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| This is off-topic in another thread, so I thought I'd start this one. There's a lot of discussion about how much cold brassica transplants can take, what it means when the leaves turn purple or white, etc. What I'm interested in is people's experience with plants bolting or buttoning [broccoli] after getting chilled as transplants. I've read that this can happen, yet I've had broccoli get frozen half to death and still recover to produce full heads. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by farmerdill (My Page) on Wed, Apr 23, 14 at 15:49
| Both broccoli and cauliflower button. Usually a result of stunting from staying in pots or planting trays too long. Some nurserys are so careless, I have seen trays of bolted broccoli and cauliflower on sale. Never had a viable transplant button. Cabbage will recover somewhat from stunting, but not broccoli or cauliflower. When it buttoms you can usually trace it back to the transplant being overage and stunted. |
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| I'm wondering if some people are suggesting that cold will stunt the plants, and the plants will then button/bolt. Which suggests to me that the problem would be the stunting, not the cold itself. As it is, my bok choy is doing the best of my brassicas, and if anything is stunted it's the kale, which is supposed to be so cold-hardy. Good thing I like bok choy better than kale. |
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- Posted by Slimy_Okra (My Page) on Wed, Apr 23, 14 at 19:15
| I think duration of uninterrupted cold is key to buttoning. We have wildly fluctuating temperatures here in spring (well, also in summer, fall and winter). So they get exposed to temperatures in the teens and 20s one night, then 50s the day after, then a night in the 40s, then a day in the 30s, and so on, and they rarely button on me, at least the ones I've started myself. Which brings me to my second observation... I have found that starting transplants in a cold greenhouse and keeping them chilly throughout their stint in the greenhouse minimizes the risk of buttoning because it mimics winter's transition to spring. Starts I've planted that I purchased from a commercial nursery (warm greenhouse) supplier tended to be more likely to button, probably because it mimics the transition from summer to fall. In general, a lot of heartache can be avoided by starting cool-season crops in a greenhouse that's set at 60 during the day and 35-40 at night. |
This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Wed, Apr 23, 14 at 19:17
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| I agree that the number one thing is not letting the plants stay in pots too long. After that, broccoli can be stunted by freezing weather if it happens in the first few days after transplant...in the case of freezing weather, cover the plants up overnightt. |
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| I did not get a chance to grow my own transplants this year so had to purchase the transplants. I planted 8 pacman broccoli, 8 premium crop broccoli, 4 brussel sprouts and 4 kale in a raised bed on 2/28/14. 6 of the 8 pacman broccoli formed button heads. They were grown by Bonnie plants and purchased from a big box store. All of the premium crop broccoli are forming nice heads. They were purchased from Pike's and were not Bonnie. So it was either the variety that determined the buttoning or the condition of the transplants when purchased. We did have a cold winter but I covered everything on cold nights. My lettuce made it thru the cold just fine so I do not think it was the cold that triggered the buttoning. |
This post was edited by yolos on Wed, Apr 23, 14 at 21:07
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| Packman is a very early variety and likely more affected by stunting in the pots......and perhaps by cold weather stunting. |
This post was edited by wayne_5 on Thu, Apr 24, 14 at 10:16
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| How do you tell if a broccoli plant is buttoning? My Packman seedlings were about four weeks old and appeared healthy when I put them out on April 11. On April 15 we had an inch of snow and a night time low of 22. It was fairly warm before and after that, and I only saw some minor signs of stress for a day (a couple purple leaves). Now, two weeks after planting out, they appear to be forming heads although they are only about six inches in diameter. Is that buttoning? Or just the beginning of a real head? |
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- Posted by farmerdill (My Page) on Fri, Apr 25, 14 at 21:08
You are fine. Buttoning is a head forming on a very small (>6 inch) plant and usually does not get bigger than a quarter (25 cent piece).  |
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