packyderms_wife
Neither here nor there.
My brussel sprout plants are about four feet tall, and not nary a sprout on any of my plants. Lots of leaves. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to remove the bottom leaves or not.
DON'T HURT THEM- at least, not yet!!
Are you SURE you don't have "baby" sprouts just starting at the axils of the leaves? I've never seen that happen, but there's always a first time!
Brussels Sprouts take a LONG season (hybrids @110 days *from transplant*, OP up to 150 days *from transplant*... one main reason why I have to stick with hybrid varieties around here)
Now... to get mature sprouts of fairly uniform size, but when YOU want them (preferably, a week or so after your first solid frost)... figure out the approximate date for that first hard frost (not first nip). Count back 3 weeks. On that date, prune your Brussels sprouts plants back, taking the growing point (top of plant). To make sure you get it, make sure you take out the first 3-4 leaf nodes. (they're close together that far up)
At this point, the plant will stop putting energy into growing up, and will immediately start putting it into sizing up all the baby sprouts on the plant. Naturally, the taller the plant got before this point, the more sprouts you'll get... but even rather poorly grown plants will produce some sprouts. And you want to time this if possible to let those sprouts get good and frost nipped a time or two... it sweetens and tenderizes them beyond belief.
Summerthyme
Did you nip the growing point off earlier? If so, it's just the "regrowth"... I had one that put out MULTIPLE attempts at regrowing the growing point. Looked crazy... but I've got tons of nice, large sprouts all along the stem of the plant.
Yarnball... no, "collards" are... well, "collards"!! They are an annual in the same family as the cabbage plants, though
Summerthyme
I'm two states down from Packy, in AR. I guess I will go and trim right now as the first part of Nov should be hardfrost time here.
Next year, if it begins to regrow that giant "sprout " (I've never seen that before! I have seen it put out several growing points, or small sprouts), snip it off as son as you notice it. You would gave gotten much larger, and more uniformly suzed, sprouts.
They will taste wonderful anyway, but youre going to wish youd had a lot more!
I assume you know to blanch the sprouts after trimming and cleaning them, then cool and drain. Then, spread them onto cookie sheets in a single layer (putting one of those flexible cutting boards underneath makes it much easier to remove them). Once frozen, scoop them into heavy freezer bags or other freezer containers. You can scoop out as many as you want this way, rather than having to cook an entire quart bag (or whatever) and then have leftovers to contend with.
We only had 4 decent plants this year (rabbits or something nibbled them badly when they were small) I ended up with a little over 6 quarts of cleaned sprouts in the freezer. Next year, I'll plant a dozen plants so I hopefully get enough to last us most of the winter.
BTW, Brussels sprouts are one vegetable variety where hybrids outperform OP varieties by SO much, that ill never plant OP types unless i have no choice.
Summerthyme
Yes, looks like you should have let them go longer. We had four plants this year for DH and I, and we harvested 12 quart freezer bags full. I put 20-25 in each bag after blanching them 4-5 minutes (depending upon size), which is just enough for a meal.
My mother only boiled brussels sprouts when I was a kid and I hated them. But once I found out about cutting them in half and frying them in a skillet until browned and softened, I was hooked. Sometimes I add red onion, garlic and/or bacon. Yum!