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Vinca

(50,319 posts)
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 05:46 PM Jul 2012

Can you cut back broccoli?

The neverending heat in the northeast is resulting in plants that look healthy but produce zilch. Has anyone every tried cutting them back to see if they would produce new growth and maybe a head of broccoli in the fall?

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Can you cut back broccoli? (Original Post) Vinca Jul 2012 OP
Yes, they will. Denninmi Jul 2012 #1
Thanks. That's exactly what I needed to know. Vinca Jul 2012 #2
Yes - before it bolts. You'll get new "heads" but they'll be smaller. DO NOT LET IT BOLT! HopeHoops Jul 2012 #3

Denninmi

(6,581 posts)
1. Yes, they will.
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 06:40 PM
Jul 2012

Cut it back to a stub about 2 inches tall. When new shoots emerge, select the strongest looking one, and remove all of the rest. Throw some high N fertilizer on it when you cut it back, and water the heck out of it (as appropriate for soil type, weather, etc., you don't want to rot it!). It will grow a nice stalk, and should make a decent head, although never as large as the original one would have been.

Alternatively, if you don't thin the emerging shoots, you will get multiple, small heads.

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