[milan]

Hi everyone 

I have looked at some of the previous posts and picked up a little info about purple sprouting but wondered if you would all be good enough to provide me with a little more :-)

we have 5/6 purple sprouting plants, 1 of them looks in great condition and has a head coming through which we have just picked to help encourage the side shoots. the other plants have absolutely nothing and have been badly got my caterpillars and pigeons (grr) - quite a few leaves on these ones are turning yellow - can anyone offer any help on what we need to do about the yellow leaves? assuming it means too much/little water or else some other kind of deficiency but im unsure what...

thanks 

[Jonajo]

last summer when I planted my psb out (for harvesting this spring) I had some yellowish leaves but I ignored them. They did little else over the autumn and the winter.

In fact I did very little to the plants at all apart from water when it needed it. All I did was cover them up with fine netting to protect from bird and butterfly attacks - and come this spring had a wonderful crop.

[Paul Plots]

last summer when I planted my psb out (for harvesting this spring) I had some yellowish leaves but I ignored them. They did little else over the autumn and the winter.

In fact I did very little to the plants at all apart from water when it needed it. All I did was cover them up with fine netting to protect from bird and butterfly attacks - and come this spring had a wonderful crop.

Good advice here = cover them, make sure they don't dry out and wait patiently. 

[milan]

thanks :-)

we did have them covered a while ago but they grew too tall for the hoops/netting so we uncovered... perhaps we should try and 'craft' something so we can put it back together.....

[Paul Plots]

Mine often grow to palm tree height -(I must get them planted - late this year!)- and have had same problem with keeping them pigeon free in the past.... 

I found a fairly loose covering of netting is enough to keep the birds off - I use canes with pots on the top but any stake large enough to prevent the netting sliding down over it would do. I drape the netting over and use tent pegs here and there to keep it in place.


Caterpillars can chew a fair few holes in the leaves - I collect them with a jar and a small paint brush if it gets bad - the PSB plants will grow away from most damage so I don't panic too much about caterpillars..

Biggest problem is having patience - but the crop is well worth waiting for. 

[milan]

sorry to come back on this one but.... we took the top out of the one which was producing and ive just been out to find its now got loads more shoots of sprouting! lots of side shoots too. should i pick them out too or let them grow and harvest? (the other plants still have nothing)

thx 

[Yorkie]

The side shoots will be small but harvestable, just keep an eye on them

[milan]

when you say keep an eye on them - what am i keeping an eye for? 

(never grown it before, never really eaten it either!)

[Salmo]

Your odd one out that is producing heads now has either got its seasons muddled of is another variety that has got into the packet. PSB should not produce any heads at all until next April

Keep picking the small side shoots from this plant as they head up and enjoy them. Leave this plant where it is when the side shoots stop growing, it may well start shooting again with its siblings in the Spring.