New gardeners often ask ‘what sprouts should look like now – after planting but before they are mature?’

In August, brussel sprout plants :

look much like any other brassicas , but taller & with one stem only.
have closely spaced leaves, all up the stem

tie-brussel-sprout

are starting to form tiny sprouts where the leaves join the main stem
have a rosette of leaves at the top that looks like a loose cabbage

top-of-sprout-stalk

Comments (2)

April 1, 2009

Eat Brussel Sprout Shoots / tops

Filed under: brassicas — Tags: brussel sprouts, shoot, sprout, tops — TopVeg @ 3:25 pm

The Brussels sprout stalks have been stripped of their sprouts, but the
tiny sprouts at the top of the stalk are starting to ‘blow’ and produce
flowering shoots.

sprout-flower

These sprout shoots, or tops, are a real delicacy when steamed for 10 minutes.

sprout-shoots

Comments (2)

March 27, 2009

How to Pick Brussels Sprouts

Filed under: brassicas — Tags: brussel sprouts, pick, sprouts — TopVeg @ 11:13 pm

sprout-stalk

Brussels Sprouts start to develop at the bottom of the main stalk first. Then the sprouts further up the stalk start to grow, and the last to develop are those sprouts at the top of the stalk.

It is important to cook even-sized sprouts , so they all require the same cooking time. If the sprout buttons were different sizes, the smallest ones would be overcooked and the largest ones may still be crunchy, when all cooked together.

brussels-sprouts

To obtain even sized sprouts, only part of the stalk is picked. Picking always starts at the bottom of the stalk, where the sprouts are largest.

Sometimes the sprouts at the very bottom of the stalk do not develop
into tight buds, but blow out into loose leaves. It is best to remove
these loose sprouts, as soon as tight buttons appear above them.

sprbut2

The large, yellow leaves at the bottom of the sprout plant should be broken off and disposed of, on the compost heap.

sproutbutton

The sprout buttons are picked individually, by pressing them downwards,
and slightly twisting, so that they snap off the stalk. Usually there
are about six sprouts on each stalk which are of a similar size.

At the start of the sprout harvesting season, the bottom sprouts will be
picked from each plant, as required.

SPROUTBRIDGET

At the very end of the season, the sprout stalks will look bare, with just a few sprout buttons at the very top of the stalk.

sprout-b2

The Brussels sprout plants will produce green vegetables throughout the winter, if picked with care.

Comments (3)

January 18, 2008

Brussel sprouts for the winter

Filed under: brassicas — Tags: brussel sprouts, sprout — TopVeg @ 2:25 pm

Brussell Sprouts produce throughout the winter.

The early Brussell Sprouts have been fantastic this year. The variety was Bridget and they are still producing. The photos show how tall they are.

sprout stalks

They were staked early on, to prevent them falling over, but they had to be restaked with an even longer post. They are twice as tall as the garden spade! They have been picked 4 or 5 times, and there is still another picking.

The photos below are of the later variety, not Bridget. Although not such good croppers or quality, they are a fair sample of tight, round sprouts with bright, clean leaves.

sprout buttons

The tops are perfect now, and make a change from eating sprouts. The tops have still got a bit of white fly. Probably due to the very mild time. But they wash out, and do not spoil the eating.

The late variety have not been so successful. The sprouts are looser, and not so tight on the stem. They have only just come to harvest.

Comments Off