[Judd]

Some of the leaves have turned a purplish brown colour.I've had them outside a couple of weeks.
Any ideas?
I suppose I must have done something wrong

[mattwragg94]

they look fine to me, some brassicas do have a purple tinge

[Kleftiwallah]

Some varieties do have leaves that turn this 'interesting' colour, but your fibre pots may be losing moisture through evaporation and there doesn't seem to be quite enough compost in the pots.

I should repot into larger pots and monitor the watering.     Cheers,    Tony.

[DD.]

Purple can indicate a shortage of phosphorous, or as Tony says - a shortage of compost altogether!

Pot them up, or put them out.

[Judd]

I've been wondering if I could put them in the ground yet.
It looks like the roots are coming through the bottom of the pots!

Thanks a lot 

[chriscross1966]

Brussels are pretty hardy.... I' dget them into bigger pots ASAP adn start hardening off .... they don't need to be indoors once they've hatched (he says, guiltily knowing that his are only just coming up now in a heated propagator) ...

[sarajane]

They look to me ready to go out if they are hardened off, if not pot 'em up and into coldframe for a couple of weeks.

[DD.]

If you read Judd's original post again, he did say  that they have been outside for 2 weeks, so they should already be hardened off!

[potatogrower]

they look fine, time to move them to bigger pots with fresh compost.

[DD.]

That's too much faffing.

They've already been hardened off. Plant them out and be done with it, saves more compost as well.

[Runwell-Steve]

I too would plant them straight out in the ground.

Personally I would take them out of the fibre pots when you plant them in the ground as they don't rot away quick enough and tend to restrict root growth.

I don't bother with fibre pots any more, for most things I just use normal plastic pots, but if it is something that really hates its roots being disturbed I make some of richies paper pots if I can be bothered.  Alternatively I just wait and sow the seeds direct.

[DD.]

Fibre pots - invention of the devil!

[Judd]

I thought they looked a good idea when I bought them,well you live and learn.
I'll sling out what I've got left and never let them darken my doorstep again

I'll plant the brussels out as soon as it stops raining. I've got some caulis at about the same stage,are they ready to go out yet?

[DD.]

Yes, get them out, the fresh air will do them good!

[Goldfinger]

Fibre pots - invention of the devil!

+1! 

I've grown broad beans this year, half in fibre pots and the other half in loo roll centres.

The loo roll ones came up first - had more roots, and just looked stronger.

The fibre pots seemed to go 'slimy' when watered, and fell to bits when you handled them, even before you were ready to do anything with them.

Never again!