THE EFFECTS OF SOME CULTURAL FACTORS ON THE MATURITY CHARACTERISTICS OF SUMMER AND AUTUMN CAULIFLOWERS

Experiments carried out over a period of five years have examined the effects of six cultural variables on (a) the time of maturity and (b) the duration of the maturity period of three varieties of summer and autumn cauliflower.
The treatments included the use of graded and ungraded seed, transplanting and direct-drilling of the crop, different ages of transplants, the selection of plants for uniformity at the time of planting or thinning, and plant spacing and nitrogen status during the early seedling stages of growth.

Transplanted crops of all three varieties were later maturing than direct-drilled crops and in two out of three varieties the duration of the maturity period was much longer with transplanted crops.
Both plant competition in the seedbed and increasing age of transplant delayed maturity and lengthened the maturity period of the transplanted crops.

The significance of these results and other factors is discussed in relation to the planning of a cropping-programme to give a continuous and uniform production of good quality heads over a period of time.

Symposium on timing of the Field-production of Vegetable Crops

P.J. Salter

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1973.27.11