subject: Getting The Soil Ready For Cauliflower Growing [print this page] A lot of gardeners have difficulties with growing cauliflowers. This is often attributed to poor soil preparation. Cauliflowers are heavy feeders that grow continuously and quickly. Thus, it is vital for the soil to possess ample nutrition so that it could support the growth.
Apart from being voracious feeders, cauliflower favors a soil with the acidity level between 5.5 to 6.5pH. The soil must drain well. Cauliflowers furthermore possess a weaker root system.
Planting cauliflowers can occur around 6 weeks before the threat of frost has ended, even though the temperature is in the range of 65 to 75 degrees. On the other hand, soil preparation has to be done a few months before.
Several months prior to actually planting, cut all visible grass in the area. Additionally cut off branches and twigs from close by trees which could shade your cauliflowers. With the use of a grub hoe, shovel or fork, loosen the soil until a good tilt is obtained. Don't fumigate the soil as soil-borne diseases like clubroot flourish in soils in which they don't have to compete with other micro-organisms.
Make plots which have a width of 1 meter and a length of five to twenty meters. It must be 6 to 8 inches in height. The plots needs to be positioned in an east-west direction so your plants will receive sunlight and also at the same time not expose them to the north winds. Utilize a rake to level your plots.
Ideally, it is best to just use biologically active fertilizers such as mushroom compost to build soil structure. But you can also use basal fertilizer mixture, mixed in with aged compost, and urea.
Even when the soil you have is rich and fertile, it is going to nevertheless do good to use commercial fertilizer to the soil like 5-10-10. These kinds of fertilizer has boron as well as magnesium which cauliflowers need to grow properly. Accomplish this a few weeks before the plants will be set.
For adequate supply of nitrogen, add chicken manure on the soil three weeks after the cauliflowers have been set out. Make certain that the soil is evenly moist.
