How to Harvest Broccoli Plants

Broccoli requires cool weather to produce large, healthy heads. Hot weather causes the plants to set seed and stop head production, while a prolonged freeze kills back the plant. The vegetable typically grows in the garden in spring or fall. It needs two months to produce a mature head for harvesting, but it can continue to produce more broccoli florets for a month or longer if it's properly picked and the weather remains cool enough for continued production.

Knife

Instructions

- 1
  Begin inspecting the broccoli head for maturity 50 to 55 days after planting. Harvest when the head is fully formed but the before the florets begin to open and reveal their yellow flowers. A mature head of broccoli will be bright green or purple-green and generally at least 4 to 6 inches in diameter.
- 2
  Cut off the broccoli head with a sharp knife. Leave 5 to 6 inches of stem attached to the head at harvesting, but leave the rest of the plant in the garden to keep growing.
- 3
  Cutting the main head spurs growth in the plant's side shoots. Harvest the side shoots that form after you harvest the main head. Check the plant every one to two weeks for mature shoots. These will be smaller than the main head, as little as 1 or 2 inches in diameter.
- 4
  Cut the mature shoots from the plant when they have tight florets that haven't yet bloomed. The plant continues to produce side shoots until summer heat or fall frost stops production.

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