Colored leaves on seedlings
Even though the purple
and yellow tinges on the leaves of our broccoli seedlings are pretty,
any non-green coloration is generally bad news on vegetable
leaves. (That's assuming you didn't select a variety with colored
leaves, of course.)
In this case, I know exactly
what the problem is --- I left broccoli seedlings in a flat for two
weeks longer than I should have because cold
weather was nibbling
at the garden and I didn't want the babies to freeze. You often
find broccoli seedlings in the same state at big box stores, the result
of a manager ordering more seedlings than the store could sell within a
reasonable length of time. If you really don't pay attention to
seeding rates, you could see similar symptoms in your garden as a
result of overcrowding, especially if combined with under-fertilizing
and under-watering. Finally, mulching with high
C:N materials (like office
paper) can have the
same effect.
The broccoli seedling to the
right had a different problem. Notice that the older leaves are
faded looking, not quite so yellow as the stunted seedling leaves
above? This was one of the broccoli plants I set out before the cold snap and didn't
protect with row cover fabric. The older leaves were burned by
the cold, but the vibrant little plant has since put out two new leaves
that look a very healthy blue-green.
So, how concerned should
you be if you see weirdly colored leaves on your vegetable
seedlings? It all depends on what kind of plant you're looking
at. Broccoli is at the more vigorous end of the spectrum and
generally bounces right back from bad treatment, but tomato seedlings
have been known to sulk after even moderate stunting.
If you're at the store
and notice that all the available seedlings have off-colored leaves,
you might go ahead and take your chances with more vigorous types of
vegetables. But I wouldn't buy a tomato seedling that had seen
better days --- you might as well just start your own from seed.
In my garden, I'll replace
stunted seedlings if I have spare healthy seedlings of the same size or
a bit smaller on hand, but otherwise, I let nature take its
course. I do, however, make a note and try to prevent the problem
from reocurring next year.
Notice how happy
(although in need of weeding) this little broccoli plant is? This
last photo shows one of the seedlings I started directly in the garden
rather than nursing
along in a flat.
As usual, the in-garden seedling starting technique produced healthier
results nearly as quickly as fiddling with indoor plants. I did
see much lower germination rates in the ground since I was too lazy to
erect a quick
hoop, but the health
of the seedlings is unparalleled. I guess I should put my spring
energy into quick hoops, not flats, in the future.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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MamaHomesteader --- Our broccoli plants look even better now --- they started flourishing once they went in the ground.
I'm not sure what you mean about long branches on your broccoli. There shouldn't be any branches until they're blooming. Do you mean the leaf stems?
I'd probably be tempted to put your plants in the ground and see how they do regardless. It's getting pretty late to plant broccoli where we're at.