Scientific name: Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis L

Family: Brassicaceae

Brief history and botanical notes on the plant
Cauliflower, a biennial herbaceous plant, has a not very deep tap root. On the erect stem (15 to 50 cm long) there are a few dozen ribbed leaves, of which the outermost ones are larger, of a more or less intense green colour.
The edible part is called by various scholars corymb, apple, head, flower head, flower, bread, ball, head, inflorescence, false inflorescence, hypertrophied apical bud or compact spheroid. The corymb is the result of the repeated branching of the terminal portion of the main axis of the plant. The corymb can take very different shapes. The convex upper surface of the corymb is formed by a very high number of apical meristems.
The actual inflorescence is raceme and comes from the elongation of the fleshy peduncles of the corymb. As these peduncles lengthen, they branch several times. The flowers of the first branches abort and only those of the fourth-eighth order branching onwards are fertile. The flowers are yellow and typical of cruciferous plants. Heterogamous fertilization is the prevalent one. The fruits are silique, of different shape and length; they can contain up to over 25 seeds, round, with a diameter varying from 1 to 2.5 mm, reddish-brown or almost shiny bluish.

ORIGIN AND DIFFUSION
Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. conv. botrytis (L.) Alef. var. botrytis L.) is one of the most cultivated cruciferous vegetables in Italy, widespread above all in the central-southern regions and precisely in Campania, Marche, Tuscany, Lazio, Puglia and Sicily. Its origin is rather uncertain. The name derives from the Latin “caulis” (stem, cabbage) and “floris” (flower). In Italy it first established itself in Tuscany, as evidenced by some Medici paintings from the early eighteenth century where a cauliflower from the Arezzo area is portrayed and offered as a gift to Cosimo III. The countries in which its cultivation is most widespread are India, China, France, Italy and the United States.
Cauliflower is used both fresh and frozen, dehydrated and pickled.

PEDOCLIMATIC REQUIREMENTS
It prefers areas with a cool and humid climate. The most important climatic factor is temperature, both during the transition from vegetative to reproductive phase and before and after it. For early cultivars the optimal temperature for the formation of corymbs is around 17°C. With temperatures above 20°C the transition to the reproductive phase is delayed and the quality of the corymbs becomes poor. Even low temperatures can damage the plant during the various stages in which it is found. If the plant has formed 6-8 leaflets and is subjected to low temperatures, plants without inflorescence can be obtained. Frost causes the lumps that form the edible part to boil.
It requires medium-textured soil and a high water level in the layer affected by the roots. Evapotranspiration is also high due to the notable transpiring surface of the leaf system.
Cultivation takes place at different times of the year, depending on the location and the cultivars used.

CULTIVAR
The cultivars are distinguished based on whether or not cold is required for the formation of the corymb. In fact, there are cultivars that do not require cold for the formation of the edible part, but this is necessary to form the actual inflorescence, while they require cold both for the formation of the edible part and for the inflorescence.
Varieties obtained from old local populations, others through free pollination and F1 hybrids are available on the market.

SOWING AND TRANSPLANTING TIMES
It is considered a renewal crop (catch crop) and can follow wheat or vegetables such as broad beans, peas, carrots and potatoes. It can also be interspersed between wheat and tomato, using short-cycle cultivars.
Single succession should be avoided, especially if vegetation residues are not eliminated, particularly if affected by diseases. Even if direct sowing provides excellent results, seedlings grown in the nursery in special containers are used and subsequently transplanted (from July to the end of September). The vernalization of the seedlings (15-20 days at 2°C) seems to favor the concentration of the harvesting period.
Depending on the size of the plants there are different planting densities. The late varieties are larger than the early ones, so the planting distances vary from 60 to 100 cm between the rows and 40-70 cm along the rows, with a density of seedlings varying from 15,000 to 30,000 per hectare.

PROCESSINGS
It does not require any particular work, its rusticity allows it to grow even in the middle of meadows, a superficial work of the soil is enough.

FERTILIZATION
Cauliflower requires a good supply of organic substance, for information we can say that on average it requires around 130 units of nitrogen per ha, 40 of phosphorus and 140 of potassium.
Contributions of composted manure, pelleted organic fertilizers, vegetable compost, rock dust and soft phosphate are useful. As all cruciferous vegetables appreciate the presence of calcium, this element can be supplied with limestone flour or with lithotamnium.
In biodynamic agriculture, the use of preparation 500 is excellent.

CULTURAL CARE
The fight against weeds can be carried out in the first period of the cycle with mechanical means.
It requires constant availability of water; therefore, in summer-autumn crops, it requires irrigation.

CONSOCIATIONS
It is useful to combine Cauliflower with: Beets, Beans, Strawberries, Lettuce, Peas, Tomatoes, Leeks, Spinach, Radishes, celery.
Does not appreciate association with Garlic, Onions and Potatoes

ADVERSITY'
Among the parasites that affect Cauliflower we remember:
Cryptogames:
- Alternariosis (Alternaria brassicae);
– Cruciferous hernia (Plasmodiophora brassicae);
– Basal rots (Sclerotinia spp., Rhizoctonia solani, Phoma lingam);
– Cabbage mycosphaerella (Mycosphaerella brassicicola);
– White rust (Albugo candiada);
– Peronospora (Peronospora brassicae, Peronospora parasitica);
Bacteriosis:
– (Xanthomonas campestris, Erwinia carotovora);
Insects:
– Aphids (Myzus persicae) (Brevicoryne brassicae);
– Noctuaries, Cabbage birds (Mamestra brassicae, Mamestra oleracea, Pieris brassicae);
– Elaterids (Agriotes spp.);
– Altica (Phyllotreta spp.);
– Weevils (Baris spp., Ceuthorrhyncus spp.);
– Cabbage fly (Delia radicum).
Damage from nematodes, snails and rodents has also been reported.
Cauliflowers can undergo alterations of a different nature. Among these we remember the hair, which consists in an early passage of the apical meristems of the corymb into floral structures. There are notable differences between cultivars and it is attributed to high temperatures, rapid growth, excess nitrogen and high air humidity. The "buttoning", which consists in a premature transition from the vegetative to the reproductive phase and affects the growth of the plants, which remain much smaller, including the corymb, which is not marketable. This phenomenon is strongly influenced by the conditions in which the plant is raised; in particular, transplanting with large seedlings, low temperatures and a humid or very dry environment, poor soil conditions (including salinity), scarcity of nitrogen, presence of an excessive number of weeds favor its appearance. Virescence or fraudescence, i.e. the appearance of small leaves on the surface of the corymb, is due to the return to the vegetative phase while the reproductive phase was in progress. It is favored by the occurrence of temperatures above 15-18°C, even if there is considerable variability between cultivars. Plants without corymbs, the so-called blind or atrophic cauliflowers, are also often noted. These plants have thicker and more consistent leaves than usual, slightly curved and sometimes with the blade often reduced to the central vein.

PRODUCTION AND COLLECTION
The harvest is gradual and goes from October to May.
The corymbs are harvested when they are compact and in any case before the individual florets or florets that make up the corymb begin to separate. Since ripening does not occur at the same time, 3-6 harvests are required. The size and weight of the corymbs vary considerably depending on the cultivar: in some old cultivars they exceed 30 cm in diameter and 3-5 kg ​​in weight; in those normally used today the defoliated corymbs generally do not exceed 1.5 kg. After cutting, exposure to sunlight must be avoided to avoid the appearance of unwanted colors.
The production per hectare of defoliated corymbs depends on the size of the latter and can vary from 100 to over 400 quintals
Cauliflower is an easily perishable product due to the more or less intense respiratory activity which causes rapid wilting of the product.

FOOD USES AND NUTRITIONAL VALUES
Cauliflower is very rich in water (more than 90%) but with a non-negligible energy value
(25-30 calories 100g of edible part; 2% protein). It has a good content of vitamin C, potassium, phosphorus and calcium. Furthermore, it contains several sulfur compounds that produce the characteristic odor during cooking and cause some digestion difficulties.
Due to its vitamin-reconstructing, remineralising and, above all, promoting effects, the intestinal movement carries out a preventive action against many tumors (especially intestinal), and by constituting a diluting mass and chemical buffer, it fights gastro-duodenal ulcers. Due to the clear osmotic action of the fresh leaves, these are used to disinfect bruises.

The most important mineral compounds contained are sulfur, calcium, phosphorus, copper, iodine, selenium, magnesium. All cabbages (especially if fresh) are rich in vitamins, especially vitamin B1 and vitamin C.

Almost all cruciferous vegetables (a family to which cabbage also belongs) have shown an extraordinary ability to collect and fix in their tissues the minerals contained in the soil, often essential for human nutrition, but also heavy metals, which often are toxic, such as chromium, lead, arsenic, cadmium.
For this use, cultivations of other plants of this family have been used on soils polluted by these metals, to purify them; the heavy metals are then extracted and concentrated.
When growing cabbage plants for food purposes it is best to ensure that the soil is not polluted by these metals.

CURIOSITY'
When cooked, all cabbages give off a bad odor because they are rich in sulfur compounds, which are released by cooking.
However, all cabbages also contain nutritionally very useful substances, which even appear to have a cancer prevention function and which are dispersed during cooking.

For this reason, researchers suggest cooking them in a pressure cooker, in order to reduce both the cooking time and the loss of these substances, as well as the spread of bad odors.
It is very useful, in cases where it is possible, to use uncooked cauliflowers, given that in an unmodified condition they contain useful substances (including sulfur compounds) and vitamins, in fact some vitamins (such as vitamin C) degrade with cooking.

With the discovery of America, the era of long-distance naval travel began, this fact posed a dramatic question: how to combat scurvy. With coastal navigation, the absence from land occurred only for a few days, and the fresh food lasted quite well for this period, no particular cases of illness had ever occurred.

Instead, sailing for long periods without touching land, and without fresh food, the sailors immediately showed themselves to have very serious organic, nervous and gastric problems, which later revealed themselves as "vitamin C deficiency" (the body's supply of vitamin if not re-fueled they run out rather quickly). It was noted that these symptoms, which led to certain death, were averted if citrus fruits, but above all cabbage, were present in the diet (also easily available in Nordic countries).
Soon all ocean-going ships had a large supply of fresh cabbage on board, which allowed, thanks to that fresh vegetable, rich in vitamin C (vitamin C degrades when cooked), to be able to make voyages of many weeks without touching land . During stops on land, anywhere in the world, cabbages (or similar plants of the same family), or citrus fruits, depending on the latitude) were then sought to rebuild the stocks. Thanks to cabbages and citrus fruits, colonization quickly reached every corner of the world.
Also thanks to the supplies of cabbage, months-long fishing campaigns in the open sea by whaling ships became possible in the 1700s and 1800s, which in just a few decades caused the extermination of cetaceans and seals, reaching all the districts of the planet's oceans.

BIODYNAMICS
It is essential to use preparation 500 combining it with a mixed green manure, given the avidity of calcium it is useful to also use preparation 505 which contains calcium and sulphur.
Foliar spraying with silica horn 501 helps to stimulate the plant's defenses, warding off diseases.
USE OF THE BIODYNAMIC CALENDAR
Sowing is done in the seedbed from May to July and transplanted after about 40 days at a distance of 50-60 cm.
In the biodynamic calendar, in which the days AIR, WATER, LIGHT and EARTH are specified, i.e. when that type of processing has the greatest effect since the part of the plant that is of interest in the specific crop is favored. Thus the water days favor the leaf part of the plant, the earth days the roots, the air/light days the flowers and the light days the fruits.
Based on these indications, cauliflowers prefer sowing on air days (flower organ).