Misbehaving sprouts

[bikermike]

Hello all! Been a while.

my sprouts are not sprout-ing

at the moment I am growing cabbages-on-stilts

they went back in may(?) and are probably too close together. Is there any way of persuading them to sprout sprouts?

[Snoop Puss]

Might not be something you want to try with all of them, just in case, but what do you think might happen if you cut the top off one to see what happens?

Sorry to use you as an experiment, but at least you/we'd know for next time.

Nice to see you back, by the way. Hope things are going well.

[Bren In Pots]

I don't know the answer bikermike but I do know sprout tops taste very good.

[Jungle Jane]

Do the stilts have leaves on? Or are the leaves only at the top,I wonder what they look like? Maybe they’re just being slow to produce the sprouts,some are ready to pick later than others.

[roitelet]

In order to produce firm sprouts the plants need very firm ground and stakes to prevent wind rock.

[bikermike]

Thanks all! Nice to be back.
interesting re wind-rock, they've always sprouted before, and I can't see their current location being any windier, but it's something to try.
I'll also take the top off one to see. They indeed do taste good

Mike

[Chippy Minton]

I have the same, not sure why, cabbages on a stick, not enough for Christmas . Probably too close together, maybe next year fewer plants will result in more sprouts.

[bikermike]

Cabbage kebabs?
probably too close together. I put shorter brassicas round the edge (cauli) but they grew late and up this year...

[Snoop Puss]

The sprout plants I interplanted in the Charles Dowding manner haven't done anything like as well as the sprouts set apart at the usual distance with no undercropping. Perhaps they don't like the competition. I might interplant with very low-lying flowers next year and see how that goes.

[Jungle Jane]

I interplanted calendula amongst sprouts the last time I grew them next to the shed,uncovered,I don’t really like the look of netting in the garden. There were less aphids & moth/caterpillar eggs next to the flowers,I think the scent might’ve helped. I grew French marigolds interplanted with sprouts under netting years ago,it felt weird having net over flowers,bees couldn’t get in but also those flowers are lower growing compared to the taller calendula,the calendula can drape itself around the sprout plant. Any strong scented flower could disguise the scent a bit.

[bikermike]

Well, there will be sprouts, just not for christmas. A few of the middle plants have got nice thick stems with sproutlets forming. Over-planting must be the issue then.

Oh well, tall cabbage on xmas day then

[Bren In Pots]

They'll taste good no matter how long you have to wait for them Mike.