Hi everyone. Everything in my garden is doing really well, except my broccoli! Every plant has some of the leaves turning white. There is still new growth, which is looking good. Its just some of the bigger leaves. Any ideas? Thanks.
I should mention that these are not from seed. I totally cheated and bought veggie packs to throw in the ground! If that makes a dif.
Hi Jenny--I've had the same thing on my transplants...can't actually remember what I put it down to, but either some weather related shock, or some kind of nutrient deal. In any case, I'm sure it will and indeed is growing right out of whatever it is... I know this is kinda vague, but just wanted to reassure you to be patient and let the plants get rooted in, and you should have no problems once they get settled. Sometimes cell packs suffer once you pull the roots apart, if they were several in a pack type transplants. Also growing in greenhouses, they can get a shock going out on the sales tables at the garden centres, plus going from there into our gardens. One thing with broccoli and all the cabbage family, they do great with a nitrogen boost esp. at this stage...I've used canola and now alfalfa meal myself. The bigger that plant gets before it produces it's yummy flower buds, the bigger the buds=broccoli heads for us. Without that extra fertility, it can be disappointing.
I think the whitening is sun-bleaching of the leaves that were on the plant when it went into the ground. I have not grown much cabbage here, but I remember there being a pest that lays it eggs on the plants and causes a kind of club-root disease. There are small rings that can be put onto the base of the stem to prevent the bugs from getting to the roots. Once the disease is in the soil you can't grow and cabbage family plants there for several years. You might want to look into that and maybe someone can clarify what I am half remembering from my gardening in Seattle days. (I just moved recently and a package of those barriers surfaced in one of my old stored boxes of stuff.)
There were 6 plants in the little pack they came in. I was as gentle as I could be but the roots were pretty tangled, maybe that is it! I will give them a little bost on the weekend! Did you cut the bad leaves off or leave them? Thanks!