caulis

**TEB** · 13-07-2009, 08:13 AM

How small is small, what distance between your plants, if they are too close then the curds are small or dont even appear.

**jacob marley** · 13-07-2009, 08:36 AM

What it means it is about to die and plants always try to reproduce themselves before they die .
the ground might be to dry or to hard to grow in or it just never grew what are the rest like .
Or was it a normal sized plant and the heads do start small usually covered with foliage which uncovers when the curd (head) gets bigger so which way round was it..

..jacob

**Reks** · 13-07-2009, 08:53 AM

My bed is 8x4 feet in size and planted around 6 cabbages and 6 cauliflowers. The plants came from an online nursery and were planted in end of April and have been growing very well since then. Few of the cabbages are forming nice round cabbages (savoy) and the cauliflower leaves are nice and big but last week is the first time I saw the 1st curd in the lot I planted and that was very small. I'll get a picture tonight for you guys.

**Florence Fennel** · 13-07-2009, 11:22 AM

I agree with JM, the heads start really small and you can't see them because they are covered in foliage. As the flower grows in size it bursts out of the foliage. I harvested 4 huge ones yesterday and they were very close together in a raised bed, so it doesn't always limit the size. They are so worth growing because the taste is superb.

**DaveInBraknell** · 13-07-2009, 04:47 PM

Be careful,

Cauli's require I think a 45-65cm planting distance between the two.

The guys are right small heads come with being too close together, a fact shared by most plants, they kind of know how close they are. Great if you want smaller veggies (Ie a smaller family might want smaller cabbages).

Button heads on cauli's are caused by many things:

1)Stress
2)Lack of water
3)Lack of nutrients.

Don't confuse small head with developing head.

When the head is fully developed the leaves will typically fall away leaving the head proud, a bit like a flower bud opening.

Once you can see the head inside the leaves you can harvest it pretty much any time, but the bigger you leave it the more bang you get for your buck so to speak.

Enjoy!

**Florence Fennel** · 13-07-2009, 06:49 PM

Originally posted by DaveInBraknell View Post

Be careful,

Cauli's require I think a 45-65cm planting distance between the two.

The guys are right small heads come with being too close together, a fact shared by most plants, they kind of know how close they are. Great if you want smaller veggies (Ie a smaller family might want smaller cabbages).

Button heads on cauli's are caused by many things:

1)Stress
2)Lack of water
3)Lack of nutrients.

Don't confuse small head with developing head.

When the head is fully developed the leaves will typically fall away leaving the head proud, a bit like a flower bud opening.

Once you can see the head inside the leaves you can harvest it pretty much any time, but the bigger you leave it the more bang you get for your buck so to speak.

Enjoy!

Sorry Dave, but mine are half that distance apart in the raised bed and still made heads with about an 8" radius. I fold/snap the leaves over the head as it's growing and I must be lucky, I have had no failures yet. Maybe it's because the sturdy stalks are about 4" above the soil so the heads have space? I don't know, I'm just happy with the results.

**Reks** · 13-07-2009, 07:51 PM

Originally posted by Reks View Post

hi all,
Last week when I was at the allotment I saw in one of my cauliflower plants a very tiny cauliflower head.....it was realy very small. Is that how cauliflowers look when they are very very young...this is my first year of growing caulis so maybe this sounds as a stupid question....

hi all,
see attached pic....is this button head or a developing cauli......I hope there is no bad news

Attached Files

IMGP2664.jpg (0, 174 views)

**SMS6** · 14-07-2009, 12:27 PM

what type is it? I've only had success with about 3 cauliflowers last year and they started with small heads like that but they were whiteish from the start. that one looks very green

**Reks** · 14-07-2009, 12:31 PM

Originally posted by SMS6 View Post

what type is it? I've only had success with about 3 cauliflowers last year and they started with small heads like that but they were whiteish from the start. that one looks very green

Hi,
I bought these from Victorian Nursery -

Brassica oleracea (Botrytis Group) 'Graffiti', 'Navona', 'Sunset' and 'Trevi'
Colours include deep purple violet, vibrant sunset orange, lime green and white with unusual 'turrets' of small green curds - really most unusual!

So thats why the colour is green, but you reckon that the size is normal and hopefully it will develop in next few months?

**SMS6** · 14-07-2009, 02:24 PM

Originally posted by Reks View Post

Hi,
I bought these from Victorian Nursery -

Brassica oleracea (Botrytis Group) 'Graffiti', 'Navona', 'Sunset' and 'Trevi'
Colours include deep purple violet, vibrant sunset orange, lime green and white with unusual 'turrets' of small green curds - really most unusual!

So thats why the colour is green, but you reckon that the size is normal and hopefully it will develop in next few months?

that explains the colour then. Like I said i'm no expert but mine started like that and just grew in to an edible cauliflower. I did bend the leaves in a bit to keep it out of the light as I'd read somewhere to do to keep them white - not sure if you need to do that with coloured one's though - I would I think

**Reks** · 14-07-2009, 03:02 PM

Originally posted by SMS6 View Post

that explains the colour then. Like I said i'm no expert but mine started like that and just grew in to an edible cauliflower. I did bend the leaves in a bit to keep it out of the light as I'd read somewhere to do to keep them white - not sure if you need to do that with coloured one's though - I would I think

ok, i feel a bit better now....I thought I had button caulis...

did u tie them with string? I now remember reading this on the site of victorian nursery?

**Alice** · 14-07-2009, 05:51 PM

Jings Reks, this threads got me confused.
Caulies don't start with great big caulies appearing in the base of the leaves overnight.
They start with little heads about the size of a half crown (OK 20p) and grow on from there. Your caulies look fine to me. Mine look exactly the same and I'm expecting a good crop.

**SMS6** · 14-07-2009, 07:53 PM

Just bend the leaves in towards the middle a bit

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