Letting Broccoli Go Perennial

Has anyone let their brocollii go perennial?

I have seen chard that was 2-3 years old in a green house, and I think I've seen at least biennial kale.

I've harvested all the broccoli off my brocollii plants and started wondering if something similar could be done if the plants did not go to flower.

I could not find anything about it online from someone who had any direct experience.

I do not have any direct experience, but others here might. This is my first year attempting broccoli.

My google-fu produced some interesting results. There are some varieties of broccoli that seem to be perennial: nine-star broccoli(https://leafyplace.com/perennial-vegetables/) and here's a youtube video - the comments suggest it's actually some type of kale (

My advice to you would be keep your broccoli plant alive and keep it from flowering and see how long it will live. Maybe it will rejuvenate in the coming season? Maybe it will die off.

L. Johnson wrote:I do not have any direct experience, but others here might. This is my first year attempting broccoli.

My google-fu produced some interesting results. There are some varieties of broccoli that seem to be perennial: nine-star broccoli(https://leafyplace.com/perennial-vegetables/) and here's a youtube video - the comments suggest it's actually some type of kale (

My advice to you would be keep your broccoli plant alive and keep it from flowering and see how long it will live. Maybe it will rejuvenate in the coming season? Maybe it will die off.

I saw the perennial 'broccoli' that is not actually broccoli like the one you mentioned but I was wondering what happens to actual broccoli that hadn't flowered the following year.

Perennial kales are quite readily available here in the UK. I have Taunton Deane which is quite tough but very tasty and hardy. I should have taken a photograph but one plant, which I put into the garden at my mother's house, is easy 5' square - them stem is 4" thick!

If I wanted perennial broccoli I would buy a nine-star or Turkish rocket. I have not grown either though I have heard Turkish rocket tastes more like cauliflower.

We have grown tomatoes well past December and maybe into January, if I remember correctly at some point the plant quit producing.

I have what some people call perennial onions, Egyptian Walking Onions.  Mine are not perennial in the true sense of the word. They only have a two-year lifespan.  Is this a biennial, like carrots?

I like experimenting, so I hope your experiment works out for you.  Be sure to keep us informed on how long you can extend the life of your broccoli.

What is your climate like? I think that might be a big factor. Broccoli suffers bad in hot weather.

Another question is how to stop broccoli from seeding? I've grown many varieties of broccoli. After the main floret is cut it starts producing side shoots. Which form smaller florets. When those are cut it forms even more florets but smaller still. That keeps progressing to a point of diminishing returns. At some point they are too small to bother picking but will still produce flowers. That's the point I just let them make flowers & then seed pods. It feeds the pollinators & provides plenty of seeds to start in the garden the following year. They are good for eating as sprouts too.

The closest thing to perennial broccoli I've found is calabrese. It reseeds itself very easily. Plant it once & it comes back every year. Of course, it must be allowed to flower & drop the seeds.

Anne Miller wrote:If I wanted perennial broccoli I would buy a nine-star or Turkish rocket. I have not grown either though I have heard Turkish rocket tastes more like cauliflower.

We have grown tomatoes well past December and maybe into January, if I remember correctly at some point the plant quit producing.

I have what some people call perennial onions, Egyptian Walking Onions.  Mine are not perennial in the true sense of the word. They only have a two-year lifespan.  Is this a biennial, like carrots?

I like experimenting, so I hope your experiment works out for you.  Be sure to keep us informed on how long you can extend the life of your broccoli.

.

Those perennial Broccoli varieties aren't broccoli but I'm sure they are nice.

Tomatoes are tropical perennial that will grow year after if. It stays warm enough.

Mike Barkley wrote:What is your climate like? I think that might be a big factor. Broccoli suffers bad in hot weather.

Another question is how to stop broccoli from seeding? I've grown many varieties of broccoli. After the main floret is cut it starts producing side shoots. Which form smaller florets. When those are cut it forms even more florets but smaller still. That keeps progressing to a point of diminishing returns. At some point they are too small to bother picking but will still produce flowers. That's the point I just let them make flowers & then seed pods. It feeds the pollinators & provides plenty of seeds to start in the garden the following year. They are good for eating as sprouts too.

The closest thing to perennial broccoli I've found is calabrese. It reseeds itself very easily. Plant it once & it comes back every year. Of course, it must be allowed to flower & drop the seeds.

I am in zone 8b, but last year more like zone 9 but we did get some snow.

I think the way to stop it from seeding is to harvest it.

I know they don't like heat but we still have tons of broccoli this year despite the triple digits every day. Formed nice big florets.

We harvested florets, then the second ones came up. They were good size. Still market quality as far as size.

I know what you mean about them getting smaller.

If they can go perennial I would imagine that if they were cut back tho the base of the main stalk and nodes were left for new shoots to form that early in the spring several new shoots would sprout from the main stalk..

I would imagine the main stalk would become relatively large and the new shoots would not go straight into flowering, but would be more like several new plants growing off prone central stalk

This is what the chard and kale I've seen go perennial grow like.

A big fat stalk that has severaL growth sites on it that are each equal to a normal plant.

In much warmer weather where the plant grew continuously through the winter the florets would become too small, but in a cool enough climate where growth stopped and the day leangth shortens significantly  the plant growth will stop and may return to a vegitative growth phase.

It would be great if anyone had seen what happened to a year+ old broccoli plant and could say yeah or neigh.

Seth Gardener wrote:Those perennial Broccoli varieties aren't broccoli but I'm sure they are nice.

Tomatoes are tropical perennial that will grow year after if. It stays warm enough.

You sound like you know a lot about plants.

Are they really cauliflower disguised as broccoli or something else entirely?

Why do you say they aren't broccoli when they are advertised that way?

Perennial Broccoli delivers the real broccoli taste without the bug issues in the cabbage family.

https://oikostreecrops.com/products/perennial-vegetable-plants/perennial-broccoli/

An overwintering sprouting type which is also perennial in Zone 8.

https://eagleridgeseeds.com/products/nine-star-broccoli

How would I know without growing them?  Hey, I don't want to spend my money on false advertising.

That is how I ended up with "perennial" Egyptian Walking Onions.  Only after growing them did I find that they only have a two-year lifespan.