brocolli seedlings - help please!!!

[vicki]

I have a tray of brocolli seedlings in my mini greenhouse at the moment (unheated). They are doing really well but i'm not sure when/ how big they should be before I plant them out . Can anyone help?
Sorry if this is a daft question but this is all new to me!:oops:

Vicki

[Compo]

How big are they, and how overcrowded is the tray, the trick is to lift them out of the compost (I use the pointed end of a plastic plant label) before their routes get entangled, and into a small pot, a seed module or even better a peat pot so you can put em straight into the ground.

Alternatively let them grow on a bit more in thre tray till they are three or four inches high and put them straight in the ground, the longer u keep em in pots the less chance of the pests getting em, bit in a few weeks your greenhouse will be too hot!! So you gotta play one of against the other, not too much heat but big enough to resist some pests.

[Garlic_Guy]

Hi there, I guess it depends on the variety etc, but I planted my 3 inch high broccoli seedlings outside a week ago (under a plastic cloche).

The weather in Bristol has been ok and the seedlings are thriving. I took the plastic off at the weekend.

Since they were bigger, this may not apply to your original question Vicki. However I also had some cauliflower seedlings which were barely an inch & half high. I planted these out at the end of last week, again under a plastic cloche. So far they're ok.

[vicki]

Cheers Compo,
I think I'll pot them on into some peat pots then for now as I don't think there's room for them to stay in the tray for a few more weeks.
Thats another job for tomorrow then! Exciting though!
Vicki

[Compo]

I did not have a cold frame until this year and had a tiny greenhouse. So you can make do if u put your seedlings outside, choose a sheltered corner, you can use anything to cover them up a night, sheets of crumpled newspaper, fleece, old lace curtains.
This will all keep jack frost off, remember though if you do this watch out for mr slug and mr snail, i had a whole tray of petunias wiped out last week inside the greenhouse, in two days, so i put some yoghurt pots with beer alongside the peat pots, have caught loads of the buggers!! See if Allan spots this and accuses me of using chemicals (the beer was not organic!!)

[vicki]

seems a shame to waste beer on slugs but worth it I guess if it keeps them away from my precious veg!

[lizzie]

I wouldn't bother with the beer.

A hammer is much more fun. THUD SQUISH Ahh

[Beccy]

It doesn't have to be good beer, any cheap cr@p will do or the collections from the drip trays if you have a friendly local pub landlord. Although I'm with Lizzie too, but that's because we use multiple methods to control the slimy menaces.The only one I have problems with, and that's just if I'm too close, is slug throwing. Done if you have a handy wall, larger slugs and a desire to improve your throwing (or should I say bowling?) arm. The only problem is that if someone is minding their own business weeding nearby they may get spattered in slug.

[Compo]

I had to resort to pellets in the home garden tonight, just a few on the greenhouse floor, we don't grow veg at home so it's not too bad, and I use a pellet that is not harmful to birds, after losing a tray of petunia seedlings, they started on my marigolds, the little g'ts.

[vicki]

Reckon I'll be trying all the anti-slug ideas I can -gonna be gutted if they make a meal of my first years efforts!