Cauliflowers

This year I've decided to grow more veg so I can have a go at pickling them.

Cauliflowers are a veg which never grow well for me, all attempts have resulted in good healthy leaves and a plant which refuses to grow more than 3 inches or develop a head. Even the pigeons won't touch them.

Anybody have any idea how to grow these well?

I hope someone can answer your question as I have the same problem. As expensive as it is in the market now, I'd love to have some home grown cauliflower in the freezer.

Shirley

i planted cauliflower this fall and it turned into broccoli, i don't know how or why. i started some seed for my friend and hers was cauliflower. so i am very interested in this topic. lol

farmgirl - I bought some cabbage plants last spring that grew to be broccoli! They were labeled early cabbage though. LOL!

About the cauliflower though, the only thing I know about growing cauliflower is pretty limited as I haven't grown it for years. The worms love it here. When the head starts to form, you need to tie the leaves up over it to keep it blanched. At least that's what my MIL told me.

I know this didn't help much. I hope someone else can be better help.

I grew cauliflower successfully last year. The variety was the OP "Early Snowball", purchased from Pinetree Garden Seeds.

Our last frost is April 15th.

I sowed the seeds indoors on February 23rd. I transplanted to the garden on April 2nd, and harvested in early June. The head did turn a little yellow, but I think that's because I didn't cover the head to protect it from the sun.

Dave

I have a couple of great veg growing books with instructions that I followed but still no success I thought someone might know why the curds don't form properly.

The only thing I can come up with is; lack of organic matter and/or potassium; or, soil isn't compacted enough so the seedlings aren't firmly in the soil to begin with. I will have to take extra care that this is not the case this year or it will be cheaper to buy them from the store ;)

You don't need to blanch cauliflower, the curds are naturally white/cream, the leaves can be used to cover the curd so it has some protection from the sun and frost depending on when your crop is grown.

Thanks for everyones replies, no I know I'm not the only Caulifree gardener :)

This message was edited Sunday, Jan 13th 12:49 PM

Baa and Brugie, did you buy transplants or start from seed? I've always heard that cole crop plants that have stayed in those cell packs longer than 6 weeks won't grow or produce much if at all. There were some leftover transplants at the nursery where I worked this past June (been there since I started May 3rd), so I took some home and planted them to see ~ brussels sprouts, cabbage and others that were either cauliflower or broccoli. The plants are now about 1 1/2 feet tall, spindly and no signs of producing except the brussels sprouts ~ they have itty bitty maroon colored sprouts smaller than small peas, about three times the size of a pin head. Those sprouts have been there for a month and haven't changed much.

I'd guess that most nursery workers don't know about this, so will leave out those transplants until they either sell or die. I'm gonna' start mine from seed next year!

Wingnut,

Thanks for the information. I'm wondering if that might have been the problem, but I always get my cell packs early and right into the ground. However, I don't know when they plant at the nursery either. I always do my own cabbage, so I guess I'd better get another order for seeds placed quickly. Again thanks for your help.

Hi Wingnut

Good point but no, I grow all veg bar potatoes from seed, I'll just have to pay more attention to the seed bed this year.

Sure, Brugie! Glad I could help you!

Baa, how about lack of phosphorous? It's needed for flowering/fruiting, and since the part of broccoli and cauliflower that you eat is the flower, maybe that's it? Is your soil acidic? They don't like that, prefer more alkaline soil. :-)

Just noticed this thread, sorry to be so far behind all the time!
I've had fairly good luck w/cauliflower some yrs. I have noticed that the more deeply dug the soil is with good humus and manure the better they do. It doesn't necessarily need to be loose and friable tho...lots of brassicas prefer a "tight" soil. Also, in one of my books, they recommend a high Nitrogen (from an organic source). (I was surprised too...I would've thought potassium would be the need.) Other than that, a good watering in to settle the soil around the roots is recommended as well as making furrows between the rows and running your water in those.
Quite sometime back I also heard about cauliflower being "blind". This has to do with the center growth of the seedlings while young. If you look closely you will see that some of them are lacking a center leaf...it has either fallen off (possibly due to an overdose of watering or a damping disease) or just did not properly form. I blind plant will not produce a head.
Hope this helps. Also hope no one gives up...ya'll make me want to grow some again this yr now!

Wingnut

Sorry I forgot I wrote this, been a bit noggin yedded lately. I have several pockets of acid in the garden but I think I know pretty much where they are. The other reason not to grow brassicas on acidic soil is the potential problems with club root (not sure if you have the disease there).


Shoe

I think the problem I have is not heeling the seedlings in tight enough in the soil. Curious your book mentions nitrogen because mine recommends high potassium LOL. I guess a well balanced fertilizer is best (although I only ever use chemical fert in hanging baskets).

"noggin yedded"? I love the way you talk Baa!!
As for potash, it sure seems to just be the normal thing to use, doesn't it? This ol' book states that a lack of N causes plants to wilt and fall off, etc...sheeesh, go figger!

I remember reading some info several yrs back about clubroot. The research said that if you cut your brassica plants then you should leave the stems/roots in the ground. They apparently give off a "toxin" during decay that inhibits club root and several other maladies.

I think we should all start a "Cauliflower Club"! Let's grow the stuff and keep records...and put the world to shame!!!

***

Shoe

You wouldn't if you heard me speak! LOL

Cauliflower Club ROTFL is that akin to the Breakfast Club? Actually its is a great idea especially if it were extended to all veg, not enough veg talk on DG! Perhaps some of us could have an experimental plot LOL starting with a big bonfire of Baa's cruddy veg books ;)

Interesting about leaving the roots in, I've never heard of that. The general advice here is to get every last bit out, certainly worth some research.

I'll try to find that info (regarding brassica roots,etc).

Not enuff veggie talk? Well shut mah mouth...that's all I grew for umpteen yrs! (Now here I am trying to get away from most of it and learn flowers and such!) Maybe I'm messing up, eh?

As for your veggie growing info...let me start with taters! Everyone around here knows that you plant your tater eyes in a row AND every other tater you plant an onion. The onions make the taters eyes water and you don't have a problem with drought.
(Believe that?)

Shoe

OK you tell me about veg and I'll tell you about flowers LOL

You know, its funny you should mention the potato, onion companion planting thing. Cos my granddad tried to catch me out on the same thing when I was a babby, yam both saft apeths ;) LOL

yam both saft apeths? Hmmm...must interpret as "ya'll two are soft in the heads!"...am I close?

Okay, your turn, start talking flowers! Ever grown cobaea? I have some I started in the greenhouse to sell this spring. I'm afraid I'm ending up with something out of the "Little Shop of Horrors"...them things are growing like Jack's Beanstalk! Reckon I gotta put 'em in some one gallon pots, or maybe I should just go directly to two gallon pots and insert stakes in there! I've pinched them back but them babies just wanna grow and grow! Wish me luck...if ya'll don't hear from me then call the po-lice, and have 'em bring a weedwhacker and a chain saw to get me out.

Not far off Shoe apeth is a shortened form of half penny meaning, I reckon you'd say half baked ;)

Them's big beasties. Depends on when your Spring time is :) to be safe the 2 gallon pots with a stake (got anything between 1-2 gallon pots to reduce your costs?), then who ever buys them and keeps them in the pots won't have a failing root bound plant on their hands to give you a bad name. If you don't get to sell them before May you don't have the extra work of potting them on twice.

Muchos Thankos...(meaning Many thanks...or Big Thanks).
Today I potted about twelve up in 2 gal pots and stuck a 4 ft stick in each one for them to climb on. I have some one gallon pots ordered but not rec'd yet. I decided to trim back quite a few of them hoping it will give me some extra time to deal with them.
And, cuz I love experimenting(!), I transplanted some more of them into 10 to 12 in wide hanging baskets. I'm gonna trim them and hope they cascade downwards (wish me luck...I have a feeling their tendrils may just wrap themselves all over each other). (I just had to try it tho!)

I may repot some up in nice-sized deck containers, with trellis,...I believe these things are gonna please a lot of people. (Hopefullly me as well!)

LOL Ahh so thats what it means, I did wonder ;)

I was intrigued by your idea (and audacity) of growing a 20+ft vigorous vine in a hanging basket so I ran a search. It seems that (according to one source) it will trail nicely in a basket. I guess the restricted soil will prevent it from growing anywhere nears its normal length and cause it to bloom more perhaps? I'd love to hear how you get on with that.

Seems like you don't need any flower growing advice at all!

Bull(winkle)!! I need plenty of flower help!!! Stop! Halt! Go no further!!! Trust me, I need help!
I was grasping at straws in the heat of the moment when I decided to plant them creatures in hanging baskets! I just figgered that since I've seen really nice large baskets overflowing with plants (Wandering Jew, ferns, philodendron even varieties of snapdragon) hanging with beauty (umpteen feet below the basket) why not give it a try! I'm glad you found it in some book that some other fool has done it before! I was thinking I'd make 'em look good and then sell them by telling people "this here hanging basket may need audience participation folks!" (Just in case it needs a bit of trimming!)
Anyway, as far as restricted soil preventing growth normal growth, etc...hah! These things have been in (and some still are) 4 inch pots and growing so fast I run from them!

If all goes well, I'll post pictures.

(edited for some unknown reason) :>)


This message was edited Thursday, Jan 31st 9:41 PM

OK Rocky I'll trust ya ;)

Never had a decent crop of flowers on mine, growing season just isn't long enough, the leaves are pretty enough to carry them through. I'm looking forward to them pictures!

Know what ya mean...I think I'm in this trubble cuz the "books" say to start it July thru October! Apparently they are like some plants that need to grow and grow in order for them to flower the next warm season (like Digitalis, or Achillea). I started these in early Nov and am SO thankful I didn't start them in Oct!

Hah! books causing trouble again ;)

I'm sure they will be great, November's not all that late. Shoe if you disappear for a few days I'll alert a search party for you in the greenhouse LOL.

Thanks Baa...at least I have a safety net! YOU! (Hopefully hoping I don't turn green from being overtaken by the world of plantlife...the color of chlorphyll tends to clash with the color of my blood.)

Yes red and green are definitely for Christmas decorations only ;)