What can I do to get broccoli to form heads?

Broccoli is a healthy and versatile vegetable. When growing it, many gardeners encounter problems with heads failing to form. To ensure a healthy harvest, it's important to understand the cause and implement a number of preventative and curative measures.

Reasons

When caring for broccoli, gardeners often observe an unpleasant phenomenon: the plant begins to flower before it has time to form heads. Causes:

• poor soil quality;
• excess fertilizers (especially during the period of formation of the cabbage head);
• ambient temperature above 25 degrees;
• lack of sun;
• late harvest;
• lack of nutrition or watering.

The best fertilizers for broccoli are considered to be green tea and vermicompost.

Signs and symptoms

It's easy to tell if broccoli isn't forming full heads. There are two signs:

1. The head formed, but instead of developing, it began to bloom profusely.
2. The head does not form at all, the cabbage grows in height.

In both cases, the results from growing broccoli are zero. Therefore, at the first sign of trouble, you need to adjust your care and take measures to treat the plants.

What to do

If the main head of cabbage has begun to bloom, don't rush and immediately remove the plant from the garden. In most cases, after removing the central head, lateral ovaries begin to form. In this case, it's worth helping the plant grow and ensure a good harvest.

Folk methods

During the entire growing season, broccoli only needs to be fertilized three times. The first time is a week after planting the seedlings in the garden bed, the second time is 14 days later, and the third time is when the head is forming.

Cabbage responds positively to watering with fermented nettle infusion.

Brewer's yeast is also an effective fertilizer. This fertilizer is applied in the evening to well-warmed and pre-moistened soil.

A foliar fertilizer for ovaries is prepared using boric acid. Dissolve 1 teaspoon of the powder in 1 liter of hot water. Once the solution has cooled, add another 9 liters of cold water and spray the plants with the resulting mixture.

Chemicals

To ensure timely formation of ovaries and prevent them from blooming, you can use commercial fertilizers. Superphosphate and boron have proven effective. A teaspoon of these substances can be applied directly to the roots.

A urea solution (2 tbsp per 10 liters of water) is also used for watering.

Prevention

Broccoli requires careful and consistent care. Here are the basic growing guidelines:

1. Observe planting timing. The seed packaging should indicate whether the cabbage is suitable for summer, fall, or spring planting. The optimal temperature is 15-19 degrees Celsius (59-66 degrees Fahrenheit). Therefore, cabbage should be planted so that it has time to form before the onset of hot weather (before early June) or closer to fall (in which case, the head will form in September). In northern regions, it is acceptable to grow varieties intended for summer planting.
2. The right neighbors. Broccoli grows well next to cucumbers, peas, dill, beets, and carrots. Undesirable neighbors include onions and watercress.
3. In normal climates, water the plants every other day. If the summer is hot, water daily, in the evening.
4. Every year the planting location of broccoli needs to be changed.

Adviсe

Experienced vegetable growers give the following recommendations:

• in September, when the nights are cold, the head of cabbage forms more slowly, but is larger;
• when the head of cabbage reaches the size of a tennis ball, the leaves need to be tied over it;
• Cabbage plantings must be protected from direct sunlight throughout the entire period of head formation;
• The head must be cut off in a timely manner (the average head weight for a particular variety is indicated on the seed packaging); usually the crop is harvested when the head has reached a size of 10-25 cm, but has not yet flowered;
• the head of cabbage is cut off with a sharp knife; after the next feeding, new ovaries will form on the sides of the main stem;
• Heads cut early in the morning or late in the evening are stored better and longer.

Reviews

Galina Nikolaevna

I'd like to share my method for growing broccoli. I water the plants three times during the growing season with nettle infusion. Once a week, I sprinkle ash through a sieve over the plants and thoroughly loosen the soil. I also fertilize the beds annually with manure. These little tricks help ensure a good harvest – the broccoli doesn't grow too tall, and the heads stay firm and don't bloom prematurely.

Oleg

Through trial and error, I realized it's easier for me to use store-bought fertilizers and preparations. I just sprinkle the powder on time and don't have to mess around with manure, ash, and so on. For broccoli, I use superphosphate and boron.