Cauliflower · Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
When to plant cauliflowers in Guangzhou
Main outdoor window
26 Dec - 17 Jan
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
10 January
In Guangzhou, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
2 Mar - 1 Apr
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Guangzhou
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
21 Nov - 12 Dec
Seven weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow for autumn
15 Aug - 5 Sep
Counting back 109 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Plant out
26 Dec - 17 Jan
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
2 Mar - 1 Apr
Cauliflowers through the year
Against the frost risk in Guangzhou
Why these dates
Steady moisture and steady temperature matter more than the exact sowing week. Autumn maturity is easier to achieve than spring in most climates.
Tolerates light frost but the curd itself is damaged below about -3C. Fold leaves over developing heads when frost threatens.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Cauliflowers are timed from 7 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Guangzhou.
The median frost-free season here is 348 days, against 65 to 95 days to maturity for this crop counted from planting out. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Guangzhou
Other vegetables to time
Growing cauliflowers in Guangzhou
When should I plant cauliflowers in Guangzhou?
Aim for 26 Dec - 17 Jan in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 17 Jan - 7 Feb - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will cauliflowers be ready to harvest in Guangzhou?
Expect to start picking around 2 Mar - 1 Apr, based on 65 to 95 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will cauliflowers tolerate?
Tolerates light frost but the curd itself is damaged below about -3C. Fold leaves over developing heads when frost threatens.