Water

• Water is crucial to keeping broccoli hydrated and healthy as it grows. Broccoli is known as a heavy feeder, meaning it grows rapidly and requires plenty of water to keep up with its growth rate. Not only does water keep broccoli growing, it is also an effective means of pest control. Spraying the broccoli with water each day helps to wash away pests that have infested the plants, reducing the occurrence of pest problems on your plants.
  
  

Fertilizer

• Proper fertilization is an important step in broccoli care. Fertilizer is as imperative as water for heavy-feeding broccoli, as the plant also requires added nutrition to offset its fast growth. Use a well-balanced, all-purpose liquid fertilizer diluted with water in a sprayer. Spraying the plants with liquid fertilizer improves soil quality by replacing lost nutrients, though it has a double purpose. A good spraying with compost tea kills fungal disease such as blight and wilt on the broccoli plants.
  
  

Pest Control

• Like any other garden vegetable, broccoli suffers from its share of garden pests. Insects such as beetles, aphids, thrips and mites feed on broccoli by chewing on leaves and heads or sucking fluids from inside the plant. Worms and borers feed on the plant's tissues, damaging the plants severely if left untreated. While these pests have the ability to completely wipe out your crop of broccoli, regular sprays of pesticides prevent pests from infesting the plants in the first place, or they stop them in their tracks. Choose a spray pesticide labeled for broccoli and the type of pest you are battling, and follow the label's directions for use.
  
  

Disease Treatment

• If your broccoli plants have come down with a viral, bacterial or fungal disease, treatment is available in the form of a spray. Wilt, blight, mildew and rot all occur on broccoli. Look for a treatment specific to the type of disease infecting your broccoli plants. Follow the label directions exactly for mixing and spraying on your plants. Treat diseased plants immediately to prevent spread of the disease, and speak to a garden professional about treating healthy plants regularly to prevent disease from getting established.