Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
Summer cauliflower secrets
Sowing by the moon and using a heat-tolerant cultivar make for good out-of-season profits. What do the full moon and a secret cultivar have in common? Answer: Successful summer cauliflowers. Trump card for vegetable farmer Johnny Costa is a cultivar claimed by him to be the only one in South Africa capable of producing quality hotweather cauliflowers, while another ace, he adds, is the sowing of the seed two days after full moon. “I will sell the seed of this hot-weather cultivar only when I give up commercial cauliflower growing for good,” he declares. That, however, is not likely to be soon, so the mystery cultivar developed by him is likely to remain a closely guarded secret. But is it all that much of a secret?
Costa says not: “Any breeder should be able to do it, but it will take a long time and a lot of hard work.” Costa, who farms near Elsburg in the Transvaal, started summercauliflower experiments 16 years ago, and eight years ago he harvested his first crop from his specially bred summer variety.
Basically the cultivar is a cross between a summer and a winter cauliflower, which is one that takes four months to mature, and another that takes seven months. 10 February 1982
These cultivars, taken separately, are of little use, Costa says. But crossing the two hardly brought him immediate benefits. Selection and rejection went on for years. What he was searching for, apart from general high quality, was a cauliflower that would produce a firm, white head in the heat of midsummer. “What I have now fits the bill beautifully.” Germination of the seed, as with other seed, tends to falter after four years. He then re-establishes seed from parent stock by leaving, after harvesting, strong plants in the lands to flower and seed. Germination of young seed is 90%.
MONEY SPINNER
Cauliflowers, being cool-weather plants, usually do very badly in heat. “Just about every Tom, Dick and Harry can grow winter cauliflowers, but summer production poses certain problems. Of course, an out-ofseason cauliflower is a money spinner. “In midsummer I can realise from 70c to 80c a head as against a winter price of 10c to 30c.”
When temperatures on the Highveld reach 35°C or even higher, Costa believes it is quite hopeless to attempt to grow summer cauliflowers unless you have available a variety that will be tolerant of heat.
Having overcome the obstacle of an acclimatised cultivar, why does the sowing of the seed happen soon after the emergence of the full moon? “I can offer no explanation, but all I can say is that for more than 15 years I have done so and it has been rewarding.”
In the wake of the full moon, Costa sows from April through to December. However, apart from moon watching there are other practical matters requiring attention in a summer-growing cauliflower operation. To guard against root rot and other diseases, he treats the seed with thiram, or by placing it in hot but not boiling water, maintaining a constant temperature for 20 minutes.
The seed is also placed in Curaterr, a systematic poison that protects the young plants from insect attack. This obviates having to go into the seedbeds to spray. Meanwhile, lands and seedbeds have been prepared. No fertiliser is used at this stage by Costa except weathered kraal manure, which is ploughed in just before transplanting. The seedlings are flood irrigated thoroughly once a week, and when a month old, receives a top dressing of nitrogen. “The soil on the farm is a clay loam, which I find very good for cauliflower cultivation. It retains moisture and holds the nitrogen, except when subjected to severe rain. In fact, I prefer not to have rain as I can regulate the required amount of water to the plants better,” says Costa.
TRANSPLANTING
At seven weeks, the seedlings are ready for transplanting, preferably on a cool day. The lands are fertilised with nitrogen in preparation, and the plants spaced 300mm apart in rows 760mm apart. Immediately after transplanting the lands are sprayed with the weed killer Lasso. Fertiliser is applied in the form of a foliar spray every 10 to 15 days, mixed with Tamron, another systematic poison for further protection against insects. After the transplants have been in a month, they receive a top dressing of nitrogen. Towards the end of the second month, a weaker systemic poison, Phosdrin, is used, again to ward off insects, and can be safely applied up to three days before harvesting.
“My speciality bred summer cultivar,”says Costa, ”takes five months from sowing to harvesting, which I consider very good.” He harvests in the early hours of the morning when the dew is still on the plants.
This article first appeared in the 10 February 1982 issue of Farmer’s Weekly and has been edited to adhere to the current style of the magazine.