Brassica
How to grow Brussels sprouts
Brassica oleracea (Gemmifera group)
Brussels sprouts need a long season and firm ground. Sow from mid February to April, plant out in May or June into soil that was dug months earlier and has settled, and pick from September to March depending on variety. Tight sprouts come from two things: planting deep into firm soil and giving no nitrogen after July. Loose soil and late feeding both give open, leafy sprouts. Net against pigeons from the day you plant.
- Hardiness
- Fully hardy, sweetest after frost
- Position
- Full sun
- Soil
- Very firm, rich, moisture-retentive
- Ideal pH
- 6.5 to 7.5
- Water
- Moderate, water in at transplanting, then only in drought
- Feeding
- Heavy feeder
Sowing and planting Brussels sprouts
WhenSow Feb to Apr; transplant May to Jun; harvest Sep to Mar
Starting off
Sow 1 to 2 cm deep in modules or a seedbed at 10 to 18 °C, germinating in 7 to 12 days: mid February under cover for an early crop, March to April outdoors for Christmas and later. Transplant at 5 to 6 weeks with 5 true leaves in May to June into firm soil, watering the hole first and collaring at once.
Spacing and planting
Plant 60 to 75 cm apart in rows 75 to 90 cm apart; closer, 45 cm, gives smaller plants with sprouts that mature together for freezing. Plant deep to the first leaves into unforked, settled ground and firm very hard; stake tall types with a 1.2 m cane in September. Not a container plant.
Varieties worth growing
- Brigitte F1
- Mid-season, October to December; uniform, tight sprouts that hold on the stem without blowing. A reliable all-rounder.
- Trafalgar F1
- Bred for sweetness, with little of the bitterness that puts people off; tall plants that crop from December into January.
- Brodie F1
- Mild, sweet sprouts timed for Christmas picking; stands well in cold weather.
- Crispus F1
- Resistant to clubroot, so the one to grow on an allotment where the disease is in the soil. Crops September to November.
- Rubine
- Red-purple heritage sprout with a nutty flavour. Lower yielding and later than the green hybrids; grown for the plate, not the weight.
Brussels sprouts month by month
Timings are for central England. Allow two weeks later in the north and on cold, heavy soil.
- January
Pick late varieties from the bottom of the stem up. Check the netting.
- February
Sow early varieties under cover from mid month. Last of the late sprouts.
- March
Sow in modules or a seedbed. Pull up finished stumps. Eat the leafy tops as spring greens.
- April
Last sowing for late crops. Tread and rake the bed that was dug in autumn; do not fork it.
- May
Transplant early sowings deep and firm. Collars and mesh go on the same day.
- June
Transplant the main crop. Water each plant in, then only in drought.
- July
One nitrogen top-dress. Check for caterpillar eggs if the crop is not meshed.
- August
No more feeding. Draw soil up round the stems to steady them.
- September
Stake tall varieties. Remove yellowing lower leaves. First sprouts from early varieties.
- October
Pick early and mid-season varieties. Swap insect mesh for pigeon netting.
- November
Pick as the sprouts reach 2 to 3 cm. Check stakes after gales.
- December
Pick, or cut whole stems and stand them in a cool shed for Christmas.
Feeding Brussels sprouts
A hungry crop, but one where the timing of nitrogen matters more than the amount. Feed the bed before planting, top-dress once in July, then stop: late nitrogen gives loose, blown sprouts.
Needs nitrogen for leaf, but firm ground above all, loose soil gives 'blown', open sprouts.
Feeding plan
The winter before planting, only if a test shows pH below 6.5
Garden Lime (calcium carbonate)
About 0.5 kg/m², left on the surface for rain to wash in. Apply it at least a month apart from manure.
One to two weeks before transplanting
Fruit & Vegetable Fertiliser 4-5-6
100 g/m² raked into the surface of the firmed bed. At 60 by 75 cm each plant has 0.45 m², so that is 45 g per plant.
July, once
Organic Nitrogen Fertiliser 13% N
40 to 55 g/m², the label rate for the hungriest brassicas: 18 to 25 g per plant, about half a rounded handful, scattered in a ring 15 cm from the stem and watered in. Nothing after the end of July.
Before planting, only where earlier brassicas had hollow stems
1 to 2 g/m², a quarter to half a level teaspoon per square metre, scattered evenly, once a season and never exceeded.
Signs to watch
Open, loose 'blown' sprouts
Loose soil or nitrogen after August
Firm the ground, stake and stop feeding by late July
Brown, rotten centres inside sound sprouts (internal browning)
A calcium-transport disorder under fast, soft growth
Steady water, no late nitrogen
Hollow stems and purple-edged lower leaves
Boron short
Seaweed or a light borax dressing
Pests, diseases and problems
Young plants wilt on sunny days, turn blue-grey and pull up easily with the roots eaten away
Cabbage root fly maggots
Fit a 10 to 15 cm collar of card or felt flat round the stem at planting, or cover the bed with fine insect mesh from planting day.
Holes in leaves, green droppings and caterpillars in the growing point from July
Large and small cabbage white butterflies and cabbage moth
Fine mesh over hoops, held clear of the leaves, from planting to October. Without mesh, check the undersides of leaves twice a week and rub off the yellow egg clusters.
Leaves torn to the midrib and tops pecked out, worst in winter
Woodpigeons
Netting on a frame tall enough to clear the plants, kept on all winter. Scarers work for a week at most.
Plants stunted and wilting in sun; roots swollen into knobbly, distorted lumps
Clubroot, a soil organism that persists for 20 years and favours acid, wet ground
Lime to pH 7 or a little above, improve drainage, raise plants in 12 cm pots so they go out with a big clean root ball, and grow Crispus. Never accept brassica plants from an infected plot.
Grey, waxy insects packed between the sprout leaves and under the top leaves
Mealy cabbage aphid
Squash colonies in June and July while they are small and on the leaves. Pull up and compost old brassica stumps by April so the pest has no bridge to the new crop.
Small white insects fly up from the leaf undersides when the plant is knocked; sticky leaves
Cabbage whitefly
Mostly cosmetic on sprouts. Remove the lowest yellowing leaves, where the scales sit, and rinse sprouts before cooking.
Harvest and rotation
Harvest and storage
Pick from the bottom up when sprouts are 2 to 3 cm across and tight, 28 to 36 weeks from sowing, snapping each downward with a sharp tug; remove yellowing leaves as you go. A plant yields 1 to 1.5 kg over 3 months. They keep a week in the fridge; blanch and freeze, or stand cut whole stems in a cool shed for Christmas.
Rotation and companions
Rotation: brassica group, 4-year gap, after peas or beans on limed, well-settled ground. Lettuce or spinach planted between young plants uses the space until August. Keep away from strawberries and tomatoes, and from loose, freshly dug ground near other brassicas.
Good to knowPlant on settled, firmed soil and earth up or stake; a hard frost sweetens the sprouts.
Growing Brussels sprouts in pots
Brussels sprouts are not a container crop. A plant stands 80 cm to 1 m tall, carries a kilo or more of sprouts at the top of a single stem for five or six months, and needs its roots locked into firm soil to stay upright through autumn gales. Potting compost is too loose to hold it and dries too fast to keep it growing evenly, and loose rooting is exactly what makes sprouts blow. If you have only pots, kale gives winter greens from a 30 cm pot with far less trouble.
Brussels sprouts: common questions
Why are my Brussels sprouts loose and open?
Blown sprouts come from loose soil or late nitrogen. Plant into ground that has settled for several months, firm each plant in hard enough that a tugged leaf tears, stake by September, and give no nitrogen after July. Modern F1 varieties also hold tighter than old open-pollinated ones.
Should I cut the tops off Brussels sprout plants?
Only if you want the whole stem ready at once. Removing the top in early autumn, when the lowest sprouts are about 1 cm across, makes the remaining sprouts swell together, which suits freezing. For picking over several months leave the top on and eat it as greens at the end.
Do Brussels sprouts need frost?
No, but they taste better after it. Frost turns some of the starch in the sprouts to sugar, which is why December sprouts are sweeter than September ones. The plants are fully hardy and can stand in the ground through any normal English winter.
Sources
Growing information on this page was checked against these references in November 2026. Feeding rates are Dr Forest label rates.