Okay, this is my first time ever growing broccoli. I almost killed it when it was still indoors, and then the bugs got at some of them and it was ages before I found the bugs that were doing it. So I've got a few plants that are huge and healthy, a few that are big and recovering from tons of holes, a few that are still very small, and a couple that I should probably give up on, that are just dead.
What I'm wondering, is what is the sort of timeline I should expect? I'm hopeful that the small ones will still eventually grow big and healthy and I'll just have a staggered harvest (not a bad thing). The ones that are currently big and healthy, are well over a foot tall, huge leaves and lots of them.
From what I understand, at some point it stops making just more leaves and puts up a big central stalk with the florets on it, and we have to pick it before the flowers bloom.
Or something like that.
I understand that homegrown broccoli will often be more skinny and less robust than the store-bought, and I'm okay with that. Considering how I almost killed these guys and they still recovered, I'll be proud to have any broccoli at all.
I'm just wondering -- at what point should they be sending up the flower stalk? What size are they generally when that happens? How long does it usually take before it can then be picked? Is broccoli something where you can cut off the stalk and it will grow a new one, ie, reharvestable, or will I cut down the whole plant and put something else in that spot?
Honestly, these guys are like miracle broccoli. There's one plant that had completely withered up and died, it fell over because there were literally no roots. I left it sitting where it was, just a little seedling with 2 old withered (reddened) leaves... and a couple weeks later I noticed it was greening up. It had started regrowing roots, just lying there on top of the dirt. I carefully replanted it. Within another couple weeks, it had turned all back to green and was growing. It's still very small compared to the others, but it's growing and seems healthy... it's like resurrection broccoli!
What I'm wondering, is what is the sort of timeline I should expect? I'm hopeful that the small ones will still eventually grow big and healthy and I'll just have a staggered harvest (not a bad thing). The ones that are currently big and healthy, are well over a foot tall, huge leaves and lots of them.
From what I understand, at some point it stops making just more leaves and puts up a big central stalk with the florets on it, and we have to pick it before the flowers bloom.
Or something like that.
I understand that homegrown broccoli will often be more skinny and less robust than the store-bought, and I'm okay with that. Considering how I almost killed these guys and they still recovered, I'll be proud to have any broccoli at all.
I'm just wondering -- at what point should they be sending up the flower stalk? What size are they generally when that happens? How long does it usually take before it can then be picked? Is broccoli something where you can cut off the stalk and it will grow a new one, ie, reharvestable, or will I cut down the whole plant and put something else in that spot?
Honestly, these guys are like miracle broccoli. There's one plant that had completely withered up and died, it fell over because there were literally no roots. I left it sitting where it was, just a little seedling with 2 old withered (reddened) leaves... and a couple weeks later I noticed it was greening up. It had started regrowing roots, just lying there on top of the dirt. I carefully replanted it. Within another couple weeks, it had turned all back to green and was growing. It's still very small compared to the others, but it's growing and seems healthy... it's like resurrection broccoli!
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