Emerald Giant Broccoli

[TomNJ]

I grew three varieties of broccoli this year, and Emerald Giant (hybrid) is clearly the winner!

The spring planting was Di Cicco, which was described on the package as having small main heads of 3-4", but noted for an extended crop of side shoots. As advertised, my main heads were small, but so were the side shoots, and slow coming as well. Rather than waste the real estate waiting for these little shoots, I pulled the plants and started a fall planting.

The fall planting consisted of 15 plants each of Waltham 29 and Emerald Giant . The Waltham 29 came in first, just 56 days, with lovely large dark green heads, followed by a good crop of large side shoots. The heads were reasonably tight but started bolting fairly quickly, so I had to watch them.

At the time the Waltham 29s came in, the Emerald Giant had much smaller heads and were paler in color, having two shades of yellowish bright green. After another 10 days, however, they got huge, like 7-9", and darkened in color, while remaining very tight. I trimmed, blanched and froze them today and was just amazed at their beautiful structure. They also outscored the Waltham 29 in taste.

Needless to say, the Emerald Giants are invited back next year! I have attached a photo of some of the heads after washing.

TomNJ/VA

[tjg911]

wow tom those are huge heads! i wonder what they'll do for sideshoots? post an update. i'm tired of spending 20 minutes to get 2 handfuls of sideshoots.

sideshoot production is variable in my experience. i've only grown 5-6 broccoli varieties but usually they do produce small sideshoots. the exception is calebrese green sprouting which can produce large sideshoots more like mini heads. 2" even 3" sideshoots can be produced but it's a 50/50 shot at whether a cgs plant will do that or the 1/4" to 3/8" sideshoots.

tom

[jerryinfla]

I'll have to try Emerald Giant (hybrid) Broccoli -- thanks for the post Tom! I had good luck with Green Goliath (heirloom) Broccoli last season -- nice size heads and side shoots. You might want to give it a trial next season if you haven't already.

[TomNJ]

Originally Posted by tjg911

wow tom those are huge heads! i wonder what they'll do for sideshoots? post an update.

Well it's November and we've had several killing frosts with temperatures as low as 21°F, so the broccoli plants are now dying. I went out today to pull the plants and look what I found! The Emerald Giants were full of side shoots measuring 1" to 3" across, all tight as a drum. The Waltham 29 plants only had a few loose side shoots plus a few that bolted to flowers. (The garlic bulb in the photo is just for size reference).

Nice surprise - 2 1/2 pounds of perfect florets from 10 plants. I like this Emerald Giant!

TomNJ/VA

[tjg911]

nice side shoots. it's those that are 1/4-3/8" that are a pain to pick. i can spend an hour and have that much.

how many plants of this variety did you grow? i've found that some plants have tiny side shoots while other plants of the same variety grown next to each other that i started from the same pack of seeds have large side shoots. if this variety produces this size consistently on dozens of plants (i know you grow large numbers of plants) then maybe it's worth switching.

tom

[TomNJ]

Originally Posted by tjg911

how many plants of this variety did you grow? i've found that some plants have tiny side shoots while other plants of the same variety grown next to each other that i started from the same pack of seeds have large side shoots. if this variety produces this size consistently on dozens of plants (i know you grow large numbers of plants) then maybe it's worth switching.

tom

I grew 15 Emerald Giants and these shoots were from about 10 or 11 of them. I skipped a few because they were dead from the freezing temperatures last week. I would guess that maybe 90% of the side shoots were larger than 1" and maybe 50% were larger than 2". I was impressed and pleased, and enjoyed some cream of broccoli & cheddar soup tonight, and blanched & froze the rest. Since I grew a total of 45 plants this year I am swimming in broccoli! Good thing I bought a second large chest freezer!

TomNJ/VA

[Tormato]

Anyone know of a variety that would produce more stalk than crown?

I like the taste of the stalk much more than the crown.

Gary

[tjg911]

Originally Posted by TomNJ

I grew 15 Emerald Giants and these shoots were from about 10 or 11 of them. I skipped a few because they were dead from the freezing temperatures last week. I would guess that maybe 90% of the side shoots were larger than 1" and maybe 50% were larger than 2". I was impressed and pleased, and enjoyed some cream of broccoli & cheddar soup tonight, and blanched & froze the rest. Since I grew a total of 45 plants this year I am swimming in broccoli! Good thing I bought a second large chest freezer!

TomNJ/VA

sounds good, i'm willing to give these a shot. so i googled this and i can't seem to find who sells the seeds. where did you buy seeds?

tom

[salix]

Tom, thanks for the recommendation. Will try it next year, along with my regulars. Just a note - this year I had broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce transplants ready for when the garlic was lifted. The broccoli and lettuce did just fine. Also planted a few rows of radish seed, and they were absolutely amazing. Huge, crispy, not a bit pithy or wormy. Don't know whether to credit the "essence of garlic" remaining in the bed or the somewhat cooler weather and less sunlight, but will definitely repeat the experiment.

[habitat_gardener]

I stopped growing most kinds of broccoli because of aphids. In my climate, the aphids arrive just as the broccolis start to form heads in the spring.

This spring I noticed my kales were fuzzy with aphids before the aphids arrived. Within 2 days of noticing the first lady beetles, the kales were eaten clean! I don't know if broccolis would get cleaned out as efficiently.

The notable exception has been Purple Peacock broccoli (a kale-broccoli cross), which I also like because of its colors. A couple springs ago its heads were so tight that there were no aphids in it, or maybe they didn't like the flavor. It produced mostly sideshoots, which I tended to eat in the garden, so I don't know how they are as a cooked vegetable. This fall I grew a whole bunch from seed, so if they survive the birds nipping at them, I'll find out if they resist spring aphids.

[Wi-sunflower]

I grow a lot of broccoli for at farmers markets. I was interested in this Emerald Giant to try but when I looked it up I found it's a Burpee variety. I couldn't find any source that sells larger amounts of seed, even Burpee's parent company Ball Seed. Oh well.

For my area, here in the mid west, I like Packman as my first early broccoli. I can also succession plant it all season for 3 or 4 plantings. It doesn't make the heaviest heads, but they are large and don't tend to bolt like most of the varieties sold at the garden centers here. Premium Crop is a known name but does horrible around here. Packman will also produce a boatload of side shoots. In spring and summer they will be medium to small but in fall they will be quite decent sized.

I do have several other varieties that produce heavier main heads and decent side shoots too but aren't quite as dependable.

One other thing about broccoli in general -- if you have any Boron deficiency, you will have problems growing good broccoli. We have been adding Boron with our pre-plant fertilizer the last several years and it has made quite a difference in the quality of the heads. I'm not certain, but it also seems like Boron is rather like Calcium in that it isn't available to the plants during droughty conditions. But it is easily sprayed on the plants with a hand sprayer and can be mixed with BT when you spray for loopers. And better heads will show up in about a week to 10 days in my experience. While we use a commercial product for farmers, the home grower can use Borax. Signs of deficiency include hollow stem, especially if it has brown along the inside margin. Weird uneven heads is another sign of Boron deficiency. Of the varieties I grow, Packman is the most tolerant of Boron issues (shows bad heads the least).

Carol

[Doug9345]

Just a warning to folks. Boron is needed in trace amounts and too much can be or is toxic. Here's where I did the calculations for someone
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1259468/?

[kath]

Originally Posted by Doug9345

Just a warning to folks. Boron is needed in trace amounts and too much can be or is toxic. Here's where I did the calculations for someone
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1259468/?

Not able to read your reply unless a subscribing member.

kath

[Tormato]

Tom,

When do you plant for a fall harvest? I have had little luck with spring planting, although this was my best year, yet. I went with Blue Winds F1 and Major F1 (larger heads). I saved seed from sideshoots, but don't know if I want to experiment with it, next year.

Gary

[tjg911]

gary,

me or the other tom? since you are very close to me vs tom nj who's in va...

for a fall crop i started seeds 7/1 but that may be a little late. next year i'll start fall crop seeds 6/1.

i usually have hollow stalks (never saw a brown streak inside) but never associated this with a boron deficiency. a soil test a decade ago suggested borax as i was a little low on it but as stated boron is a micro requirement. use too much and you'll poison your garden!

tom