Hi there! I just recently discovered this resource and am very impressed – thanks for all the guidance!
I have just started doing some serious container gardening this year, always been interested but never had the space until now. I’ve got an indoor container garden at home with a variety of vegetables growing and a east facing terrace where I have put together a square foot garden and will be planting some vegetables out there soon and hardening off the containers to go out there when the weather allows. Everything has been started from seed and I’ve already been able to harvest some baby butterhead lettuce grown inside. So far so good!
I also have an indoor container garden (also all from seed) at my co-working office with a south-facing glass garage door, which is the location that my question pertains to.
The vegetables planted there will stay indoors and are doing great so far, except for some broccoli, which started out really well but has since started having some problems.
The plants started getting white blotches on some of the smaller leaves, which then dried up. Only one of the seedlings seems to have avoided the issue.
I’m trying to figure out what the problem is, but I suspect it is too much sun and heat coming from that southern exposure, but am not 100% sure. I’ve attached a picture of the plant that is doing well (at the top of the picture) and one next to it (bottom of the picture) that is having the issue. There are also a few green onion seedlings growing in that pot.
These plants are all in the same large pot right now (had to improvise with what we had at the office) containing bagged potting mix but I am planning to move them to individual pots soon as I know broccoli needs a lot of space (assuming they survive). I started them in a seed starting tray along with some other plants.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Hello:
I think you are right, your broccoli seedlings are too hot. The white patches in your photograph look like sunburn to me. I occasionally get these patches on vegetable plant leaves when I try to harden them off too quickly. Broccoli should be grown in partial shade where temperatures will exceed 25 deg C.
This link has a very comprehensive list of broccoli pests and diseases and suggestions for how to grow it successfully.
Thanks for your question.
https://www.harvesttotable.com/2009/06/broccoli_growing_problems_trou/