Purple Sprouting Broccoli problem

[Penellype]

Hello all - this looks a nice friendly forum with lots of helpful people

There is a serious problem with slugs and snails in my garden, which means that I start off all of my veg indoors or in pots surrounded with copper tape. I absolutely won't use slug pellets, hence my rather odd way of doing things. I also have limited space and grow a lot of fruit and veg, so there is usually a queue for slots!

I have a problem with my broccoli this year. The variety is Early Purple Sprouting (T&M) which I bought last year, and (apart from caterpillars) had no problems with last year. This year I started off 5 seeds in a pot indoors in early June (using Westland multipurpose compost), at the same time as some cabbage (Hispi). All the seeds germinated and they were moved to my Grow Light Garden and potted up into 3 inch pots at the 2 true leaf stage. So far so good. By early July 2 of the 5 plants had a wilted leaf, which quickly went brown and died. The cabbages were thriving and by this time were big enough to plant out into their final position in the garden. I thought maybe the light was too bright for the broccoli (I didn't have the Grow Light Garden last year) so I moved them to the windowsill and then outside, but they continue to look sick - the leaves are curled at the edges and they are a grey-green colour rather than the more normal green. They have been well watered, so they are not too dry.

Any ideas? Could they be too hot? Should I ditch them and plant some more or is it too late (seed packet says May-June)?

[roitelet]

Hi Penellype, Welcome to the vine.

The problem with your PSB could be too hot and too wet. If you want to sow some more you could do so now. The plants won't be as big as the earlier sown ones. I sow mine late as it won't stand the winter here and I have to grow it in the Tunnel so dont want huge plants.

[Indigo23]

Hello, Penellype. I don't have any advice, just wanted to say hi and welcome to the vine.

[Two_Sheds]

Brassicas really don't like being too hot. They don't like summer windowsills and they don't like greenhouses.

they do best if they're put outside asap

[Scarlet]

As TS has said, they need to be outside. Mine are kept in pots sat in large plastic trays in the shady part of the garden.
What size pots are they in? In this weather pots dry out fast, if they are in a small pot they are probably getting too dry and have run out of nutrients as well.
I never use slug pellets, just do a few patrols in the evening and get rid of them...

[Penellype]

Thanks for all the replies. I think the answer is that they are too hot and probably also too wet. They were in 3 inch pots, but I've potted them up into 5 inch ones, although there weren't many roots visible so they clearly weren't pot bound. I've put them outside in the shade, in a tray balanced on the top of one of my compost bins, as that's the only space available at the moment! I'll also sow a few more seeds as insurance in case these don't recover.

[rustylady]

If there weren't many roots then they've probably rotted in the hot wet compost. You might have been better leaving them in the original pots and drying them out a bit.