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If you ask children about the beneficial properties of cauliflower, they will not name them. Most likely, they will say that this is the most tasteless vegetable. However, it is rich in vitamins and minerals. That is why many gardeners grow this vegetable on their plots.
Cauliflower has a ripening period. If you want to grow a vegetable of normal size and appropriate taste, which would be stored for a long time, then you should take into account the factor of its ripening. This largely depends on the variety planted. In this article you will learn when to cut cauliflower and how to do it correctly. Also at the end of the article there will be a video from which you will learn about the features of growing this vegetable, useful for the human body.
Frost. Can they damage the crop?
Cabbage is a heat-loving crop. Therefore, the question of whether she is afraid of frost is quite relevant. When the temperature drops below +8℃, spare shoots begin to form at the base of the vegetable, which look like small heads. At this moment, the growth of the main inflorescence stops.
If you encounter such a difficulty, you can save the heads by collecting them and leaving them to ripen indoors.However, if you have a greenhouse in which you can maintain a stable temperature, namely +10℃, then your crop will not freeze and will ripen in the beds.
How to determine cabbage harvest time
If you have provided proper care for your cauliflower throughout the warm season, you will eventually receive a well-deserved reward in the form of dense snow-white, emerald, purple or orange inflorescences. Harvesting cauliflower depends on the planted variety:
- Early varieties Inflorescences form 2–3 months after the first shoots appear. Harvesting occurs at the end of June - beginning of July.
- Mid-season varieties have a longer growing season, ranging from 100 to 130 days. Harvesting occurs at the end of July - beginning of August.
- Late cabbage bears harvest in late August or September. Such varieties have a long growing season - 5 months or more. But they are the ones that last the longest.
The influence of weather conditions on ripening
It's no secret that the period of ripening of inflorescences is influenced by weather conditions. It is important to consider factors that influence the growing season:
- Optimal temperature, promoting the ripening of cauliflower – from +15 to +20℃. At temperatures below +15℃, crop growth slows down, and at temperatures above +20℃, defective inflorescences are formed; they will be loose and small.
- Lighting level is also important for the full growth and development of inflorescences. When there is a lot of sunlight, the inflorescences form too quickly and become prone to overgrowth. During long daylight hours, only the formed heads need to be shaded.
- Lack of moisture also affects the growth period and ripening of cauliflower.The heads will be small and not dense enough.
- Soil fertility, perhaps, plays a key role in the intensity of growth and fruiting of the crop. On unfertilized soil, the crop grows slowly, and the resulting inflorescences are susceptible to rotting.
Therefore, it is important to focus not only on the approximate dates when cabbage can be harvested, but also to look at the condition of the inflorescences.
What weather to harvest?
Cauliflower should be harvested in dry and clear weather. You can start cutting off the heads at lunchtime, but no longer than seven in the evening. You can't remove them after it rains. The harvested crop will not have the inherent taste and aroma of cabbage, and it will not be stored either. This is due to the fact that the plant needs moisture and heat only in the active growth phase.
How to properly cut cauliflower
The cabbage harvest should be harvested not only at the appointed time, but also correctly. Only if all the rules are followed can one expect good preservation of the heads. So, there are several rules for harvesting cauliflower:
- The inflorescence is considered ripe if it reaches 10–12 cm in radius. Larger heads are often unsuitable for cooking as they lose their color and texture.
- The ripe head should be removed from the plant immediately. This means that the crop should be harvested gradually, checking the maturity of the heads every 2-3 days.If you cannot harvest gradually, then cover the ripe heads with something to protect them from sunlight.
- Cabbage inflorescences should be cut with a sharp, pre-sharpened knife. In this case, the inflorescences should be cut off with several lower leaves. To keep the heads longer, they can be removed from the ground completely, with the root system.
- The harvest should be transferred to storage, which should be cool and dark. If you leave cut cauliflower in the sun, it will quickly lose its nutritional value and wither.
So, if you follow the rules for cutting inflorescences, you will be able to preserve them, gradually preparing tasty and healthy dishes for your household from this vegetable, rich in vitamins and microelements, which has a beneficial effect on the gastrointestinal tract.
Storage Features
If you have planted a lot of flowery vegetables and reaped a rich harvest, then the next equally important task is to preserve the harvest until summer. And here, too, you need to adhere to some rules so that the cut inflorescences do not wither and, even worse, rot:
- Overripe cabbage does not store well. In view of this, it is important to prevent the vegetable from overripening.
- There should be four leaves left on the inflorescence after cutting.
- Do not leave cut heads in the open sun.
There are several ways to store cauliflower inflorescences:
- Unripe inflorescences are grown. How? Before digging with roots and soil, they need to be watered abundantly for 2 days. Then the plants are laid close to each other and covered with earth up to the leaves. However, it is important that there is no access to daylight in the room. The air temperature should vary within +4+10℃.Thus, the heads can be stored for up to 4 months, and in this way not only the inflorescences are grown, but also the mature heads are simply stored. It is also important here that the room has good ventilation and high humidity in the range of 90–95%.
- At zero temperature and high humidity, cauliflower can be stored for up to 7 weeks. It is placed in boxes or crates and covered with film on top. From time to time you need to check the inflorescences, as some may begin to rot. Damaged heads should be immediately removed from healthy ones, otherwise they will all become infected and become unusable.
- Under the same climatic conditions, cabbage can be stored for up to 21 days by hanging it by the stalks. But this is only acceptable if you have few inflorescences and during this time, you use them.
- To store cauliflower in the refrigerator, you need to pack each inflorescence in a separate bag or newspaper. The contact of inflorescences will speed up the process of their rotting, so they need to be packaged separately.
- If you are going to store cauliflower in the freezer, you must first wash it and disassemble the heads into inflorescences, which are then divided into portions, packaged in bags and sent to the freezer. You can store cauliflower this way for up to 12 months. However, repeated freezing vegetables and temperature changes in the freezer will lead to spoilage of the vegetable, so it must be packaged strictly for one serving that you can use. At the same time, the same temperature must be maintained in the freezer.
So, if you have a lot of heads, then some of them can be sent to the basement, where they will last up to 4 months, and some can be placed in the freezer, which will allow you to preserve the flowery vegetable until the next harvest.When frozen, the vegetable will retain all the beneficial substances. In addition, the taste characteristics of the product will not be affected, and its natural aroma will be preserved.
Today, thanks to the painstaking work of breeders, you can grow a wide variety of varieties and hybrids of flowering vegetables in your garden. For example, the Cheddar F1 hybrid has orange heads, and the Lilac Ball variety has purple inflorescences. The Amphora variety has an unusual inflorescence shape that resembles a starfish in appearance. The original external features of the vegetable and the variety of colors allow you to decorate the table with dishes of delicious dishes prepared from different colors of this flowery vegetable.
So, from this article you learned not only how to harvest cauliflower, but also what affects the ripening period of the heads, and what weather is best for harvesting. In addition, we bring to your attention a video that will help you understand how to properly care for cauliflower in order to ultimately get a good and high-quality harvest of a flowery vegetable:
