Brussell Sprouts
 

Has anyone else run into this problem before?
My brussell sprouts are about 18 inches tall and just starting to produce well when a couple of them had the growing tip at the top just start rotting. This is the first year I have ever seen this. The rot quickly spreads downward rotting the stalk as it goes. I pulled the few that had this. It came on with no warning. The plants look great and are growing good and then all of a sudden this stuff hits one and then another. The little leaves on the growth tip turn a kind of purplish light brown color and when I check them I find that they are mushy and the stem under them is also dissolving.
We have had a huge amount of rainfall this year and frequent cold snaps but my cabbage growing right beside them look terrific. I cover when temps drop below freezing.

I've grown Sprouts for years. I've never had the top go bad. But we have had the stem near ground level turn to mush in a really wet year.

I think the combo of too much rain AND covering them is what did them in. ALL the cole crops will take a whole lot of freezing temps with no problems. We have harvested sprouts after the temps got down under 20* and they were great.

But covering them probably kept them too damp for too long and started the rot.

Carol

none of mine matured this last year. Largest was the size of a small marble, and then they froze out. they were in the ground in april, and still didnt make it to maturity by december. not wasting the space on them any more.

Tom

never saw this and grew them for a few seasons. i have had cabbage root maggots attack from the ground up and turn a good sided head into mush. bs and cabbage are in the same family but this doesn't sound like root maggots. i wonder if it's a southern (insect) problem?

[QUOTE=Wi-sunflower;157272]I've grown Sprouts for years. I've never had the top go bad. But we have had the stem near ground level turn to mush in a really wet year.

I think the combo of too much rain AND covering them is what did them in. ALL the cole crops will take a whole lot of freezing temps with no problems. We have harvested sprouts after the temps got down under 20* and they were great.

But covering them probably kept them too damp for too long and started the rot.

Carol[/QUOTE]

I don't think the covering did this because I did it last year and it was not nearly as cold as this year. I think it probably is related to the rain. We have had one torrential downpour after another. I think it may be something similar to those soilborne onion rots that attack the growth areas and happen after heavy rains sometimes.
It's just so weird to see the healthy looking growth tips just wither overnight. It's also very frustrating because it is so hard to make brussell sprouts down here. Some years they do great, but most years they are a problem to grow. Our winters are sometimes too short for the plant to develop any size before spring hits. When spring gets here you don't have long to produce before it just gets too hot.