Brussel's Sprouts.....when to plant

[Compo]

Hi

This is something I have never really got on top of...... and find it even more difficult due to a lack of space on the plot. I have now got ten or twelve healthy brussel's seedlings about five inches high almost ready to plant out............but I don't want them too early, but last winter I had a smaller plant because I think I planted them too late..........and did not protect them enough from the cabbage white. What is everyone else up too in the Brussel sprout race?

CoMpO

[Geoff]

Mine are currently in 3" pots in a cold greenhouse with about four proper leaves having been sown in modules on 29th March, haven't noted the date of potting up. Timing is about the same as last year when I planted them out on 12th May. Last season I grew Cromwell, Nelson and Trafalgar and had sprouts from November to 4th April. This year I have added Bridge which I had good results from a few years back.
I have had club root in the past but have been very careful with rotation, liming and raising strong plants (with the JB touch of superphosphate in the final potting) so that when I dug the plants up a few weeks ago they had immense root systems and no club root, they were in a bed that hadn't had Brassicas since 2001/2. I'm hoping it will be the same again this season!
We got a lot of caterpillars last Autumn but we just squashed them and they didn't seem to do the plants much harm but I am growing in a garden not an allotment so it makes it easier to spot them early.

[Compo]

Thanks Geoff, I am growing Maximus, any good?

CoMpO

[Geoff]

Never grown Maximus I'm afraid.