How to produce perfect Calabrese?

[BertieFox]

Do any of you grow almost perfect Calabrese? You know the sort I mean, the huge deep green heads you see in the supermarkets, with tight flower heads and the size of a large dinner plate?

I have tried every year and coddle my F1 plants in the polytunnel with regular watering and protection from the elements.

I usually sow them in January and we are just beginning to harvest the heads now. The trouble is that although the plants are large, the heads are only three or four inches across, maximum. I do grow them on a fairly tight spacing, but that seems to work with cauliflowers, but maybe not with calabrese.

I do not feed with artificial nitrogen, but they do get every other attention. Would I be better to try an autumn crop, or simply give them much more space each plant. At the moment I plant them in blocks about eighteen inches apart.

We have a heavy clay soil which gets very dry outside in a typical summer, so we never succeed with this crop in a normal year except in the tunnel. We manage to get a few shoots in autumn outside.

If you grow really good calabrese, let me know how you do it, please!

[snakeshack]

I treat mine the same as my other brassicas and I'm on a heavy London clay soil deep mulched with cow manure. The calabrese heads I get are a good size , about 6-8 inches across, they don't get any special treatment just a handful of chicken manure pellets and a spot of lime when planting. By the way, after cutting the main heads the plant will continue to produce quite large spears for up to 8 weeks if you keep harvesting.I keep mine netted at all times with debris netting to prevent that " half a caterpillar moment" at dinner time


Sent from my iPhone using Grow Your Own Forum

[KevinM67]

I'm no expert - I had my first successful year with Calabrese last year.

Started off around late March, sowing seeds individually into fibre pots.

I kept them indoors until around late May and they were quite strong.
I've got clay soil myself, so potted them out with plenty of compost, keeping them in their fibre pots and spaced them about 1 1/2 feet apart.
Despite the hot summer, I only gave them 1 good soaking around the root area once a week.
I also fed them with my home-made nettle tea (matured for about 4-5 weeks prior) once a fortnight.
I kept them well protected from birds, although I could've done better with butterflies (a few caterpillars, but ho-hum)
The heads were massive and it's really the only time I have had any success.
I'm doing the same routine this year - it better work!!!

[Potstubsdustbins]

If I remember correctly Calabrese gets its name by way of coming from Calabria in southern Italy, it likes warm weather and lots of sun.

I have 2 one metre square containers and grow 9 plants in each so I don't think spacing is a problem. I do however prepare the beds well with a 7-7-7 granular fertiliser along with dried FYM so they are never short of nutrients.

I usually set seed in the middle of March in an unheated GH for protection and plant out round about this time of year. Because they are in containers and close together I have to keep a strict eye on the watering.

This usually results in one good head per plant and enough side shoots to give me the equivalent of 26 heads total weight. First pic is just some florets second one of my containers.

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

I think the weather conditions last year were just "Perfect" for "Broccoli" I seem to remember reading an article from the commercial "Growers" that they were pretty "Jubilant" in there results!

I too, like Kev had a bumper crop last year! and must admit, once in, were left pretty much to their own demise!



The main heads were like "Footballs"



And do ya like my little "Smiley faced" Kestral" potato? He still got eat!

Here's hoping this year will be a "Much of a muchness"

[binley100]

Mine started to bolt last year so just beheaded them and they kept us going with side shoots all through the winter ..only took them out a few weeks ago . Great return from a few plants

[Alison]

I grow it for autumn cropping but also over winter some in the polytunnel and get reasonable (but not huge) heads of it in March / April which is great - did it the first year just as I had some plants but always do it deliberately now. No real special treatment though, just a bit of feed in the planting hole.

[BertieFox]

Thanks everyone for the advice. It sounds like I am sowing it too early and hoping to get massive heads too early in the season. Next year I will try a March sowing instead of January and feed the plants as others have done.

I will also sow some now for an autumn crop, and grow it on in pots until I can plant it out on well composted ground. As long as we don't get a very dry summer it might succeed here or I may use some trickle irrigation pipe around the plants.

We are eating the first of our Calabrese today, and even if the heads aren't too big, it will still be delicious!

[redser]

Don't forget that the variety can make a difference. I had no luck until I tried Unwins Green Magic, recommended by an experienced local grower. I've only had success with this seed and as said above you get lots off the sideshoots for weeks and weeks

[Potstubsdustbins]

My favourite variety to. Been growing it a few years now, never seems to fail.

[lottie dolly]

thanks for the heads up lads

[BertieFox]

How to produce perfect Calabrese

I think I can answer my own question now... it's largely a question of space. Here's some snaps of the one plant which has produced a monster perfect head. It was given more space than the others and has come in a little bit later. On the far side of the tunnel I was too greedy and tried to plant three between the side and the edge of the one metre bed rather than two, and the ones nearest the north side of the tunnel have come to almost nothing. Had I grown a row of two only they would all have been better. The one in the photo is also in the next bed over in the tunnel so probably gets more light as well as more space. I know what to do next year anyway!

[Martin H]

This afternoon I was getting stuff ready to take down the allotment and plant tomorrow. My Calabrese has been hardening off and has 3 pairs of true leaves, good time to plant out I thought ... but then I noticed they all had little clusters of flower buds. Are they useless now?

I've never grown them before, I treated them the same as other brassicas: sow in modules, move to cold frame when germinated, thin out to strongest one in each, start hardening off when 2 pairs of true leaves. Is this wrong for Calabrese?

[BertieFox]

Once they have started to flower, you cannot unfortunately stop them, so they will just produce a tiny head of florets. Most of the flowering annual brassicas like caulis and calabrese need to be given plenty of space to develop in or they will go up to seed quickly. I would grow them on in larger pots as soon as they are tiny seedlings and get them planted out asap. Some people even say sow in situ. They do sell the plants in the market here just as seedling plants dug up from a seed bed, but I've always found a number of those go up to seed prematurely. It's far better if they can be grown on without a check and with plenty of water.