Cauliflower
Brassica oleracea var. botrytis
Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) is a cool-season cole crop grown for its dense, edible flower head, or "curd." A brassica closely related to broccoli and cabbage, it is grown as an annual across roughly Zones 3–10 and produces best when the curd develops in cool conditions around 50–70°F. It is sensitive to heat and moisture stress, which cause loose curds or failure to form a head, and white types are often blanched by tying the outer leaves over the developing curd.
Crop Snowflake Score
/acre
/acre
/acre
years
Overview
Grow in rich, well-drained yet moisture-retentive soil at pH 6–7, avoiding drought stress; supply about 1 inch of water per week. Both spring (heat-tolerant, short-cycle varieties) and mid-summer plantings for fall harvest are used. Hot weather (about 86°F day / 77°F night) can cause plants to form no crown. Rotate out of brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, turnip, rutabaga) for about four years to limit disease. Colored and Romanesco types need sunlight and are not blanched.
Growing Season
- Plant
- Early to mid spring (transplants); early to mid summer for fall crop – Early to mid spring (transplants); early to mid summer for fall crop
- Harvest
- Summer (spring planting); fall (summer planting) – Summer (spring planting); fall (summer planting)
- Frost-free days
- 60+
Yield
- Typical yield
- 130 cwt/acre
- Productive lifespan
- 1 years
Market Fit
Active Regional Buyers
1 active buyer on record purchasing this crop.
Price Trend Stable/Up
3-year price trend recorded as "declining".
Supply Below Demand
Commodity vegetable — regional and national supply is well established, limiting headroom for new entrants.
Multiple Buyer Channels
1 recorded buyer and 6 documented market channels. Multiple routes to market.
Value-Added Potential
6 documented market channels, including value-added and direct-to-consumer routes.
Market Growth Projected
Mature vegetable market; growth over a 5-year horizon expected to track population rather than outpace it.
Market Channels
Climate Fit
Hardiness Zone Match
Crop tolerates zones 3-10; region spans 5-6. Overlaps.
GDD Sufficient
Crop GDD minimum not recorded. Region accumulates 2500+ GDD (base 50F), sufficient for most temperate crops.
Precipitation Compatible
Crop needs ~1 in; region receives ~38 in/yr. Compatible, irrigation available as supplement.
Frost-Free Season OK
Crop needs 60 frost-free days; region provides ~180. Sufficient.
Chill Hours Met
Not applicable — biennial crop has no winter chill requirement.
Climate Trend Favorable
Crop spans 8 hardiness zones (3-10). Wide adaptive range buffers against warming trend.
Soil Compatibility
Soil Texture
Drainage
Infrastructure Fit
Equipment Compatible
14 documented equipment requirements. Unusually equipment-intensive (14 distinct requirements), implying significant capital outlay.
Storage Available
1 documented storage/handling requirement, all achievable with conventional on-farm or third-party facilities.
Irrigation Compatible
Requires ~1 in. Deliverable with conventional drip or overhead irrigation.
Field Layout Suitable
Suited to the small-to-mid-size fragmented parcels typical of the region.
Labor Availability
Labor requirement not recorded. Catalog 75th percentile is 250 hr/ac.
Processing Proximity
1 processor/cooperative buyer on record for this crop, 1 within NY/PA/OH.
Equipment Requirements
general
Primary power unit for bed preparation, spreading, transplanting, cultivation and spraying. Shared across the vegetable rotation rather than dedicated to cauliflower.
Lime to pH 6.5-6.8. Boron is best applied as an additive to the base fertilizer at 3 lb B/A where soil boron is low; broadcasting boron alone risks uneven distribution and toxicity.
planting
Transplants must be raised with a minimum nighttime temperature of 50F and set at 5-7 weeks old. Cold-grown or over-hardened transplants with thick stems are the primary cause of buttoning.
Sets plants to 15-18" in-row and 30-36" between rows. Uniform depth matters: setting transplants too deeply increases Rhizoctonia wirestem.
For direct-seeded midseason and late plantings at about 4 oz seed/A. Add 2-3 weeks to days-to-maturity versus transplanting.
Raised beds of 4" are recommended for direct-seeded cauliflower and improve drainage on finer-textured soils used for later plantings.
High-phosphorus starter at 3 lb per 50 gal, applied at 8 fl oz per transplant. Most valuable under cool soil conditions, which is exactly when buttoning risk is highest.
irrigation
Adequate soil water is critical through establishment and rapid vegetative growth. Light overhead applications of 0.33-0.5" are used to cool plants when harvest coincides with high temperatures.
spraying
Waxy brassica foliage requires thorough coverage and an appropriate adjuvant. Drop nozzles improve penetration into the plant interior for caterpillar and Alternaria programs.
cultivation
Mechanical weed control between rows through canopy closure.
harvesting
Required for any variety that is not self-blanching. Tie outer leaves over the head at 2-3" curd diameter, re-tying every 2-3 days using a different colour each time to coordinate harvest dates.
Heads are cut at about 6" diameter when compact and clear white. Bruising during harvest and packing is a direct quality loss.
post_harvest
Rapid removal of field heat preserves curd quality. Brassicas should be cooled as quickly as possible after cutting.
Store as close to 32F as possible without freezing at greater than 95% RH. Brassicas are very sensitive to ethylene and yellow on exposure, so do not store with ethylene-producing fruit.
Storage Requirements
Cold storage (film-wrapped heads)
Temperature
32–32°F
Humidity
90–98%
Max Storage
28 days
Finance Fit
Revenue Above Average
Gross revenue $11,654/ac vs catalog median $5,500/ac. Above median.
Input Costs Acceptable
Input cost not recorded; not penalising. Catalog 75th percentile is $5,387/ac.
Payback Period OK
Reaches full production in 0 years. Acceptable payback.
Insurance Available
No federal crop insurance recorded for this crop; risk sits with the grower.
Revenue Per Labor Hour
Cannot compute — net return not recorded. Catalog median is $13.16/hr.
Grants/Subsidies
Vegetable crops are eligible under the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.
Economics Breakdown
| Avg Price/Unit | $65/per cwt (US avg, fresh & processing) |
| Gross Revenue/Acre | $11,654 |
| Annual Operating Cost | —/acre |
| Establishment Cost | —/acre |
| Total Input Cost | —/acre |
| Net Return/Acre | — |
| Revenue/Labor Hour | — |
| Crop Insurance | Not available |
Source: USDA NASS Vegetables 2025 Summary (February 2026) (2025)
Risk Fit
Manageable Pest/Disease
11 documented risk factors. Within the range manageable by conventional IPM.
Market Diversified
1 buyer, 6 channels. Not dependent on a single outlet.
Low Establishment Risk
0 years to full production. Low establishment exposure.
Climate Resilient
Tolerates zones 3-10 (8 zones). Broad tolerance indicates resilience to seasonal variability.
Regulatory Burden Low
No crop-specific licensing or reporting regime beyond standard food-safety and pesticide rules.
Diversifies Portfolio
Adds a vegetable revenue stream distinct from the region's grape-dominated base.
Known Risks
disease
Bacterial disease producing yellow to brown lesions, most often at leaf margins, with characteristic V-shaped lesions and blackened veins. Seedborne and splash-spread; systemic infection can destroy the curd and the whole plant.
Caused by at least three Alternaria species and may be seedborne. Leaf spotting reduces plant vigor; infection of the curd causes head rot and direct loss of marketable product.
Soilborne pathogen causing stunting, yellowing, wilting and marked swelling and deformity of roots. Once a field is infested the pathogen cannot be eliminated, making this a long-term land-use risk rather than a single-season loss.
Angular yellow to orange lesions with dark speckling on upper leaf surfaces and white sporulation on both surfaces. Favoured by cool, humid conditions; heavy infection defoliates plants during curd fill.
Brown to black, often sunken lesions causing wirestem and damping-off in seedlings and bottom or head rot in mature plants. The pathogen is ubiquitous in most soils and survives indefinitely.
pest
Waxy-leaved Brassica oleracea crops including cauliflower are the preferred hosts of the brassica caterpillar complex. Larvae feeding in the developing curd cause contamination and direct rejection of otherwise marketable heads.
Shot-hole feeding on cotyledons and young leaves. Pressure on waxy-leaved cauliflower is generally lower than on non-waxy brassicas such as mustards and bok choi, but stand loss can still occur on young transplants under heavy pressure.
climate
Premature formation of a small, unmarketable head. Occurs when transplants do not have enough leaves to support a marketable curd, typically after cold temperatures at transplanting, root-bound or over-hardened transplants, or inadequate fertility.
weather
Once outer leaves are tied over the head for blanching, the curd sits in a warm, humid microclimate. Hot, humid or rainy weather during the blanching interval can rot the curd before harvest, losing the crop at its highest accumulated cost.
environmental
Brassica crops are sensitive to boron deficiency, which causes hollow or browned stems and off-quality curds. Low or poorly available calcium causes tipburn of interior leaves.
market
Non-self-blanching cauliflower requires hand tying of outer leaves over each head, repeated every 2-3 days across the field, then harvest within a narrow window. This is the highest per-acre hand-labour requirement among the common cole crops and exposes the enterprise to labour availability and cost risk.
Nutritional Yield
Macronutrients
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per acre |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 25 kcal | 958,209 kcal |
| Protein | 1.9 g | 73,590 g |
| Total fat | 0.3 g | 10,732 g |
| Carbohydrates | 5 g | 190,492 g |
| Fiber | 2 g | 76,657 g |
| Sugar | 1.9 g | 73,207 g |
Key micronutrients
Uncertainty: Per-acre values are estimates that compound the yield range, edible-fraction assumption, and a single representative nutrient panel. Treat them as order-of-magnitude planning numbers, not nutritional advice. Confidence: high.
Ecosystem Services
Nutrient cycling
- Uptake of residual nitrogen following legume sod or manuremoderate
Cauliflower is a heavy nitrogen feeder, with a total recommendation of about 160 lb N/A. Placed after a ploughed-down legume sod or a manure application, it draws down residual soil nitrogen that would otherwise be at risk of leaching, and its own fertilizer requirement drops correspondingly.
Applies when: grown in the year following legume sod, manure application, or another high-residual-nitrogen cropEvidence: Extension guidance·Confidence: medium - Residue return from high-biomass harvest remainderlow
Only the curd is removed at harvest; the large frame of wrapper leaves and stalk remains in the field. Incorporating this residue returns nitrogen, potassium and organic matter taken up during the season instead of exporting it.
Applies when: plant debris is incorporated or mowed after harvestEvidence: Extension guidance·Confidence: medium
Soil health
- Enforced rotational diversitymoderate
Cauliflower cannot be grown continuously. Disease management requires a routine 3-year rotation away from all brassicas, extending to 7 years where club root is present. The crop therefore compels a diversified rotation, and the soil-health benefits of that diversity are a genuine, if indirect, service of including it.
Applies when: the required brassica rotation interval is actually observedEvidence: Extension guidance·Confidence: high
Climate adaptation
- Cool-season production windowmoderate
Quality is highest when the crop matures in cool weather, so cauliflower fills spring and autumn production windows when warm-season vegetables are unavailable. This spreads a farm’s exposure across more of the calendar and reduces reliance on a single mid-summer marketing peak.
Applies when: planting is scheduled so that curd formation and harvest fall in cool weatherEvidence: Extension guidance·Confidence: high
Pest suppression
- Glucosinolate residue biofumigationlow
Brassica tissue contains glucosinolates that release isothiocyanates when incorporated into moist soil, suppressing some soilborne pathogens, nematodes and weed seedlings. Cauliflower leaves a substantial volume of leaf and stalk residue at harvest that can be incorporated rather than removed.
Applies when: crop residue is chopped and incorporated promptly into moist soil rather than removed or left on the surfaceEvidence: Extension guidance·Confidence: low
Nearby Buyers
Eden Valley Growers
Eden, NY · 30.0 mi
Data Sources
Every data point on this page is traceable to its source. Below you'll find the complete provenance trail — which sources were used, when data was last verified, and a full change history.
Primary sources: Region-neutral agronomy sourced from University of Minnesota Extension and Michigan State University Extension (E-1591).
Economics data year: 2025 · Region: lake_erie View economics source →
14 tracked changes across 10 data categories