Cauliflower

[Dragon Lady]

I had an excellent garden this year. Like, serious brag-worthy. But one thing blew my mind. I planted 4 cauliflower. I ate the first one (which was delicious) then pulled it out and composted it. Because unlike broccoli, cauliflower grows one head, then is done.

The 2nd and 3rd ones were ready at the same time, but I was in a hurry, so I harvested them quickly (and made cauliflower pizza crusts out of them), but left the roots and leaves in the ground, planning on going back later. It took me a few weeks, but I finally got back out there and started breaking off the leaves to compost when I noticed that there were new leaves growing out of the root in a different place! I was curious, so I pulled off the old leaves, but left the root and the new leaves to keep growing. I started in on the third plant to find the same thing!

The fourth plant took quite a while to get started, so it was late in the game, but when I harvested it, being curious, I waited a few weeks to harvest the leaves. Same story as #2 and 3.

I had this fear that they would just be more leaves from the original plant, because from everything I have ever read, cauliflower only grows one head. They've been growing all summer and just this past week Yellow saw a new head! It's only a few inches across, but it is definitely a new head. What the heck!?

I've done some basic googling and nothing I can find mentions anything about this happening. I admit, I haven't looked extra hard. But it's so crazy! Has anyone heard of this happening? Anyone have better googling skills than I and want to try to find something about it?

[wryness]

I don't have an answer, but if no one else here does either, then I recommend you call the KSL garden show. They seem to really know their stuff.

[Dragon Lady]

I'm not sure that I'm that curious. I don't usually call shows. Ever. I'd much rather ask a group of people I already know (ish) and if they don't know the answer, then just resign myself to idle curiosity.

[Yarjka]

Probably magic.

[Whistler]

okay, so, my guess would be that either your cauliflower grew another head, or that your cauliflower managed to drop a seed somewhere (although I guess you eat the flowers/head before it seeds?).

[Dragon Lady]

No seeds. I ate the cauliflower before it went to seed. And the new leaves are definitely growing from the original root. No question about that.

[UffishThought]

Same root, but not the same main stalk from the root?

[Dragon Lady]

Yes. But I've never heard of roots putting up new stalks, either. Nor can I find that on the googles. Everything just says to pull it up when you get your one head. But why pull it up if it'll just do your fall planting for you?

[Giovanni Schwartz]

PROBABLY IT BECOMES POISONOUS AFTER THE FIRST HEAD. That way, you can haunt your own Harry Potter party!

[UffishThought]

I don't have any cauliflower-growing experience, myself, but I found several sites that don't mention the one-head-per-plant issue at all, and a few others that say it's uncommon for them to grow another. I'd guess your new stalk isn't counting itself as part of the old plant. And it doesn't seem smart for a cauliflower to only produce one head, either--if it fails to produce seeds with its first head, it seems only logical to try again.

Anyway, that's interesting. I wish I knew enough to tell you more than that, but I don't.

[Yarjka]

Not sure if you have access to this resource, I got to it through my library's catalogue: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/title/15414.
Anyways, it's an old manual on growing Cauliflower published in Michigan by A. A. Crozier in 1891. It has the following quote near the end of the cultivation section:

"It may be well here to remind those who grow only a few plants in a garden, and who wish to prolong the season, that several cuttings may be taken from a single head if desired. A portion of the head should be left each time. Occasionally, but not often, a stump will sprout and form a second crop." (51)

And here is another good resource: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/title/35063.
It's called Cabbages and Cauliflowers: How to Grow Them. It was written in 1908 by James J. H. Gregory, "author of works on squash raising, onion raising, etc., etc." (an expert if ever I saw one). I don't have time to read through it all now, but it looks like a good manual. Sometimes old advice is the best advice.

[S.A.M.]

In the comments at this site - http://www.almanac.com/plant/cauliflower:

Side shoots are bonus! Enjoy! Many varieties of cauliflower do not develop side shoots, though some cultivars will produce as long as you leave a few leaves on the plant (eg., Green Comet). This can extend the harvest period for a month or more.

[Dragon Lady]

Interesting! I wonder if they mean that in the broccoli sense? Or in what I have happening? In which case, it extended it far more than a month, as it took several months to grow. It was basically a new baby plant. Mine didn't develop side shoots until I cut off the original head, but left the leaves (I assume the leaves provided the energy for the plant to grow a new shoot). But what's really cool is it looks like two plants grew multiple side shoots and I might get 3-4 heads off of it. Depending on how long it is before we get a nice hard freeze that kills my cauliflower...