Well I'm guessing this is related to heat. The temperatures inside the house
during the day are in the mid 80s(F) (well in the un-air conditioned parts
of the house.) My broccoli seeds still have not sprouted. I dug a few out of
one of the peat pots and they have simply turned brown, they had not even
busted open. I'm concerned my hopes for a Fall crop of broccoli may be
dashed. I think I am going to try moving the tray they are in into the
bedroom, which is air conditioned down to around 70F.

I'll do some snooping around online as well. I did read that broccoli (and
some kinds of lettuce, particularly leaf types) have trouble germinating in
soil/weather that is too warm. But I didn't think my house would be
considered too warm hehe. Being in Zone 6b we might get 2 weeks of weather
in the 90s at the most. Usually its much less than that, so I figured it
wouldn't be a real problem here. But alas....

"AgentFriday" wrote in message
...
Hi Mike,

I wish I had some advice to give you, because that would probably mean
that
I wasn't having exactly the same problem you are.

Last year I got maybe 25% of the seeds to sprout, which I thought was
pretty lousy. Ha! If only I did that well this year. My first planting
was 12 seeds in potting soil... two sprouted, and then when the temp hit
95+ they died. My second attempt (again, 12 seeds in potting soil)
yielded
only one sprouter, which is doing rather nicely now. I decided to see if
I
had better luck sowing them directly in the ground, which is what people
told me I should do. Well, I planted them almost 3 weeks ago now, and not
a one came up.

So I'm here to echo your question. Actually, that's the very reason I
ended stumbling upon this newsgroup. I've been searching the web for
info.
on cultivating broccoli, but nothing has really told me where I went
wrong.

good luck,
--Steve



"Mike Stevenson" wrote in
:

I am starting some Broccoli transplants to be put out later in the
Summer for a Fall crop. I have put 4 seeds in each peat flat to be
thinned out later once the small plants have come up. I started pepper
plants in the same type of peat flats in the same container, and set
it in the same location. The temperature inside my house never gets
above the low to mid 80s. I also started morning glory seedlings in
the same way and those just exploded with growth after only 4 days.
The peppers germinated in about a week. However my broccoli hasn't
germinated after 11 days and I'm getting worried. I have kept them
moist and as cool as possible inside the house, without being TOO
cool, somewhere in the 70 to 85 range during the night and day. I am
aware broccoli does not germinate well in warm temperatures. I am
dealing with 4 different varieties of Broccoli, which I got from
Burpee this year. Can anyone offer any additional hints to something I
may be missing?