Learn how to grow Brussel sprouts in containers. Growing Brussel sprouts in containers are not difficult, and with little efforts, you can have this nutty and sweet vegetable at home.
This growing guide is going to enlight us on how to grow Brussels sprouts in containers or how to grow Brussels sprout in a pot, but before we go into the guide let us see what we are going to study and gets from this guide and also the objectives of this guide before we continue.
After reading this guide you should be able to know :
- choosing a container or pot
- planting time
- things you will need in growing
- how to grow Brussels sprouts from seeds
- how to grow Brussels sprouts indoors
- Growing Brussels sprouts in containers guide
- Brussels sprouts Care
Now that we have come up with the objectives of this guide that is growing Brussels sprouts in a container and know what we are going to get out of this guide, then it’s time for us to start the ball rolling.
let start now ….
Recommended USDA Zones– 2 – 10, can be grown in almost every climate, planting time varies
Soil pH– Neutral
GROWING BRUSSEL SPROUTS IN CONTAINERS: GETTING START
You’ll probably want to start growing Brussel sprouts from seed. Use this article of post for guidance
Brussels sprouts are small leafy green buds that look like miniature cabbages.
These crops, famous for their edible buds, have long been grown in Belgium. Many are now taking particular interest in these sprouts for their health benefits.
Now you can also grow them at home with these Brussels Sprouts Little Baby Cabbages Vegetable Garden Seeds.
The clusters of small leafy buds are nice to look at. Your ripe 1-1.5 inch round sprouts are ready for harvest as soon as leaves break off and shed.
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Brussels sprouts are exceptionally rich in vitamins, minerals, protein, dietary fibre, and antioxidants which work wonders to get rid of many health troubles.
You might even convince the kids to eat their vegetables when you serve these little baby cabbages (we recommend stir-frying with bacon and butter!). They are flavor-packed and can be enjoyed in multiple ways.
Highly nutritious: The buds are an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid, many B-complex groups of vitamins such as niacin, vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), thiamin, pantothenic acid and more. They are also rich in copper, calcium, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus
Contains anti-cancer properties: Brussels sprouts are the storehouse of many flavonoid anti-oxidants like thiocyanates, indoles, lutein, zeaxanthin, sulforaphane, and isothiocyanates. These phytochemicals are known to offer protection from prostate, colon, and endometrial cancers.
Brussel sprouts don’t do too well in hot, dry weather, so they are usually planted later in the year than most crops – approximately 100 days before the first chance of frost, or late July/early August.
Of course, in some areas, it is not unusual to get frost much sooner, so if there are frost warnings in September, you may want to move your containers indoors overnight or cover the plants with a burlap bag.
Frost in late October when the plants are reaching maturity is actually very beneficial.
Prepare your containers with well-draining potting soil mixed with a balanced fertilizer. Follow the directions on the bag. As a general rule, you will use 1 tablespoon of 14-14-14 fertilizer for three gallons of potting soil.
Fill a 12-inch diameter container, 12 inches deep with the moistened soil and fertilizer mix. There should be about two inches of space from the soil to the top of the rim.
Choosing a Pot / Container
A standard 5-7-gallon sized planter, at least 12 inches deep and 12-14 inches in diameter is suitable for growing Brussels sprouts in containers. You can grow one plant in such a container. To grow a couple of plants together, choose a minimum 15-gallon pot or in other words, a pot that is at least 18 inches in diameter. In a square foot of area, you can try to grow 2 plants.
Tip: Choose a clay pot to grow this vegetable if you’re growing it in a frost-free area. As clay pots remain cool, drains well and provide good air circulation.
Planting Time
Brussels Sprout is picky about the growing conditions. It’s a cool-season crop and has the best taste when it matures in the cool air temperature. So, keep that thing in mind when you plan to grow Brussels sprouts.
Planting in early spring and spring is ideal for regions with cool summers. In temperate and moderate climates, start growing Brussel sprouts in mid-summer to late summer or even early fall for the fall and early winter harvest. And, if you live in a frost-free climate with mild winters, fall (autumn) and the winter is the best time to start growing brussel sprout in containers to get a winter or spring harvest.
GROWING BRUSSEL SPROUTS IN CONTAINERS
Brussels sprouts (Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera) resemble baby cabbages, all lined up in neat rows on the tall stalks. These plants naturally grow vertically without support, making them a suitable addition to a space-saving container garden. Brussels sprouts grow best in cool weather, and they may fail to form sprouts if it’s too hot. They take about 90 days to produce sprouts, so gardeners often plant them in early summer for a fall crop or in early spring so they can mature before the heat of summer.
Things You Will Need
- 12-inch diameter Container
- Potting soil
- 14-14-14 slow-release fertilizer
- 15-30-15 soluble fertilizer
- Shears
- Fill a 12-inch diameter, 12-inch deep pot with potting soil. Mix 1 1/2 tablespoons of 14-14-14 slow-release fertilizer into the potting mix. Water the soil until the excess moisture begins to drain from the bottom of the pot.
- Plant one brussels sprout seedling in the pot, setting it at the same depth it was growing at in its previous container. Place the pot in a location that receives full, all-day sunlight immediately after planting.
- Feel the soil in the container at least once a day. Water when the top 1 inch of soil feels dry. Soil dries out more quickly in a container, and brussels sprouts may require daily watering during hot or dry weather.
- Dissolve 1 tablespoon of 15-30-15 soluble fertilizer in 1 gallon of water. Water the brussels sprouts with the solution every two weeks, beginning about six weeks after transplanting. Frequent watering leaches fertilizer from the container, so regular reapplications ensure the plant gets the necessary nutrients to produce well.
- Pull off the bottom six to eight leaves on the plant’s stalk when it begins to develop sprouts, which allows the plant to focus more energy on sprout development. Cut off the top of the stalk, below the growing point near the tip, when the sprouts are forming but about half their mature size.
- Twist the Brussels sprouts from the main stalk when they reach their mature size of 1 to 2 inches in diameter. Harvest from the bottom of the stalk and work up as the sprouts mature. Lower sprouts mature earlier than the top ones.
Tip
Container-grown plants are less prone to pests and diseases. Wash your hands and gardening tools before working with the plants to further minimize pest problems. Aphids are the most common pest, which you can rinse off the foliage with a sharp spray of water.
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Growing Brussels Sprouts from Seeds
Get the seeds of dwarf Brussels to sprout varieties for containers. Start seeds in the seed pots or directly in the desired containers, either indoors or outdoors, depending on the temperature. For the germination of seeds, the soil temperature should be in the range of 45 – 85 F (7 – 30 C).
Sow seeds 1/2-inch-deep, wait for a few days for the baby plants to emerge, which usually takes 5 – 20 days. Once the seedlings have shown their first pair of leaves, thin them and save the healthiest one only. And when these seedlings have grown a few inches (4 – 5 inches approximately), transplant them.
You can also look for transplants in the nearby nursery if you missed sowing seeds on time or want readily available plants.
Growing Brussels Sprout Indoors
Growing Brussels sprouts indoors is possible, if you’ve got a spot that receives enough sunlight. They need at least 6 hours of direct sunlight.
GROWING BRUSSEL SPROUTS IN CONTAINER GUIDE
Location
Choose a location that is sunny and has good air circulation to have productive plants. Although avoid the windy site for sure, otherwise the plants may fall over as Brussels sprouts are unstable plants due to their thin bases. Also, the windy site affects the productivity of this vegetable.
*In warmer regions, keep this vegetable in a partially shaded spot.
Soil
Like other Cabbage family plants, Brussels sprouts do well in the slightly clayey growing medium as this helps in having firm roots and keeping the soil moist. Fill the pot with a quality potting mix that is well-draining, light, deep, humus-rich and slightly clayey. The soil pH should be neutral, additionally, add well-rotted manure to the soil at the time of planting.
Tip: Cabbage family crops like Brussels sprouts are prone to Boron deficiency. You can look for symptoms like hollow stems, small sprouts, low productivity, slow growth, dying growing tip. However, these symptoms are very common, that’s why if soil testing is possible, do that. If you’re sure about Boron deficiency, apply borax. Learn more here!
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Watering
Growing Brussels sprouts need evenly moist soil, so water regularly. It is important to prevent the drying of the soil in the period when the plant is maturing and at the time of head formation. Also, avoid overwatering.
Staking
Staking is important to keep Brussels sprouts growing in containers upright and prevent them from falling over, especially if the planting location is windy as they’re top-heavy plants.
BRUSSELS SPROUT CARE
Fertilizer
Brussels sprouts are heavy feeders; you can mix well-rotted manure at the time of planting in the potting mix and side-dress the plants either with compost or manure or with balanced fertilizer 3-4 weeks later after the transplanting time. Again when they’re half-grown, apply fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 5-10-5 or 5-10-10 according to the instructions on the product. Alternatively, you can also feed this vegetable crop with liquid fertilizer instead of time-based every other week.
Mulching Brussel sprouts
You can skip mulching when you’re growing Brussels sprouts in containers. But doing this helps in keeping the soil cool and moist.
Pruning Brussel sprouts
Prune the lower leaves as you pick the matured sprouts from the bottom to help the plant in concentrating on becoming taller and developing more leaves and sprouts on the top part.
For a home gardener, harvesting Brussels sprouts from the bottom-up is the best way to ensure the steady supply of this nutty and sweet-tasting vegetable. But if you want your sprouts all at once, cut off the terminal bud (top part) 3-4 weeks before harvesting time.
Brussel Sprouts Pests and Disease
Pests and disease are very rare in container-grown plants, especially if you dump the soil at the end of the season and start each new crop with fresh, clean soil.
Since you will probably only have about one or two plants, keeping an eye out for any aphids or cabbage worms is not a very big deal.
Since you’re growing Brussels sprout in a pot and using quality potting soil, don’t worry about the soil-borne diseases like clubroot and fusarium wilt (yellows). By providing good air circulation around the plant and avoiding overhead watering you can prevent downy mildew and powdery mildew. Keep an eye on pests like aphids, thrips, cabbageworm, and flea beetles.
Harvesting Brussel Sprouts
Usually, to reach the harvesting window, the plant takes around 3 months of time after transplanting, depending more on the variety. Harvest the sprouts from the bottom as they mature earlier than the top ones, when they are 1 to 2 inches in diameter, looking firm and green.
Pick the sprouts by turning and twisting them carefully without damaging your Brussels sprouts growing in containers.
The main reason many Brussel sprouts taste so bad is that they have not been grown in ideal conditions. The sprouts like to mature in cooler temperatures – between the low 60s and 70s Fahrenheit.
When you know how to grow Brussel sprouts, you’ll know to harden them off. The flavour really comes out if they are allowed to experience touch or two of frost. The below-freezing temperatures convert the starch into sugar, giving the sprouts a wonderful flavor.
You can begin harvesting Brussel sprouts when they are about one inch in diameter. Unless you have hybrid plants, they will mature at different times, with the bottom ones reaching maturity sooner than the upper ones.
To harvest the entire plant at the same time, without using hybrids, chop off the top. This means, about two weeks before you want to harvest, cut off the top of the plant where there are no more sprouts, and remove all leaves.
This will force all of the energy to go into developing the sprouts because the plant will not be able to grow any taller.
This brief video shows how farmers cut down their Brussel sprout plants. It’s just a question of cutting through the thick stalk just above the soil.
Fresh Brussel sprouts will always taste the best, but if you want to store some for later use, you can keep them in a plastic bag in the fridge for up to three weeks.
Or you can blanch and freeze them. The sprouts can also be kept on the stalk for several weeks. Just pull out the entire plant and store it in a cold area.
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