When to sow Brussels sprouts?
- Botanical name
- Brassica oleracea
- Family
- Brassicaceae
Brussels sprouts are sown outdoors from March to May, 2 cm deep. They germinate in 10 to 12 days. They are harvested from October to January.
Brussels sprouts are annual plants. The edible parts are the leaves.
The buds eaten grow all along the stem, in the angle between a leaf and the stem. One plant gives them from autumn into winter, so the sowing is not repeated. The plant stands through the winter in the bed and the sprouts taste sweeter after a frost.
Brussels sprouts grow tall and are heavy in the upper part, so they need room to stay upright. At a wider spacing the leaves dry off faster after rain, so 90 centimetres between rows serves better than 60.
The sprouts open out when the soil runs dry while they are forming and is then soaked in a hurry. Through that time the bed stays evenly moist.
Brussels sprouts through the year
- indoor sowing
- transplanting
- outdoor sowing
- harvest
In short
The last frost is not on the same day everywhere, so the recorded weeks are a guide and not a date.
Growing conditions
Pests and diseases
Listed here is every problem for which the sources name this plant as a host. The problems are not listed in order of how common they are.
- Signs
- The outer leaves of the brassicas have holes eaten into them. The caterpillars and their dark droppings are on the leaves.
- Prevention
- Check the underside of the leaves regularly and pick off the eggs before they hatch. Cover the crop with a fine mesh or fleece, so that the butterflies and moths do not reach the plants at all.
- What to do
- Pick the caterpillars off by hand and remove the affected leaves. Covering with a mesh from planting on is more reliable than picking, because it stops the eggs being laid instead of dealing with the damage afterwards.
- Signs
- Transplanted brassicas grow poorly, droop and die, most often in a first wave in late spring. White larvae without legs or head bore into the root collar and the roots.
- Prevention
- Keep to a rotation, because the fly hatches from pupae that overwinter in the soil under the previous brassica. Protect transplanted plants at planting, not at the first sign, because by then the larva is already in the root.
- What to do
- Lay a collar of felt or cardboard around the root collar, so that the female cannot lay her eggs against the stem. A cover of fine mesh that stays on the bed through the whole season is more reliable.
- Signs
- The plant lags in growth, the foliage takes on a purple tinge and droops in the heat although there is moisture enough in the soil. The roots are thickened and twisted into club-shaped swellings, and the fine roots are missing.
- Prevention
- The spores stay in the soil for up to twenty years, so rotation is the strongest measure. Return brassicas to the same bed only in the fifth year. Liming raises the pH and lessens the infection, but it does not get rid of it. See to the drainage, on heavy soil with a raised bed, and remove the weeds of the cabbage family.
- What to do
- There is no cure. Raise the seedlings in larger pots and plant them out bigger than usual, so that they outgrow the first infection, and choose resistant varieties. Remove infected plants with their roots and do not compost them. Clean tools and footwear, so that you do not carry the spores onto a clean bed.
- Signs
- The leaves are riddled with small round holes, as if somebody had peppered them with shot. Touched, the beetles jump. Young plants with such leaves stall or die, older ones grow through the damage.
- Prevention
- Clear away the plant debris in which the beetles overwinter. Cover the bed with fleece right after sowing or planting and leave it until the plants are strong. Keep the soil moist, because a dry warm spring is the worst case.
- What to do
- Pin fleece down at the edges, which is the main measure. In autumn or early spring loosen the top layer of soil to cut down the number of overwintering beetles.
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Related plants
The plants below are in the same botanical family (Brassicaceae).
Sources about the plant: Bayerische Landesanstalt für Weinbau und Gartenbau, Clemson Cooperative Extension, GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, KGZS, NC State Extension Plant Toolbox, Royal Horticultural Society, Semenarna Ljubljana, Smernice za strokovno utemeljeno gnojenje (Mihelič et al., MKGP 2011), University of Maryland Extension, Utah State University Extension, Wikidata. Checked between 14 and 17 August 2026. The problem descriptions also draw on: EPPO Global Database.