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Vegetable Gardening

What is my Cauliflower doing?

8 years ago

I planted cauliflower and broccoli in late fall or early winter and have left in, harvesting as heads pop up. I looked below the cauliflower leaves and found this. My hubby says it is mutant and to yank it out. Are these offspring cauliflower plants? or is it wasting energy like rosehips?

What should I do with it?

Thank you for your knowledge and advice!

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Comments (5)

farmerdill
8 years ago
Something stopped the formation of the main. The plant is soldiering on trying to reproduce by starting multiple sprouts. Not that prevalent among cauliflower but a common occurence with cabbage and broccoli.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
what do they taste like????

ken
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I had green caterpillars eating holes in the leaves of my broccoli and brussell sprouts. Since they are all the same species, perhaps that is what you have? They blended in really well and were tough to spot when they were small, but became more obvious as they grew. I usually found them on the inner leaves. I just picked them off manually and have seen no new caterpillars or leaf damage for weeks.
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Yup, I agree with nc-crn, it sure looks like white cabbage butterfly caterpillar damage. Those little green caterpillars really do blend in. If you can't find/smush them all, lol, you can spray the plants with a bacterial slurry (no chemicals) called Bt (Bacillus thurengiensis) which is a type of bacteria that kills only caterpillars. One of several brand names is Thuricide which you can find at most home improvement super stores and good nurseries. Keep us posted. Other than the slight foliage damage, that's a fine looking cauliflower plant! Happy gardening!
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Some call it "ricing" (fuzzy with leaves in the middle of the head), some call it "buttoning" (button size curds) and some call it bolting if it first looked normal but small. Bottom line it is a response to poor environmental conditions ie: early heat or frost exposure (I'd guess heat in your zone), excess nitrogen, inconsistent soil moisture levels, rootbound when transplanted, etc. Cauliflower can be very picky about its growing conditions. Dave
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Look like sprouting Cauliflower. Do you know the named variety? What is the weather like? Real hot? Real wet? You can eat the stems now, it is not going to go back to "normal" at this point. Heck, since they are growing like that, maybe they will grow more if you cut them like Broccoli. Doesn't hurt to try, unless you want the space for something else.
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cdksd
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Is this buttoning? Probably due to the heat and/or lack of water while sprinklers were being repaired. Are these edible? I am not sure I am brave enough to try!
farmerdill
8 years ago
No that is sprouting due to the main head being damaged. Edible yes, palatable maybe but I have never tried them. Personnaly I would just yank it out.
ltilton
8 years ago
Me, I'd keep it to see how the sprouts develop, just as a curiosity. No reason they wouldn't be edible.

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