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Originally Posted by b54red
I have never grown Castle Dome broccoli but have grown many others. Does it have a small bead and tight head that holds up during hotter weather? I am always on the lookout for a variety that will do well here in the south and since you are further south anything you grow should do well here.
My favorite is Coronado Crown which makes very large tight heads that hold well along with huge side shoots as large as most main heads on other varieties. This year they seem to have stopped producing this great hybrid so I am growing more of my second choice which is Gypsy. Now if the squirrels will just let a few of them alone I might get some broccoli this fall and winter. I will also be starting new seedlings for my spring broccoli soon.
Bill
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I am only now growing Castle Dome under good weather conditions. I grew CD the first time at the end of the season this spring. It was in the Raised Bed for the month of April and it was quite hot but it did fairly well and outperformed both Lieutenant and Premium Crop. This season I started with CD only and it was in the RB for Sep and Oct. September was very hot and October was just hot but CD did relatively well, given the circumstances. Now I have the second crop of Broccoli in and hope to get a better idea of its capabilities.
Seminis (the seed company) writes: “Castle Dome . . . is an early maturing hybrid broccoli with excellent holding ability. This versatile variety offers good heat tolerance, as well as cold vigor. The compact, open plant produces uniform heads that are deep and domed with tight, small beads. . . .”
I largely agree with this but I’m not sure I would call it deep domed, if I really know exactly what that means. It appears domed enough to me to shed water well, which is what I want.
In the Clemson, Organic Broccoli Cultivar Trial and Organic/Conventional Broccoli Plant Density Trial they write several things which are favorable for Castle Dome. Large Diameter and Small Stem, Nice Color, Texture excellent, Most Preferred Processing Qualities.
My experience is similar in most cases but not all. The heads were adequate size, the stem is not particularly large but the plant in general is smaller than any other variety I have tried (I’m guessing that is one of the reasons it is so early; i.e. it doesn’t have to waste a lot of time growing a large plant before it starts producing a head). Nice Color quite possibly because all the pictures show that, but for me most were a kind of light lime green. Not an unpleasant color to me but somewhat unusual for broccoli. My guess is that the color for me will be more normal when I grown under more normal conditions rather than the extreme heat I grew it under. We’ll see. Texture Excellent and Most Preferred Processing Qualities. I find the CD heads to be nice to prepare and cook. The florets maintain their shape and don’t fall apart nearly as bad as others I have worked with. Even when cooking everything seems to stay in place and I didn’t have a bunch of beads crumple away from the florets.
Also, I found that CD not only held up well in the heat but also seemed to hold up in the garden better than others I’ve grown. For me Packman was the worst. Before I knew it those little beads would pop open and I quickly would have a yellow looking head of Broccoli.
For now, Castle Dome Broccoli gives me a variety that performs very well in extreme conditions, I like very much to eat it and also it is quite early. Castle Dome is a variety that I will continue to grow, at least until I find something which I think is better.
Larry