Looks like a long way to go. From the time you notice the little sprouts appearing it's still months till harvest.
In So Cal, you should have plenty of growing season during the winter for them to produce sprouts before they go to flower in late spring.

-Mark

After several years of trying to grow brussels sprouts, this year is my last attempt. The sprouts just never tighten up. Yours look pretty young. When did you start them? I think I read something last year that transplants should go in the ground in July down here. Unlike other brassicas that want a late summer/early fall planting.

Good luck.

Kevin

I put it in as a transplant from the nursery in September.

I'll fertilize soon and hope that encourages some growth.

You might get some on the spring. I put mine in in late May and they are just now getting big enough to bother harvesting. They are usually listed as about 110 day from transplant crop, but IME, they are more like 180 days. The stem will get longer before they start to form sprouts. When they do start forming sprouts all along the stem, pinch off the top so that they quit growing taller and start putting energy into growing the sprouts bigger.

The first year I tried them was the best. I don't know when I planted them, but I was a lazy winter gardener and would go out from time to time. They started looking really good and I mentioned it to the organic grocery guy where I worked with spec ed students.
He asked if I didn't have horrible troubles with aphids?
I realized that I had not been wearing my glasses when I went into the garden and they were just COVERED with them! No BS that year! I tried again with no luck the next year and gave up after that!
I planted some this year, but pretty late, so I don't expect anything til spring.
Lesson learned! Wear your glasses when inspecting your garden! LOL Nancy

Like others have said, you MIGHT be able to get something in the spring. Every time I've tried them in the fall with other brassicas it's been a fail. Actually, it's been a fail for Brussels no matter what time of year. Seems odd since all other brassicas do so well here in SoCal. If you don't get anything this year, try contacting your county extension to find the optimal planting date for next year.

Maybe they're just not to be here in SoCal.

Good luck.

Kevin

Actually I'm in the sacramento area, not so cal.
Not sure if that makes a difference for growing Brussels sprouts.

Yeah. I know that you're up North You just might be able to have better results since you do have cooler temps during the cooler months. I actually think it's the warmer temps in the fall and spring that play a part in my failures with them down here.

Kevin

Regarding the comments about having poor success on Brussels sprouts, i.e. not producing any or having them "not tighten up"... I also had this problem. For me, the solution was simply that I had to go with the hybrids, i.e. pick the right cultivar/variety. I've done well with Bubbles and Jade Cross Hybrids.

I'm probably not too different from you zone 10 folks w/r timing. I set plants in late September and usually harvest in February, sometimes later. For this reason I usually grow Brussels sprouts in places where I intend to plant later spring vegetables.

I used to start them from seed, but have switched to buying whatever the garden center has on offer, usually a hybrid. I plant in May, and just harvested this last week. About Sept 1 I was told to pinch out the terminal bud and knock off the bottom 3/4 of the leaves. High N fertilizer and lots of water. results have generally been good, but this year I noticed something odd. The sprouts that developed where I hadn't removed the leaves were easily twice the size as the rest of them. I don't know if this is due to the fact that they are at the terminus of the stalk and getting the end nutrients, or if the remaining leaf had something to do with it. Thoughts anyone?

Steve

Thanks grandad. Perhaps, if I don't get a harvest this time around, I'll give them one more chance. I think I might be done getting seeds from the big box stores -- they need to be more region/zone specific.

Kevin

As far as I understand it you only cut the terminal bud to promote even maturity of all the sprouts on the stalk. This is usually done for full stalk harvesting. For a longer harvest period like most gardeners want, you can just harvest the sprouts gradually from the bottom up and you'll get more producing all winter from the top bud.

I sell quite a lot of loose sprouts at thanksgiving time so I cut the tops of 3/4 of the plants to get lots of them sized up right around the holidays. The plants left with tops keep producing salable sprouts the rest of the winter.

As far as the issue of the sprouts without leaves not getting as large as the others, thats easy. The leaf feeds the sprout and if you remove the leaf the sprout suffers. I only remove leaves at harvest time when they start to yellow from the bottom up as the sprouts mature.

Hope this helps,
Mark

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It looks like you have a perfect Brussels Sprouts climate, they're perfect!! Those are the $5.99/pound ones in the market!! In my z5 garden, by now the growing season is done, even for Sprouts, so there is no harvesting all winter, looks like they really need a long growing period. Next year, I'll remove the main bud, but leave the leaves, see how that works. Thanks for the input and pictures Mark.

Steve