Dawg I have been growing them somewhat successfully for about 15 years now. It took me a while to figure out the tricks to growing them successfully down here and even doing everything right you can still end up getting very few sprouts if things don't go right.
First pick a variety that has a low DTM. I have been using Hestia lately and it has been a really good sprout for down here.
Start the seeds inside in the air conditioning as soon as mid July or early August. Keep them in the air conditioning until the nights cool down a good bit and feed them weekly. They grow much slower early on and it takes a while to get them large enough to set out in the garden.
As they get to 4 or 5 inches tall start hardening them off gradually but don't leave them outside too long if it is really hot and don't set them out in the garden before the days cool down some and the nights get into the low 60s or even better the 50s.
Prepare the area or bed you are going to plant them in with a good dose of compost and I like a heavy dose of cottonseed meal and alfalfa pellets added a few weeks before the plants are ready to set out. I also add a small amount of high mineral and trace element fertilizer to the bed when preparing it.
Mulch the bed and water it well to get the stuff added to the bed to start breaking down so there will be no problems when the plants are set out.
** Most important! When you set the plants out give them a lot of room. Set them out at least 3 feet apart when cool weather gets here. I have had to wait as late as December and have set them out as early as the first week of October but it all depends on the weather. If you have to set them out late due to a long hot dry fall then you will not make as many sprouts unless you luck up and get a good long cool spring. They are extremely heavy feeders and need to grow as fast as possible during the winter to be ready to make a lot of sprouts in the spring. I have had BS get up to six feet tall and 3 ft or more in diameter although getting that big is rare.
Feed them every week after they get established with Urban Farms Vegetable formula or Miracle Grow. Remember they need a lot of food to grow and they need to grow as big as possible for the best results. They will not grow fast until the days and nights get cool and if it gets too cold during the dead of winter they will slow down also.
They can take pretty cold weather but if it is going below the mid 20s you need to be ready to cover them well and you may have to do this several times. They can survive some pretty cold weather but they can be damaged and their growth stunted significantly if they get too cold. They still might produce but not nearly as much. I make a hoop over the bed with PVC conduit and just cover the whole bed with 4 mil plastic sheeting and secure it to the sides of the bed with staples. When it warms up I just remove the staples on one side and flip it over the hoops and role it up on the side of the bed until it is needed again then flip it back over the hoops and re-secure it with a few staples.
You know how our winters are so they can start producing as early as mid February and if we have a spring like in 2018 they can still be producing sprouts into June but they won't taste as good once it gets hot, hot. The first few sprouts at the bottom should be removed early as well as the lowest leaves. The first row or two of sprouts are rarely good ones and frequently have insect damage. You will just have to feel the sprouts to tell when they are firm and some will never get firm so just pull them off before they make a big loose mess. It is easier if you remove the leaves as you pick them.
You may need to put a stake down to keep them growing straight up as they can sometimes start leaning too much and that isn't good. They will produce better and more evenly if kept growing fairly straight up. I usually go through and stake mine when they are around two feet high. I just push or pull them upright and push a 1/2 inch metal conduit stake down right beside the plant so it will support it in the upright position. You don't want to use stakes too long as they will get in the way of covering the plants if it gets too cold.
You will need to constantly dust them with BT to keep the caterpillars away but other than that they rarely have any disease issues. Some of the sprouts especially when it is hot and humid will get this black mold like stuff growing in and on them and they aren't good so watch for that when cleaning them.
To clean them I just drop them in some salt water and cut the bottom off so it is easy to remove a few layers and peal them. I then let the cleaned sprouts dry off and then bag them put them in the refrigerator and they will keep a few weeks. You can also blanch them and freeze them.
It took me years of trial and error before I figured all this out. It was over thirty years ago the first year that I successfully grew Brussels sprouts I planted a six pack of sprouts from Bonnie's that I got in the fall. We had a long mild winter with no super cold weather and then a long cool spring and i made a ton of sprouts. Then for the next three or four years I made next to nothing or nothing so I started my own seeds in late August but that was a bit too late that year although I did make some sprouts so I kept experimenting and found July to be the best time on average to start my seed. I would try two or three different varieties each year and invariably the ones with the shortest maturity date did far better. Frequently I would get only a few mature sprouts from some of the later maturing varieties if we had a short hot spring and since those are the most common springs down here I started concentrating on the shorter maturing varieties. I also found that the varieties that produced the smaller size sprouts usually did better.
If you have any questions just give me a PM.
Bill
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