seed to seed

[12540dumont]

One of the things that I can never find is answers on questions like:

If I start broccoli from seed to get seed, how long does it take?

So if you have knowledge of this subject, can you put it here.

For Example:

Frosty Sweet Corn (Joseph) Planted 2/27/2012
Pick to eat stage (7/5/2012)
Pick to dry stage (7/25/2012)
Ready to shell (8/8/2012)
This corn may be faster if not planted into 40 degree soil!
So this took up 150 days of one field block.

Tohono O'Odman Planted 7/7/2012
Pick to dry stage 10/17/2012
So this corn took up a block of field for 97 days.

So, for me it's hard to decide to save seed unless I know the parameters. Nothing worse that having a seed crop right in the middle of where you have to plant something else.

Do tell.

Attachments:

[cesarz]

Hi Holly,
I planted Purple Sprouting Broccoli late spring (November 2010) and harvested the seeds early second summer after (January 2012) .
Same timing with other Brassica oleracea.
Cesar

[bunkie]

i thought it all depended on your climate, soil, etc...

i have planted Purple Sprouting Broccoli and Purple Peacock Broccoli at the same time in early spring here (transplants from the greenhouse). they produced well till about August when the heat came on...this was a year when we had a summer. then they immediately produced seed pods aplenty! i was really surprised.

[rowan]

Most annuals will bolt to seed as soon as they get warm weather after cold so mostly when the warmer weather hits in spring so no matter what time of the year you plant it (there are exceptions). If you plant your broccoli, beets etc in summer, or in autumn/fall it won't bolt till the next spring.
This means that no-one can give you a definite number of days.

I always plant my brassicas in autumn or early winter so I don't have beds doing nothing for months longer than they would if I planted in late spring and would then have to wait for a year before getting seed off them.

I hope this makes sense

[cesarz]

Another way to look at it is if you plant the brassicas early, you end up with a huge healthy plant which produces big healthy seeds. Each one of my Purple Sprouting Broccoli grew more than a meter high before sending out one square meter area of flowering sprouts from each I harvested about 1.5kgs of seeds.

I have tried growing them close to winter and I only end up with small plants and tiny seeds.

So it really depends on your priority, big healthy seeds or smaller seeds for less time.

[12540dumont]

Really good info.

Cesarz! Where have you been? Good to hear from you.

[rowan]

I suppose it depends on your climate too. I have a mild winter so I can get them growing big and healthy during the winter.

[raymondo]

I grow a lot of brassicas for seed because I'm trying develop my own collard/kale. I want one that works well over my winter so I sow mid-summer for the plants to get some size before the cold sets in. They don't do much growing over winter here. Late winter/early spring, I look around the patch, choose which plants I want for seed, then move them to another location. In the move, I trim them right back to minimize transplant shock. Whatever's left, if I don't need that bed, I leave to continue harvesting, eating the leaves and the subsequent 'broccoli'.
I save a lot of other seed too. Occasionally, if my seed plants are too far far apart, they get moved. I've done this with parsnip and lettuce. I don't think moving is a problem for a lot of things. Of course, if you're saving seed from 50 brassica plants it does get a little tedious!