What to do to get cauliflower heads to form

Cauliflower is a very demanding crop. Gardeners often encounter various difficulties when growing it. The most common problem is the lack of ovaries. This anomaly can be caused by a variety of factors, but correcting them can help ensure a good harvest.

Possible causes and solutions

One of the reasons for cauliflower's failure to produce heads could be a disease. The most dangerous and incurable of these include bacterial slime, clubroot, and blackleg. Weakened by the disease, plants struggle to survive and are unable to produce fruit. To prevent further spread of the infection, the cauliflower should be removed from the garden without regret. Besides diseases, failure to produce fruit can also be caused by improper planting and care practices.

Poor quality planting material

Selecting seeds is the first and most important step in growing cauliflower. Poor-quality seeds result in plants that are either too weak to bear fruit or are sterile from the start. To avoid wasting time and effort when selecting seeds, follow these guidelines:

• do not harvest seeds from hybrid varieties, that is, from varieties marked F1;
• choose domestically bred varieties;
• check the expiration date indicated on the packaging;
• Give preference to cabbage included in the state register of breeding achievements;
• Buy seeds from well-known agricultural companies with a good reputation.

Error in choosing a variety

You might not see cabbage heads form if you choose the wrong variety. For example, late-ripening varieties won't have time to form heads in northern regions. Head formation begins only 60-70 days after a rosette of 10-13 leaves forms. The head fills out and ripens over the next three weeks. These long ripening periods make these varieties suitable only for growing in southern regions with long, warm summers.

Therefore, when choosing a cauliflower variety, it is important to take into account the climate characteristics of your region:

• northern latitudes, the Urals, Siberia – only early varieties;
• Central Russia, Volga region – early varieties and varieties with medium ripening periods;
• Southern Russia – any type of cabbage, including late-ripening ones.

Poorly chosen landing site

A vegetable bed in the shade will not produce a harvest. Insufficient light disrupts photosynthesis, causing the cabbage to stretch excessively in search of light. The plants expend all their energy on growing green mass, not on the head. Therefore, when choosing a planting site, choose a well-lit area (at least three hours of direct sunlight and some shade during the middle of the day).

Soil composition has a significant impact on the quantity and quality of the harvest. The crop grows poorly in heavy and sandy soils. It thrives particularly well in fertile sandy-clay soils with neutral pH. To alter the soil structure, additional components are added:

• for heavy soils with a high clay content - coarse river sand, humus or compost (1-2 buckets of each substance per square meter);
• for sandy soils - black soil or peat-manure compost (1-2 buckets per square meter), planting green manure plants (lupine, legumes).

Liming is used to normalize soil acidity. Depending on the initial pH level, 400 to 800 grams of lime are added per square meter. It's important to remember that this procedure can only be performed 3-4 months before planting. Immediately before planting, you can reduce acidity with baking soda. To do this, water the soil with a soda solution (50 grams per liter of water) or apply it dry (100 grams per square meter).

Lack of moisture

Lack of natural precipitation and improper watering are common causes of cabbage failure. This moisture-loving crop doesn't tolerate even short periods of drought well. It's important to note that plants require not only soil moisture but also air humidity.

According to agronomists' recommendations, in the absence of rain, watering should be done 2-3 times a week. The rate per bush during head formation is 10 liters per square meter. To maintain air humidity, spray the bushes with water until it forms a mist, and mulch the soil around the plants. Straw or mown, dried grass works well as a mulch layer.

Weather conditions

The crop dislikes hot weather and sudden temperature fluctuations. Even a short-term increase in air temperature above 30 degrees Celsius causes hormonal imbalances in plants. This ultimately leads to malformations of the cabbage head, for which it is grown. To protect seedlings from extreme heat and cold, it is first necessary to correctly time their transplanting into open ground. Here, it's important to strike a happy medium: plant the cabbage early enough to allow it to ripen before the summer heat, but still avoid damage from spring frosts.

Nutrient deficiency or excess

Vegetable crops are demanding of soil composition. Seedlings planted in poor soils suffer from a deficiency of micro- and macronutrients, resulting in disrupted growth and development. Such plants form deformed heads or fail to form heads at all.

An excess of nutrients, especially nitrogen, leads to leaf blistering and apical death. Fruiting is delayed or even absent. A lack of boron and molybdenum in the soil prevents head formation. To prevent this, carefully fertilize the soil before planting and apply fertilizer throughout the growing season. Agronomists recommend the following fertilizer application schedule:

• the following is added to the soil for digging: in autumn – 5 kg of fresh manure per 1 m2 or in spring – 5 kg of humus or compost per 1 m2;
• The first feeding is 15 days after transplanting into the soil: 2 grams of superphosphate, ammonium nitrate and potassium chloride are dissolved in a liter of water;
• after 12-15 days, a repeat test is carried out in the same way as the first;
• During head formation, fertilizing with boron and molybdenum is necessary. Dissolve 2.5 g of each in 10 liters of water and water the cabbage (1 liter per plant).

Fertilizer application rates are given for soils of average fertility. For poor, depleted soils, the rate can be increased by a quarter.

How to improve head formation

In addition to following the basic principles of agricultural technology, you can help cabbage form heads in the following ways:

• Foliar feeding with boric acid. Dissolve ½ teaspoon of the substance in five liters of water heated to 90 degrees Celsius. Spray the cabbage leaves with the resulting solution;
• Root feeding with potassium nitrate: dilute 10 grams of the substance in 10 liters of room-temperature water and water the plant at the roots. Use 0.5 liters per plant;
• After the flower shoot forms, the young leaves around it are torn off. This will make room for the shoot to grow inside the bush.

Helpful tips for growing cauliflower

• Treat the seeds before sowing with antiseptic solutions (potassium permanganate, baking soda) and growth stimulants (Epin, aloe flower juice);
• When growing seedlings, maintain an air temperature of 15-18 degrees Celsius. This will harden the plants and prevent them from stretching.
• When transplanting seedlings into the ground, pinch off two cotyledon leaves and the first two true leaves. This will promote better survival;
• water plants only with cold well water, without chlorine;
• If an ovary begins to form, break off the leaf above it and protect the head from sunlight. This will prevent it from yellowing and drying out;
• Harvest the cabbage on time. Once the inflorescence reaches 10-12 cm in diameter, the cabbage is ready to harvest;
• do not break off the heads, but cut them off with a sharp knife with 3-4 protective rosette leaves;
• During harvest, pay attention to the plant's roots. If you notice a lump there, it indicates clubroot. Any plant debris from affected cabbage should be burned, and the soil treated with copper sulfate.

Conclusion

Although cauliflower is the most difficult vegetable to grow, many gardeners still plant it every year. After all, by learning the proper growing techniques, you can get good harvests and never encounter problems with poor head formation.