Hey, Aunt Kathy!

I also considered titling this post "Impeccable Timing."

Last week I discovered some insect damage to my Brussels sprouts. I spent the weekend taking pictures fully intent on a blog post about it. Then my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dave stopped in for a visit. She really wanted to see my garden because she's getting back into it now that she's retired and getting over some serious health issues. And her questions about organic solutions to insect damage were exactly what I was going to cover in the post.

So, Aunt Kathy, this blog post is for you.

***
Two weeks ago we had some pea size hail come through with a storm front. The next day I noticed damage to the Brussels sprouts. Now, keep in mind these poor plants have had a really rough winter, so it seemed appropriate they were getting beat up again. But upon further examination, and comparing what I saw on them compared to elsewhere in the garden, I discovered it wasn't hail damage at all. Hail hit the entire garden, but the damage I saw on my fall planting Brussels sprouts didn't match what I saw on the transplants I put in a few weeks ago.

Holey Brussels Sprouts

Not Holey Brussels Sprouts

And then upon closer inspection, I found the culprits.

Cabbage worms!

More cabbage worms!

Cabbage worms! And come to think of it, I believe I saw the butterfly (adult) form of these guys the same day I was planting the spring transplants. That may explain why I don't see damage (yet) on the other plants.

So now I'm in control mode. If you are not squeamish there is one sure-fire way to get rid of these guys - hand removal. Conveniently I have some willing accomplices for this task.

The willing accomplices. They work fast.

When you have worms this big there are some limitations on what you can use for chemical control. I turn to my trusty garden dust for something like this. It kills them quickly, and that's important to me given how fast the cabbage worms can devour a plant at this stage of development.

Personally I like the dust because I can see where it lands, but the same chemical is available in spray form too. The active ingredient is carbaryl, which is what is found in most "garden pest" products you can find in any garden or home store.

Now that I know the butterflies are active I'll be switching into prevention mode too. For that I like to use a different product type.

This uses Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria, something naturally occurring in the soil but at higher concentrations it kills many worms and caterpillars that attack garden and farm crops. It is labeled for use in organic gardening (Aunt Kathy, this is what you asked about). Those of you who follow this blog know I'm all for the right tool for the right job, so why I like it is because it is very effective when the cabbage worms are very, very small. But when the worms get to be the size of the ones I found it doesn't work as well. It's also a spray, which means I can get it to stick in places that I can't get the garden dust, which also happen to be the places the caterpillars hatch and get their start. I used to be able to find Bt products at my local big-box store but now I'm having to buy it from my favorite online gardening retailer.

Any pesticide, whether it is a chemical dust or a bacterial spray, does have safe handling instructions and limits on when you can harvest the vegetables. Always read the label before use. Regardless, you should always wash vegetables thoroughly if they have been treated with any product for pest control.

I've looked into using barrier fabrics for the garden, but given the way my cats and chickens like to destroy things I don't know if it will work for my situation. I did buy a few at an end-of-season sale last year and I'm going to try it on my squash plants because chemical control doesn't work as well for those pests.

As for the chickens, they are not as discerning in terms of eating the worms and leaving the plants alone. It will be a while before this broccoli plant recovers.

How not to raise Brussels sprouts

Sometimes accidents in the garden lend themselves to a nice learning opportunity.

The "accident" was a friend cutting the leaves off of my Brussels sprouts in December, thinking they were collard greens. He only cut the leaves off of three of the plants.

For the next two months I continued watering and fertilizing all of the plants. I harvested last week.

De-leafed Brussels sprouts

Fully-leafed Brussels sprouts

Big difference in the size of the sprouts between the two plants. So, yes, a de-leafed plant will survive (though I have had some die of rot when I cut the leaves closer to the stem). But it doesn't have the necessary leaf area to get those sprouts to fill out.

And did those sprouts ever fill out!

I have the spring season transplants in the garden already. I'll need to make an "off limits" sign the next time I go out of town and my friend comes over to help himself to the produce. ;)

A Lesson in Genetics

Here's a fine example of Brassica oleracea:

Broccoli

And another:

Cauliflower

And another:

Kohlrabi

And another:

Brussels sprouts

And another:

Kale - in desperate need of fertilizer

Wait, these are all the same species?

Yes, yes they are. Over the centuries of domestication people selectively bred and developed this species into several distinct cultivar groups, each valued for a particular trait or part of the plant. Kale and collards are prized for their leaves, broccoli and cauliflower for their heads of pre-flower buds, and kohlrabi for its specialized stem.

Which may explain why this popped up in the kohlrabi patch:

The leaves look more like cabbage, but the stem looks like a cross between kohlrabi and broccoli.

Kohlrabi on the right and left, mystery plant in the middle

Even after generations of breeding, every now and then the DNA spontaneously mutates and a plant with different qualities grows.

Plant breeders would use this to their advantage, trying to develop a new cultivar or variety through self-pollination or cross breeding. If they had the right laboratory equipment available a geneticist may try to to sequence the DNA and identify the specific gene mutation.

As for me, it's proof I have no business saving seeds from my plants to propagate the next year's crop. Who knows what may pop up if the bees and bugs transfer pollen from one cultivar to another. I'm perfectly content buying my seeds from the fine folks at Gurneys, Burpees, or Park Seed.

About those Brussels sprouts

A while back I promised an update on the spring Brussels sprouts crop. Regular readers know that I don't have the best of luck raising these plants.

This time I tried fall planting. They kind of stalled out through winter with little pea-sized axillary buds seemingly frozen in time.

Mid-December

With the extra protection of the garden blankets, the Brussels sprouts made it through some of those record setting cold snaps.

 Finally around February they started to grow again. And then March came!

Little green globes of goodness!

Yes, I get excited about vegetables!

And how were my first home-grown Brussels sprouts? Delicious! My preferred method of cooking was to drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with Kosher salt and pepper, and roast in the oven at 450 degrees. Mid way through when I shook the pan I also drizzled with some balsamic vinegar. Plan on 20-30 minutes depending on how "done" you like them. Me? I like them fork tender with a little browning/crunchiness on the edges.

Some nights all I had for dinner was a big bowl of these things.

I know it's July, but I'm already planning where to put the plants for the next fall crop. If I'm smart I'll get them planted earlier so I get a better start on the growing season.

Broccoli and Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts, Oh My!

They're getting close! Well, at least the broccoli and cauliflower are. The Brussels sprouts are just pea-sized buds at this stage.

Almost ready to pick! Waiting for the center florets to develop a little bit more.

Cauliflower crept up on me. They should have been tied up a week ago. In order to keep the heads creamy-white, you need to cover them with the nearby leaves and loosely tie them shut with twine to shade them from the sun.

The Brussels sprouts are not making much progress, but they are healthier than the attempt from this spring.

Better start researching recipes!

Mid-Fall Update

What does a fall garden in Alabama look like?

Clockwise, from lower left: Spaghetti squash vines, kohlrabi, beets, volunteer Yukon Gold potatoes

Foreground: Dakota Pearl potatoes; Background: parsnips and carrots

Marigolds, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli

Sugar peas

Garlic! (shallots in there too, but not up yet)

The Brussels Sprouts Experiment

As a kid I don't remember eating Brussels sprouts much. It was about the time that they were a trendy food on one of those cooking shows on TV that I had a reminiscing conversation with my grandmother. She said Brussels sprouts were one of her favorite veggies. I'm assuming her cooking method was probably steamed/boiled and doused in cheese, not unlike the versions you can find in the frozen food aisle at the grocery store. The cooking shows though were showing all sorts of creative ways to cook sprouts, with high-heat oven roasting and deep fried (not breaded) looking absolutely delicious.

Fast forward about ten years. It's late February and I'm strolling through the garden plants section at the big box store, feeling rather daring and adventurous. My broccoli crop was a miss (who knew central AL would get down to 9 degrees??) and I had a open space in the garden. I figured another cool season crop would be a good fit, and the tag said it would be a little more than two months to maturity. Nine baby Brussels sprouts came home with me.

I didn't have room for nine, so I planted five of them among the pitiful broccoli that I would be removing soon anyway. The other four I gave away to co-workers. I dutifully watered and fertilized, but it wasn't until about early April until the plants really took off on their own.

Yeah, that's them peeking out from behind the carrots.

Gradually they kept getting bigger, and I was starting to dream of eating glorious browned and slightly crunchy Brussels sprouts from the oven. But nothing happened. The little sprout nubbins were about the size of large peas, occasionally a small marble, but certainly not big enough to pick.

I left for 10-days vacation, hopeful that the "watched pot never boils" concept also applied to Brussels sprouts. I returned from vacation and prepped for the next trip, telling my garden sitter to go ahead and pick if they get big enough. I returned from THAT trip and things were pretty much the same.

And then the plants started to wilt. I blamed the 90+ degree weather, but liberal watering did nothing to help the poorest of the plants.

 

Yeah, not doing so good.  I threw in the towel. I need the space and nothing is progressing. But then again, some of the stems were turning an odd shade of purple.

Green stem (happy)

Purple stem (not happy)

    And then I cut into the stems.

 In many of the purplish areas the outer skin was slippery like it was starting to rot, but the center was still in tact.

And then there was this one, which was hollow and rotted out with some small bugs crawling around inside. I was looking specifically for some type of worm/borer but didn't see anything.

So much for my tasty roasted Brussels sprouts. Good news is the zucchini is starting to produce. But that's another post.