Last edited on November 02, 2026. View history
Ruapehu Cauliflower
A variety of cauliflower
How to sow Ruapehu cauliflower: Sow seeds indoors, harden seedlings off before transplanting
Sun requirement for Ruapehu cauliflower: Plant in Full Sun
A large white cauliflower with an excellent texture and flavour when grown well. A long-season cultivar that takes 4 to 5 months to mature. Grows well all over New Zealand, but in the north plant only in autumn. Sow in trays in autumn or early spring, prick out at 3 cm and transplant 4 weeks later or at 6 to 8 cm high at 40 cm diagonal spacing. An early commercial seed line.
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Ruapehu cauliflower facts
Lifespan
Crop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For Ruapehu cauliflower, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 5°C and a shortest growing cycle of 60 days at its best temperature, about 750 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your Ruapehu cauliflower will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing Ruapehu cauliflowers
- Sow seeds in trays 5 weeks before planting out
- Dig compost into the bed 1 week before planting out
- Harden off the seedlings 1 week before planting out
- Net against cabbage white butterflies at planting out
- Set or refill beer traps for slugs and snails at planting out every week
- Water regularly at planting out every week
- Check leaves for caterpillars 2 weeks after planting out every week
- Feed with a nitrogen fertiliser 4 weeks after planting out
- Fold leaves over the curd to keep it white 2 weeks before first harvest
- Cut the head while it is still tight at first harvest
- Pull out the stalks 2 weeks after first harvest
Plant Ruapehu cauliflowers with
dill
Video
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 60 to 120 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L. [L.]
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Dilleniidae Capparales Cruciferae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: -5 °C, rest: -5 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | biennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | deep (>>150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about Ruapehu cauliflowers
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