Brassica oleracea gemmifera
Brassica oleracea gemmifera
Safety & Hazards
None known
Cultivation Details
Brussels sprouts have been developed in the temperate zone from the wild cabbage and are tolerant of quite cold winters. The plant grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 2 -20°c, but can tolerate 7 - 25°c[1]. A daily variation in temperature is required, with night temperatures of 16°c or lower[1]. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about -10°c, but young growth can be severely damaged at -5°c[2, 1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 900 - 1,600mm, but tolerates 500 - 3,000mm[1]. Succeeds in full sun in a well-drained fertile preferably alkaline soil[2]. Prefers a medium to heavy calcareous soil[3, 4, 2]. Succeeds in any reasonable soil. Succeeds in maritime gardens[2]. Prefers a pH in the range 6 - 7, tolerating 4.5 - 7.8[2, 1]. Brussels sprouts are available to harvest from late autumn to late winter, there are many named varieties. The flavour is said to improve and become sweeter after the plants have been hardened off by a sharp frost[1]. Yields of 8 - 12 tonnes per hectare may be obtained[1].. It is possible to bring the harvest period forward and produce more evenly spaced sprouts by removing the plants main growing point. Called 'stopping', it should be carried out when the lower sprouts reach a diameter of about 10mm. Late cultivars are unsuitable for this treatment[2].
Propagation
Seed - sow in a seedbed outdoors in early spring. Plant out in early summer. In order to produce a larger or earlier crop, the seed can also be sown under glass in late winter and planted out in late spring. Do not let the seedlings get overcrowded or they will soon become leggy and will not make such good plants. If your seedlings do get leggy, it is possible to plant them rather deeper into the soil - the buried stems will soon form roots and the plant will be better supported. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Brassica+oleracea+gemmifera>
Pollinators
Bees
References
- [1]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
- [2]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
- [3]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
- [4]New Vegetable Growers Handbook. — Simons. · Penguin · 1977 · ISBN 0-14-046-050-0 ↩︎A good guide to growing vegetables in temperate areas, not entirely organic.
- [5]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
- [6]The Gardener's Assistant. — Thompson. B. · Blackie and Son. · 1878 · ISBN - ↩︎Excellent general but extensive guide to gardening practices in the 19th century. A very good section on fruits and vegetables with many little known species.
- [7]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
- [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎