[01-7700]

I love them but have not been able to grow them outside due to cabbage worms. Where do these worms come from? How do they find every cabbage crop I have ever planted outside? I won't use pesticides but I will use indoor hydroponics. Growing indoors using hydroponics has a number of benefits including no pests, no watering, no worry about frosts. The unknowns are spacing, varied nutrients through its going cycle, and providing the right structure to support the plants. I'm in the planning stages now and hope to have a crop growing by mid February.

 

[harrylee]

I have never grown brussels sprouts or cabbage for that matter. Googling what they are and remedies, they sound a lot like potato bugs, which I get. I don't use pesticides either. Apparently they come out of the soil. What i do is just go over the plants and pull them off by hand. You are supposed to drop them in soapy water to drown them, but I just squish them with my fingers.....more humane that way.....lol. They also lay eggs under the leaves, need to get them off too.

 

[01-7700]

Thanks. I have a lot of experience with potato beetles year after year. It seems the better you do one year the less you have the next. They are easy to control by hand as you do or use a coffee can and paint brush as I do. The nice thing about potato beetles is they climb to the top of the plant for easy removal. Cabbage worms dig in deep and are harder to find. You can get some of them but most remain.

 

[john.infla]

last season, My wife planted a couple of rows of Purple Brussels and they made big leafy stalk plants that took up a LOT of room - then, we read that it took between 3 and 7 months (or longer) for them to bear fruit - that is ridiculous. I did cook some of the tender leaves like Collards but they weren't all that impressive to me - so we won't be doing THAT again.
I'll be getting my brussels from the frozen foods dept. and try something different this year.

 

[01-7700]

It seems most of what you can grow takes more effort than it's worth when you can buy it for so cheap. Potatoes don't take much effort up here in Maine. It seems they will grow anywhere. I can grow 100 lbs in a small plot or buy 100 lbs, 5 lbs at a time from the store for $5. It's not about the cost or effort. Have you ever had a fresh potato straight from the ground? The skin is so light you can peel it with your fingernail.

I've never had a fresh brussels sprout - I bet they are tasty. Ours come from California. You can see how long it has been since they were harvested by the browning where they were cut.

Looking at commercial grows it seems like they have great food density / square foot - I bet I can do better with hydroponics.

 

[john.infla]

01 - I saw that photo too and was thinking that maybe you are supposed to trim the leaves way back to produce fruit ?
doesn't matter, like you said, the cheap price justifies buying from the store. (fresh or frozen).
I could have used that 5x15' tract of land for something more beneficial. (peanuts, etc.)

 

[01-7700]

I'm sure there's a craft to growing them correctly - trimming, right fertilizers at the right time - you'd get more peanuts per tract for sure.

I tried to grow tobacco here one year - it was an amazing success - also have experimented with ancients wheats, hazelnuts, peaches.

I'm going to try oranges in my sunroom - get a pot big enough but also small enough to move outside during summer and back inside during winter.

 

[john.infla]

if you want to try citrus, there are several "container types" on the market that you can order by mail.
be careful - some can not be shipped out of Florida.
places like Lowe's, Home Depot, Costco, etc carries them but man-oh-man are they EXPENSIVE. (but I'm sure you know that already). the Cara-Cara orange is a miniature Temple - Naval type and the 3 I have are 3 years old and only 3ft tall and right now are covered in sweet blossoms that the bees love. and they fruit twice a year, with full sun.
if you are interested in Tropical Fruit, look through this one: The Tropical Fruit Forum - Index

 

[01-7700]

I like the idea of growing cara cara bushes. I will endeavor to have a few going in pots that I can move outside and back in when the season suits them.