Cauliflower Buttoning
The smaller portions of the cauliflower head (that make up the entire head of a cauliflower) are called curds or buttons. The development of these curds or buttons is what will make your produce a success or a small failure.

Posted Wednesday, April 5, 2006

keep your curds from being too small. The best cauliflower has multiple large curds to create one large head of the vegetable.

To develop the largest heads of cauliflower you want the temperatures to remain lower than seventy degrees for as long as possible. You also will want the soil to remain watered or at least moist for as long as possible. Don't overwater your plants, but watering them at least once a week during the driest portions of your summer will help keep your cauliflowers growing strong.

Keep your heads growing at a good rate that will give you lots of produce, you want to keep the temperatures from fluctuating too much, which means you might be able to grow better just in the spring months, or in the fall months, or if you live in a hot area during the summer, your plants may need some shade. The best time to plant your cauliflowers in the garden is when they are just seedlings, just four or five weeks old. This is before they have any heads at all, and they can become too familiar to the temperatures outdoors before the heads start forming.

They will need a PH level of at least 6.5. PH levels that are too low will not give a plant the nutrients needed to support the head and grow a good head of cauliflower.

In planting your seedlings in the garden you should space out your plants about twenty inches between plants and between rows, so your heads have plenty of room to continue growing.

Only pull the leaves up over the head while they are young. Moving the leaves and disturbing the leaves too much as they grow will cause stress on the plant, leaving you with smaller cauliflower heads.