Growing Cauliflower, Planting
Cauliflower, How to Grow Cauliflower in a Backyard Vegetable Garden Or In Open Terrace.
- Paul Joseph Moonjely
cauliflower is a member of the cabbage family or technically known
as brassicas.
Cauliflower is the slowest crop to mature among the other members
of its vegetable family.
All brassicas thrive under the same conditions as well as suffer
from the same diseases and pests.
Although, the crops are treated individually in the garden, their
care is identical.
Other members of the brassica family include broccoli, cabbage,
Brussels sprouts, and kale.
How to Grow
Cauliflower from Seeds
In March, sow the first of your cauliflower seeds indoors.
Sowing
about 18 seeds in 4 inch pots filled with commercial potting soil should
produce a dozen plants of growing cauliflower.
This
allows for a percentage lost to poor germination and weaklings.
Set the pots of cauliflower where they will receive lots of bright
warm sunshine.
Transfer the seedlings to individual six-packs when they grow to
be about an inch high.
The plants will grow quickly inside, so after several weeks, begin
the hardening off process.
The plants will soon be ready for the outdoor vegetable garden.
Cauliflower
Transplants
You can also purchase small cauliflower transplants from your
local garden center in time for spring/early summer planting.
Soil Preparation
for Cauliflower
·
Before planting cauliflower, prepare the soil with 2 inches of
well-aged cow manure or compost.
·
To provide the cauliflower with continuing nourishment, add
10-10-10 fertilizer at a rate of 5 pounds to 100 square feet.
·
Work in four handfuls of ground limestone per a 6 foot row, which
helps the cauliflower plants fight clubroot disease.
·
Once the seedlings have been hardened off, plant them at 18 inch
spacing, leaving 3 feet between rows.
Companion Planting
Cauliflower
You can set lettuce seedlings in between your cauliflower crop.
The lettuce will be ready for harvesting before the growing
cauliflower needs the room to grow.
Cauliflower Pests
Begin your pest patrol as soon as the cauliflower is set in the
vegetable garden.
It is important to develop an early routine of control measures to
protect the plants from a wide variety of pests that can demolish your crops.
Put a cutworm collar around each plant and give the plants a dose
of Bacillus thuringiensis.
Continue dosing the growing cauliflower at 7 to 10 day intervals
until harvest time to manage the cabbageworm caterpillar.
For protection against the root maggot, the most dangerous insect
of all, add diazinon to a mixture of foliar fertilizer and water and repeat
this application at 10 day intervals throughout the growing season.
If you want to use a nonchemical alternative to the diazinon
applications, many avid gardeners recommend using a root maggot mat.
The mats not only restrict the maggots but the cutworms as well.
Cauliflower
Diseases
A generally fatal disease that can strike your growing cauliflower
is the dreaded clubroot.
This disorder is usually traced to plants that have been grown in
unsterile conditions.
The problem is typically attributed to infected seedlings, which
is one of the hazards of buying plants rather than starting your crops from
seed.
If you notice the plants wilting even though the soil is damp,
this is a danger sign of clubroot.
If you suspect clubroot, remove the cutworm collar and brush away
the soil from the plant.
Affected plants will bear a tumor-like growth on the stem, just at
the soil line.
The disease chokes off the water-carrying cells within the stems
causing the plants to die.
In an effort to save your cauliflower, add two clubroot enemies to
the soil: ground limestone and a fungicide such as Terraclor.
Hill up the soil several inches around the plants to encourage new
roots to form higher up the stems.
