Why are cauliflower heads not round

[Babru]

My friend has cauliflowers she thought were doing OK, but now the heads aren't round, but loose. Any thoughts where she's gone wrong?

[Nicos]

I’ve only grown caulies a few times as mine always seemed to open into flower before the heads grew larger than a tennis ball.
Could your friend’s be starting to open up in the same way?
If so, it could be down the the weather?

[Snoop Puss]

Agree with Nicos. The florets are still edible, though, even if she doesn't have a traditional looking cauli head.

Caulis are quite hungry plants while growing, so need regular feeding as well as watering. Well worth trying again next year, I reckon.

[Penellype]

Someone somewhere told me that with brassicas, particularly cauliflower/calabrese where you want closely packed heads, they need to be planted really firmly. I don't know if this is the reason, but when I grow cauliflowers in the spring (from bought plants, not seeds) I usually get heads that are about 4-5 inches across before they start to open up. Could be the time of year (warmer weather?) or the variety, or the feeding though.

[ameno]

They go like that naturally when they start going over and are preparing to actually flower, although as said above they are still perfectly edible.
So in other words, your friend waited too long to pick them.
If she was waiting because they still weren't very big, sometimes they just don't grow as big as you might hope, especially if the plant itself isn't as big as it should be. Rather than judging readiness by overall size of the head, one should judge it by size of the individual flower buds, as that is always consistent. When they reach the size you would see on a head bought from a supermarket, it's ready to pick.

[peacegarden2024]

what variety was the cauliflower and did your friend blanch the head.

[Babru]

The variety was All Year Round. My friend tells me she didn't blanch the head as there was hardly any sun. And you'll see from the photo that there was nothing edible left...!
o

[Nicos]

Yikes!…mine we’re never that bad. I guess it’s just bolted very early because of the weather?