Cause of mushy cauliflower heads?

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SueGee1950 Annapolis, MD Feb 10, 2012

When I uncovered my winter garden 5 of my 6 cauliflower heads had turned to mush. The sixth was doing fine. Could this have been caused by them getting too warm at some point? Maybe the plastic touched the heads? Very disappointing.

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Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX(Zone 9a) Feb 10, 2012

What were you covering the garden against?

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Easybake Arlington, TX Feb 10, 2012

Sounds like they froze.

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petronius_ii Albuquerque, NM(Zone 7a) Feb 11, 2012

I think we can be about 99% sure those heads froze solid. The biggest question is why that 1 out of 6 didn't.

And for that, based on what little I know of the topic, I'd say touching or not touching the plastic may have had a lot to do with that. So said another poster on another thread about protecting tomatoes from light frosts and freezes, so it makes sense it probably applies to cauliflower also.

Well, growing cauliflower in New Mexico is pretty much of a very difficult proposition, but if I ever succeed in doing it, I'm definitely going to try overwintering some as part of the discovery process. And based on everything others have said, I won't use plastic as a form of freeze protection. Some sort of medium-tight fabric, I'd think, perhaps dark in color?

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Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX(Zone 9a) Feb 14, 2012

Plastic is okay as a form of protection. However, it will cause "freezer burn" wherever it touches the foliage of a plant...

I didn't realize the original poster was from MD. I didn't equate the frigid temps there either.

I'm still wondering why they turned to mush if they froze and then thawed, because we process cauliflowers for the freezer all the time, and they don't turn to mush...

I'm rather inclined to say the heat did more damage than the cold...

I think...

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1lisac Liberty Hill, TX(Zone 8a) Feb 14, 2012

Any of my plants that freeze turn to mush.

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SueGee1950 Annapolis, MD Feb 29, 2012

Thank you all for your input! It's so nice to have gardening friends to discuss our questions with! We have had an extremely mild winter here in Maryland. For that reason, I don't think frost was a problem, so I am leaning toward Gymgirl's reasoning, that the heat building up under the plastic was the culprit. I did not open the ends of the plastic tunnel to vent when we had some very warm days and the temps probably rose quite high in there. Thanks again everyone!

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