When to feed Calabrese?

[Bongo 76]

Hi,

The first tiny head has formed on one of my calabrese plants and I was wondering if and when they need a feed.
I've read to feed at this stage. I've also read elsewhere to feed after you have cut the main head. Maybe both?
I gave them Fish Blood & Bone on 19th June - i searched on here at the time because they were tiny and purple and now they are green and huge with baby broccoli !

BTW this is both my first post and first year growing veg.

[WendyC]

Not sure what is meant to be done but I find that Maxicrop seaweed fee, comes in a brown bottle good for giving brassicas a bit of a boost.

[Florence Fennel]

You've done really well Bongo. I've never fed calabrese and I will not be doing so again because theyve gone to seed. Enjoy the taste and welcome to the Vine.

[Bongo 76]

I'll look into that Wendy.
Florence, I have just one tiny head on one plant, can't it all still go wrong?

[Potstubsdustbins]

Hi Bongo and welcome to the madhouse.

Are you growing direct into the ground or in containers, as this will affect your feeding regime. I use a high nitrogen feed on my calabrese and purple sprouting brocolli, followed by high potash on my PSB.

Colin

[Florence Fennel]

I'll look into that Wendy.
Florence, I have just one tiny head on one plant, can't it all still go wrong?

Course it can, but be optimistic, you've come this far so why should it? Maybe do as Colin says to be on the safe side?

[leonmc0708]

You've done really well Bongo. I've never fed calabrese and I will not be doing so again because theyve gone to seed. Enjoy the taste and welcome to the Vine.

some of mine have small yellow flowers on - is this what you mean ?

Is it dead now then or can it still be eaten ?

[Aberdeenplotter]

The trick with brassicas as with all veg is to try to have them grow quickly but steadily from seed to the plate. To that end, it's quite important to prepare the brassica bed with plenty of fym/compost so that there is no hungry gap for the plants and of course the fym/compost also helps retain moisture in the ground in a normal year. By giving a sharp rise in nutrients, you can induce some plants to bolt (produce a flower head) but of course that is what the edible part of the broccoli plant is. The trick with broccoli is to cut the head and cook it before the individual flowers open and show their lovely yellow petals.

[leonmc0708]

so - if I have open yellow flowers am I too late to cut the head for side shoots then ?

[rustylady]

Leon, you need to cut the head off and hopefully your plant will then produce sideshoots. Trick is to cut them before the heads loosen up and produce the yellow flowers.

[leonmc0708]

am too late for that on a couple I am sure - thanks for the info.

[Kaiya]

I had one that flowered before it was 8 inches tall - very weird start! I still cut it's head off. If nothing comes of it then so be it, but it's been such a weird year anything that is still alive is left to try and produce.

Not sure about feeding - I'll probably chuck a bit of BFB around mine now myself, as even though the bed had some manure and they've been fed before, I suspect this rain has diluted the food in the soil.

[Bongo 76]

Thanks for the replies. Mine are planted direct in the ground, I never put any manure in the bed just gave them some BFB about 3 weeks later.
I might leave it for a while and see how they get on.

[Andromeda]

I'd be giving it a feed and keeping a very, very close eye on the head - once they start growing they tend to grow fast (at least in my experience).

[Currysniffa]

I've been cutting calabrese for a few weeks now in fact most of it is in the freezer now. I feed twice in the plants growing cycle, once after about a month and again as the heads form. I use Nitrochalk.