What do I need to know to grow cauliflower?
 

I've never grown cauliflower, but plan to in spring 2019. My mother tells me it'll be so buggy as to be inedible. True? How does one cope with the bugs? Other advice for me? What happens if I don't have a sunny enough place for it? (I can promise it 5 hrs sun/day.) It will be growing in deep, well-rotted grass/leaf compost.
Thanks,
Nan

It doesn't do well in extreme heat. some needs blanched by its own leaves. other newer varieties don't. you also will want to either cover it with floating row cover to keep the worms off of it or dust Bt on it which is an all natural organic spray or powder to keep the eggs from hatching and developing into caterpillars. the eggs will hatch but one bite of the bt makes them think they are full and never eat again eliminating the mess on your heads. we use a liquid but most likely you will find a powder more readily than a liquid form.

Is BT better than DE?

I'll be interested to hear your (and others) experience, Nan. I've had problems with cauliflower pinning (forming small heads prematurely) as a result of stress early in the season. Temperature and moisture swings and transplanting shock seem to be drivers. In the years I get around those issues, summer heat comes on so early and strongly here in the SE corner of PA that the plants just seem to lose steam and never head well. Don't let all that dissuade you, but just a few things to watch out for! Good luck!

Bt is a bacteria. it is not DE which is a natural abrasive which makes microscopic abrasions on the soft bodies causing them to dehydrate to death. Bt is a product they digest causing death. I would use the Bt any day over the DE for results. We use liquid along with a spreader sticker to keep it on the plant. otherwise dew will cause the product to bead up and roll off.
[url]https://www.planetnatural.com/bacillus-thuringiensis/[/url]

I have grown cauliflower successfully in PA several times but each time it was a variety called Amazing. I have had failure with other varieties. They just do not head well.

I use floating row covers on a wire frame and I have no bug issues, otherwise the cabbage butterflies will find your plants almost instantly and lay eggs.

I grow cabbage under those frames too.

When I see posts like the one above, I go searching for the "like" button!!

A double like from me as they are $8.00 each here right now,$6.99 on sale!

Thanks, they were quite delicious. Totally organic and no bugs. Definitely would cost at lease $8 each in my store.

Grow all of my brassicas (except for kale) just like brownrexx. No buggy problems!

Thank you all for the knowledge! :love:
Will there be any problem with 5 hrs. of sunlight? Will the shade help in hot weather?

Another thing that will help is to get it in as early as the weather will allow.

Your cauliflower should be harvested before the weather gets too hot. I plant my seedlings in middle to late March. I don't know exactly how much sun they need but it's certainly worth a try. Get that variety called Amazing if you can. It has been the most reliable variety with the best heads that I have grown.

Yes, that head looks "Incredible!" Great job, [URL="http://www.tomatoville.com/member.php?u=21218"]brownrexx ![/URL]

Can the seedlings tolerate frost?

Last year I had it drop below freezing overnight and four out of five seedlings survived.

Yes they can tolerate frost.

Do you start them indoors? Do you plant them out as soon as the ground can be worked? (Mid March? Mid April?)

I can't usually find Amazing as seedlings so I start them indoors under my lights. Last year I got lazy and bought seedlings of Snow Crop and I got ugly heads about the size of golf balls. We didn't eat any of them.

I roto till my garden in the fall and then cover it with a thick layer of straw so it is fluffed up and ready for planting as soon as it warms up in the spring.

I just looked at my notes and we had a Nor' Easter on March 21 with 12" of snow last year so I planted cabbage and cauliflower seedlings on April 14. Normally it would be about the first week of April. Of course I harden off my seedlings before planting out into the garden.

I was recently lamenting about my difficulties growing cauliflower in another thread, so this is very helpful. I've looked all over google for seeds of "Incredible", but could only find "Amazing"! Do you remember your seed source for Incredible? Is it OP or hybrid, which would give some clues as to where to look. If it was a Burpee seed (who are suspect for renaming their old inventory as the new latest and greatest), it will be a bear to find.


- Lisa

[QUOTE=greenthumbomaha;720449]I was recently lamenting about my difficulties growing cauliflower in another thread, so this is very helpful. I've looked all over google for seeds of "Incredible", but could only find "Amazing"! Do you remember your seed source for Incredible? Is it OP or hybrid, which would give some clues as to where to look. If it was a Burpee seed (who are suspect for renaming their old inventory as the new latest and greatest), it will be a bear to find.


- Lisa[/QUOTE]

OMG I am so sorry it IS the variety called Amazing.

I don't know what I was thinking. Incredible is my corn variety. Sorry, sorry sorry. I will try to edit my previous posts to avoid confusing other people.

thanks for clarifying the variety... I was in search of it too.

I would so love to be able to grow cauliflower but it just doesn't work here. Tiny heads and if a few should get bigger, a pink discoloration. After many failures with both spring and fall plantings I finally did some deep reading and discovered it's our temp swings here that are the problem.

Apparently cauliflower needs steady cool and here we get alternating warm and cold stretches both fall/winter and spring. The same temp swings can get my onions bolting too. :(

Just ordered "Amazing" from Baker Creek. (They gave me 6 months free shipping when I started an account- best move ever on their part. Every time I forget something or change my mind, they get an order from me.)

So sorry to make some of you look for the wrong variety. I was stressed out about getting a package in the mail before the post office closed and I didn't think clearly but that happens to me a lot this month!

Best of luck with the cauliflower Nan. I hope it grows as well for you as it did for me.

oh, don't fret over that. pfft. if something that little was the biggest problem some people had they would be rejoicing. don't sweat the little stuff.

I have been growing cauliflower here successfully for over 30 years. I had some hits and misses and still do due to our frequent and huge temperature swings. I usually set out my plants in the fall as soon as the temperatures get cool and again in January and February. I usually have to have a hoop and plastic ready to cover them as they will get damaged by the cold or even killed if it gets really cold. If a head has started forming and it gets too cold the resulting head will have dark rotten spots in it when it gets mature so make sure it doesn't experience temps below about 28 or 29 without and adequate cover.

BT is a must. Keep the plants dusted or sprayed to prevent the worms from doing too much damage.

They are heavy feeders so keep them will fertilized and side dress them regularly to improve the size of the plants and thus the heads. Make sure the heads when they start forming are protected from the sun so they will remain white. I take a few of the outer leaves and pull them over and clip them together with a clothes pin or two. This keeps the heads covered and allows them to remain white.

It is better to cut them too soon than too late. If you wait too long to harvest them they will get a bit grainy in texture and taste stronger.

My favorite and most dependable varieties are Snow Crown and Bishop. Snow crown is faster to head and makes a good size head which is a real plus in the spring when sudden heat can really mess them up down here. Bishop is slower to head but makes huge heads so I always try to plant both. I still try out a few different varieties but haven't found any others as dependable.

Bill

When y'all get done harvesting your normal cauliflower, I've got the impossible for you (Romanesco seed).;)

Is Romanesco hard to grow? Its fractals are adorable.

My success with broccoli and cauliflower is about 50%, romanesco... 0.0%.:(
I have 100% success with kohlrabi (almost no place for bugs to hide within it), but the taste is not inspiring.


I hope you can put your cauliflower in a sunnier location. Five hours of sunlight, along with using row covers, doesn't sound like the best combination.