It was with cauliflower that I began the first lure of my baby. This healthy diet hypoallergenic vegetable is loved by all, so it is grown everywhere. Culture was brought to us from Western Europe about 200 years ago. Cauliflower-an annual plant, the popularity is second only to cabbage. Inflorescence in the form of a head can be white, yellow, purple.
Cauliflower can be frozen, marinated, fermented, baked in the oven or fried in batter. Or just keep it in the basement to please yourself and guests with fresh cauliflower for the new year holidays.
Planting cauliflower
The soil for cauliflower, if possible, should be normal acidity. From my experience I can say that it grows well with the following additives: I bring in early spring — wood ash, and in the autumn — lime or dolomite flour. During autumn digging also add organic and mineral fertilizers. The composition of the soil can be any, but cauliflower likes heavy, rich in humus, moist soil.
Therefore, the best for it will be podzolic black soil or loam.
Predecessors of cauliflower can be:
- tomatoes;
- potato;
- beet;
- onion;
- cucumbers;
- leguminous crop.
It is not recommended to use those beds on which her relatives were grown before:
- cabbage;
- rutabaga;
- radish;
- turnip.
To grow cauliflower, you can use seedlings and seeds. For residents of the middle zone is more suitable for growing through seedlings, and for the southern regions — sowing directly into the ground.
Sowing in open ground (nonseedlings way)
In early may, you need to sow the seeds in a moistened bed, closing them to a depth of about 2 cm in July, the first heads appear.
The cultivation of seedlings of cauliflower
The stages of care for cauliflower seedlings do not differ from the cultivation of white cabbage seedlings, so I will focus only on important features:
- cauliflower has an underdeveloped root system, so when growing seedlings in a common box (somewhere 6 days before planting), the land is cut into squares to form a branched root system;
- best to sow the seeds of cauliflower at once in individual pots;
- remember: the earlier you plant seedlings in the open ground, the older it should be.
Terms of sowing seeds for seedlings
The best option is to calculate the sowing time individually for each variety (hybrid). Therefore, I will indicate only approximate dates:
- early-from the beginning to the end of March;
- average-from the tenth of April to 12 may;
- late-from mid-may to 10 June.
Age of cauliflower seedlings before planting:
- for early varieties-about 60 days;
- for medium-about 40 days;
- for later-about 35 days.
Terms of planting seedlings in the open ground:
- early-from late April to mid-may;
- medium – from mid-may to mid-June;
- late-from early to mid-July.
Many summer residents grow different seedlings to get a constant flow of young cauliflower over the summer.
Planting of cauliflower seedlings in the ground
1.After planting hardened seedlings in the open ground, it can be covered with a film for the first time.
2.For better survival shade your seedlings for 2-3 days.
3.After two weeks, it is necessary to Spud the seedlings.
4.After three weeks, you can start feeding the mullein.
5.As feeding and protection against insects cabbage seedlings sprinkled with wood ash (1 m2 is enough 1 Cup).
Care of cauliflower
For normal development of cauliflower the best temperature from +16 °C…+25 °C. at very high temperatures and dry soil there is a deterioration in the quality of the crop. To cauliflower bloomed ahead of time, you need to make it a small shadow.
As soon as the head, they also need to shade, for this little break the side leaves so that they are adjacent to each other.
Watering
Due to the specifics of the root system, cauliflower needs regular watering (with a lack of moisture, the yield decreases). To keep moisture in the soil for a longer period of time, after watering, you need to loosen the soil to a depth of about 6 cm, and even better — mulch it.
Fertilization
A very important point for the good development of cauliflower. When I was just starting to grow seedlings, I read the advice that for this culture it is necessary to increase the concentration of mineral fertilizers by 1.5 times. But for some reason I could not grow such cabbage, which I would like to see on my area. So I just added one more feeding, leaving the dose unchanged. That is, the older the seedlings, the more feeding: for 60-day seedlings it took 4-5, for 30-day — only 2.
The first feeding
It is introduced even when planting seedlings (after 2 weeks), usually in the form of mineral fertilizers and liquid mullein.
The second feeding
After a couple of weeks, make wood ash (I bring about a glass) and mineral fertilizer.
The third feeding
When the head of cauliflower begins to form, add ammonium nitrate (10 l about 30 g), about 80 g of superphosphate and about 20 g of potassium fertilizers (the same amount of water).
Important: Cauliflower loves boron and molybdenum, with their lack of heads are prone to crumbling and the acquisition of brown plaque, premature flowering. With an excess of nitrogen, the heads become loose, nitrates accumulate in the tissues.
Varieties and hybrids of cauliflower
To date, a considerable number of varieties and hybrids of cauliflower with different (from early to late) maturation period, with a very exotic color heads — yellow, orange, light green, purple. The quality of the crop hybrids are superior to ordinary varieties.
In cauliflower early (with a short period of vegetation) varieties head dense, closely surrounded by leaves (which are somewhat shorter than varieties with medium and late maturation).
Medium and late varieties differ in that the leaves in the outlet longer, the formation of the head occurs at a temperature of +20 °C.
Romanesco
Unusual head light green color and good density.
The mass of the head is about 2 kg. Suitable for freezing and eating fresh.
Snowball Y
From germination to technical maturity of the class should take about 96 days.
Very productive. The heads are round, dense, weighing about 1 kg, the white color of the heads does not turn yellow during storage. Recommended for freezing. Excellent taste, high sugar and ascorbic acid.
Purple Of Sicily
It has high dietary properties and taste.
The variety is cold-resistant, resistant to a number of diseases. A dense rounded head is slightly flattened, rich purple colour, weight reaches 1.5 kg. stored for a Long time, recommended for freezing.
Cheddar (F1)
Early maturing, has a high content of carotene and excellent taste.
Weight heads from 1 to 2 kg. Suitable for freezing, good for fresh use.
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