Cauliflower Cultivation Guide 2018

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About the author View All Posts amar sawant Amar Sawant is an entrepreneur, farmer, and writer. He works more than ten
years as agri-entrepreneur. Always busy in farm to find something new.
October 6, 2018

Cauliflower is one of the most important winter vegetables grow in India. It is a European
origin probably develop from broccoli. In India, cauliflower cultivation is done in almost all
the states, but main states are Bihar, U. P., Orissa, Assam, M.P., Gujarat and Haryana.

The scientific name of cauliflower is Brassica oleracea var botrytis. it has achieved
importance as one of the important and popular vegetables in various parts of the world.

Cauliflower plays an important role in the human diet due to its attractive appearance, good
taste, and Its nutritive rich value.

It is a rich source of protein, carbohydrates, vitamin-B, and C as well as various minerals

which are necessary for the human health. Cauliflower is grown for its edible flowering
head and consume as a vegetable in curries, soups, and pickles

Table of Contents

Climatic Requirements for cauliflower farming

Soil
Sowing Time
Cauliflower Varieties
Seed rate
Nursery raising for cauliflower cultivation:
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 Transplanting
Manure and fertilizer
Intercultural Operations in cauliflower farming
Harvesting of cauliflower
Yield of cauliflower

Climatic Requirements for cauliflower farming

Cauliflower is a cool-season vegetable the best curds produces in the cool and slightly
moist climate condition.

The optimum monthly average temperature ranges from 15 to 20 °C. The early varieties
require higher temperatures and longer day length.

Soil
Cauliflower cultivated on any good soil from clay to loamy, but the fairly deep loamy soil is
most desirable. Soils with high moisture- holding capacity are preferred in late
season/summer since water stress adversely affects curd development.

In the rainy season, soils that dry rapidly are preferred so that the cultural and harvesting
operations can be done easily.

It is sensitive to high acidity, and the optimum soil pH for maximum production is 5.5 to
6.0.

Cauliflower is moderately sensitive to salinity in soil and water. it is more tolerant to salinity
than lettuce but somewhat less tolerant to salinity than broccoli. Hence water with EC of
1.3 or less can be used for irrigation

Sowing Time

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The best time of seed sowing in the nursery depending upon climate, varieties and their
temperature requirement for curd formation.

The cauliflower varieties are grouped under three categories. This is early season, main
season and late season varieties.

Early-season varieties are sown during May to August and ready to harvest from
September to December. Main season varieties are sown during September to October and
are ready for harvest from December to January, while late-season varieties are sown
during October to December and harvested from mid-January to April end.

Cauliflower Varieties
Early season – Early kunwar, Early Synthetic,Pusa Katki, Pant Gobhi-2, Pant Gobhi-3,
Main season -Pusa Synthetic, Pant Shubhra, Punjab Giant-26, Punjab Giant-35
late season– Pusa Snowball-1, Pusa Snowball-2, Sonwball-16, Dania Kalimpong

Seed rate
For cauliflower cultivation in an Early season: 600g-750 gm/ ha, Mid and late season: 400-
500 gm/ha seed required.

Nursery raising for cauliflower cultivation:

prepared raised bed for nursery a well rotten FYM or compost mix with soil at the rate 4
kg/m2.

Make Nursery beds with one meter wide and fifteen cm in hight.

After that drench fungicide like Captan or Thiram at the rate 2 g/l of water to prevent the
incidence of fungal diseases.

The seeds should be sown in lines at a spacing of 8-10 cm between rows and 1.5-2 cm
between seeds at a depth of 1.5-2 cm. The seed should be covered with sand and FYM
mixture.

Sowing of seed should be done at a distance 8 to 10 centimeters between seedlings and

1.5-2 cm in the rows. Seeds should be covered with soil and FYM mixture.

During the monsoon, nurseries should be created under polyhouse or polytunnel. Weeding
and intercultural operation should be time to time. Nursery beds should always be
irrigated according to need.

Transplanting

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Seedlings become ready for transplanting after 4 to 5 weeks.

During planting, the distance between the two plants depends upon the fertility of the soil,
Cultivation season and the market demand.

Generally for early season distance between plant to plant is 45 cm X 45 cm and for main
season and late season crop, 60 cm X 60 cm maintained.

In the market, the demand for small and medium-size Cauliflower is generally high;
Therefore, by reducing planting distance, more Cauliflower curds can be obtained.

An expert cauliflower farmer achieves this result by planting Cauliflower crop at the row to
raw 45 cm and plant to plant at 30 cm and you drip irrigation method for
improving cauliflower yield.

Manure and fertilizer

The requirements of fertilizer and Manure for cauliflower crop is depended upon the fertility
of the Soil. To determine the fertility of the soil, soil testing must be carried out before start
cauliflower farming.

Before transplanting cauliflower crop add 150-200 q/ha farmyard manure apply in the soil
and mix thoroughly in the field.

Generally, the cauliflower crop is required to give 200 kg of Nitrogen, 75 kg of phosphorus

and 75 kg potassium per hectare for optimum yield.

Nitrogen 100 kg, 75 kg phosphorus and 75 kg potash should be applied at the time of
transplanting. The remaining half of nitrogen should be given 30 and 45 days after
transplanting.

Intercultural Operations in cauliflower farming

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Weeding should be started as soon as the plants are set in the field. It should be shallow
so as not to disturb the root system. To produce solid curds, cauliflower plants should be
earthed up about 56 weeks after transplanting.

Special Cultural Practices

If the curds are exposed directly to bright sunlight, they lose some of their flavors and turn
yellow; thereby it becomes a low-quality product.

Only perfect, milky white or snow white curds get a good price hence Blanching operation
carried out.

It consists of tying with twine or securing with a rubber band the tips of the outer leaves at
the top of the curd. The curds should be left covered this way for a maximum of 45 days.
This period can be extended up to a week in severe winter or reduced to 23 days during hot
weather.

Harvesting of cauliflower

Cauliflower crop is ready for harvest 90-120 days after planting.

The full white coloured matured cauliflower should be harvest for sale immediately. If the
harvesting is delayed, then the colour of the curds is becoming yellowish, and its thickness
and charm disappear. Therefore it is very important to remove the cauliflower at the right
maturity time.
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Cut stalk below to the curd with a knife.grading should be made according to the colour
and size and the market demand.

Normal temperature cauliflower can be stored for 3 to 4 days and below to 0 with 85 to
90% humidity in 30 days.

Yield of cauliflower
Cauliflower yield depends upon production season and breed varieties. for early varieties,
approximately 6-10 t/ha is obtained while Midseason varieties, yield 12-20 t/ha and for
late variety, types are 20-30 t/ha obtain

In India year 2015- 2006 Cauliflower cultivated 426 ha an area and yield obtained
is 8090 MT (source- NHB)

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