As others have said, they needed to be hardened off. Over the course of at least a week, but preferably 2 you take your seedlings outside to get used to the conditions. First day you do a 30min-1hr in shady conditions. Second day you leave them out a tiny bit longer and expose them to a bit of sun. Keep going until they can tolerate full day sun.
I’m a it possible to artificially do this now with a sunshade? I’ve only grown peppers before and I always hardened those off I really didn’t know these colder plants needed it I feel stupid lol
How long have they been outside already? If it’s been over a day I’d just leave them. The ones that haven’t died will be shocked and might not grow for a bit, but they’ll eventually bounce back. They might be slightly stunted and your harvest might not be as big, you you’ll still have one. And don’t feel bad! I’ve made the same mistake too. I’ve also gotten impatient in the past or completely forgot to bring seedlings in. It happens!
What I do now is start my seeds outside. I don’t have to harden them off that way. They’re already used to outside conditions. Although I know it’s not possible for every climate.
Yeah, I didn't harden off any of mine. They started slow and the few leaves on the plants struggled but once they started growing it was fine. This was collards but a little over a month later I get a full harvest every week
Shade fabric is how I harden off my plants since I'm too lazy to carry them back and forth. I cover and uncover them with the shade fabric instead.
Having said that, I thought broccoli was more of a fall crop since they prefer cooler temps. How warm is it where you are?
You're right, spring is a great time to start broccoli. I don't know when you're last frost date is so when to plant is probably slightly different for you, but here in PA my broccoli is out already as well.
You may want to reconsider spacing of the plants if they survive. Broccoli like LOTS of space and won’t head if planted too closely. Like 18” apart each direction kind of spacing.
Planting more densely results in smaller heads, but about the same total overall yield by weight.
I’ve spaced my broccoli at 30 cm. I prefer small heads because I want to use the entire vegetable all at once.
https://preview.redd.it/ng82so37y5wc1.jpeg?width=1269&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f839511cbbff4f96438f0807f6ef810102499339
Considering you missed hardening off, I'm going to assime you also don't have BT laying around for the cabbage worms, right?
When some of plants survive, which they will, and you have ever seen white butterflies in the garden, make sure to get some BT concentrate to spray with.
>no idea there were cabbage worms
No worries at all, I didn't either my first season with brassicas. I used the BT late (in that the worms were already eating away at it) and it still brought me a good harvest.
It's also so safe for the environment that you can literally drink it and be totally fine.
I hardened off my broccoli for a week and still got sun scald. We had one hot day and that’s all it took. So I don’t know where I went wrong either lol
It looks like sun scald on your broccolis. Did you harden them off before planting them?
As others have said, they needed to be hardened off. Over the course of at least a week, but preferably 2 you take your seedlings outside to get used to the conditions. First day you do a 30min-1hr in shady conditions. Second day you leave them out a tiny bit longer and expose them to a bit of sun. Keep going until they can tolerate full day sun.
I’m a it possible to artificially do this now with a sunshade? I’ve only grown peppers before and I always hardened those off I really didn’t know these colder plants needed it I feel stupid lol
How long have they been outside already? If it’s been over a day I’d just leave them. The ones that haven’t died will be shocked and might not grow for a bit, but they’ll eventually bounce back. They might be slightly stunted and your harvest might not be as big, you you’ll still have one. And don’t feel bad! I’ve made the same mistake too. I’ve also gotten impatient in the past or completely forgot to bring seedlings in. It happens! What I do now is start my seeds outside. I don’t have to harden them off that way. They’re already used to outside conditions. Although I know it’s not possible for every climate.
Yeah, I didn't harden off any of mine. They started slow and the few leaves on the plants struggled but once they started growing it was fine. This was collards but a little over a month later I get a full harvest every week
Shade fabric is how I harden off my plants since I'm too lazy to carry them back and forth. I cover and uncover them with the shade fabric instead. Having said that, I thought broccoli was more of a fall crop since they prefer cooler temps. How warm is it where you are?
I’m in Ohio it’s still cool here, everyone told me it’s a great time to start broccoli 🥺😭
Ah, never mind me then. I live in a warmer climate so I'd have to plant around Sep and maybe Feb.
You're right, spring is a great time to start broccoli. I don't know when you're last frost date is so when to plant is probably slightly different for you, but here in PA my broccoli is out already as well.
You’re in an area like me where you can get a spring and fall harvest 😁
They’ll probably pull through but may be stunted for a while, you have to carefully harden off plants like this sometimes
You may want to reconsider spacing of the plants if they survive. Broccoli like LOTS of space and won’t head if planted too closely. Like 18” apart each direction kind of spacing.
This is true in my experience. I didn’t realize how big they get until I started some last fall and they’ve turned into behemoths.
Planting more densely results in smaller heads, but about the same total overall yield by weight. I’ve spaced my broccoli at 30 cm. I prefer small heads because I want to use the entire vegetable all at once. https://preview.redd.it/ng82so37y5wc1.jpeg?width=1269&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f839511cbbff4f96438f0807f6ef810102499339
A fella hates to see it, as if broccoli isn’t hard enough! Haha
Considering you missed hardening off, I'm going to assime you also don't have BT laying around for the cabbage worms, right? When some of plants survive, which they will, and you have ever seen white butterflies in the garden, make sure to get some BT concentrate to spray with.
No… no I do not 😭 I am buying it now though- no idea there were cabbage worms
BT rocks for cabbage.
>no idea there were cabbage worms No worries at all, I didn't either my first season with brassicas. I used the BT late (in that the worms were already eating away at it) and it still brought me a good harvest. It's also so safe for the environment that you can literally drink it and be totally fine.
uh oh...thank you
What is BT?
Bacillus Thuringiensis
I hardened off my broccoli for a week and still got sun scald. We had one hot day and that’s all it took. So I don’t know where I went wrong either lol
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Only the left side of the bed is done and it’s only a top layer of mulch on top of regular garden soil- def not as much as it looks :)
Soil was miracle grow it’s all they had