Plant guide:🥦 Broccoli
Back to Plant Clinic
⚠ Minor🩺
Growth
Buttoning — Small Premature Heads on Broccoli
Commonly affects: Brassica oleracea var. italica (Broccoli)
The plant forms a tiny, premature head far smaller than expected, sometimes on a stunted plant, rather than developing to full harvestable size.
Potential Causes
- 1Cold stress or a check in growth early in the plant's development, often from transplanting overly stressed or root-bound seedlings
- 2Nutrient deficiency during establishment limiting the plant's ability to grow to full size before heading
- 3Transplanting seedlings that are already too mature/leggy when planted out
Solution Steps
- 1Transplant young, healthy seedlings rather than older, stressed ones
- 2Avoid letting seedlings become root-bound in trays before transplanting
- 3Ensure consistent feeding and watering from transplanting onward
- 4Harvest small buttoned heads promptly, since size won't improve once triggered
Prevention Tip
Buttoning is essentially a stress response locked in during the seedling stage — starting with young, unstressed transplants prevents most cases.
