When to plant Cauliflower
Computed from land-grant Extension planting-window rules (cited below), localized to real ZIP-level median frost dates, not a single national guess. These are national-generic rules by hardiness class; individual state Extension offices layer their own regional adjustment on top (earlier in the Deep South, later in the Upper Midwest). Enter your ZIP for your own dates, or read the four representative locations below.
Planting windows and crop timing here are computed from USDA/NOAA climate data and the university extension sources cited below, not a site visit or soil test. Treat this as a starting point: local conditions vary, and a local nursery or extension office can advise on your exact site. See our full Disclaimer.
Representative timing, by climate band
When to plant Cauliflower in four US climates
Each column is the most nursery-dense location in our directory within that USDA zone band, computed from that location's own real median frost dates, not a made-up example.
| Stage |
Zones 1-5 (cold winters)
Fort Plain, NY |
Zones 6-7 (temperate)
McMinnville, TN |
Zones 8-9 (warm)
Apopka, FL |
Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent)
Loxahatchee, FL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start seed indoors | Mar 18–Apr 1 | Feb 17–Mar 3 | Jan 6–Jan 20 | – |
| Direct-sow outside | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Transplant outside | Apr 22–May 6 | Mar 24–Apr 7 | Feb 10–Feb 24 | – |
| Fall planting | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Expected harvest | Jun 16–Jul 20 | May 18–Jun 21 | Apr 6–May 10 | – |
Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent) (Loxahatchee, FL): Frost is rare here (about 359 frost-free days a year); most years see little or no hard freeze. This is a semi hardy crop. In climates like this one, hardy and semi-hardy crops typically go in during the cooler months (fall through late winter), not on a frost-relative schedule.
Cauliflower transplants zero to two weeks before your last frost, Colorado State University Extension's semi-hardy rule (Fact Sheet 7.212). Purdue Extension (HO-186-W) reads the same semi-hardy tier two to four weeks before frost instead, the same systematic gap this page finds between the two sources across several semi-hardy crops. Both windows are published here rather than merged.
Start seed indoors five to seven weeks before your last frost, the same figure Colorado State gives for broccoli. Soil should read 40°F at transplant; Colorado State and Purdue agree on that number exactly. Colorado State gives no crop-specific days-to-maturity figure for cauliflower at all, marking it unknown in its own table; the 55-to-75-day range shown here combines NC State's 55 to 65 with Missouri Extension's 65 to 75 instead.
This page shows no fall-planting window for cauliflower, even though Virginia, NC State, and Missouri Extension's calendars all show a clear fall crop. Cauliflower does not appear on Purdue's explicit fall-crop list the way broccoli and cabbage do, and rather than infer a weeks-before-first-frost number Purdue never states, that field is left blank.
In a cold-winter climate the two-week buffer before frost is tight enough that a purchased transplant, not a seed start, is usually the more reliable way to hit the window; nurseries carry cauliflower both ways, as seed and as six-pack transplants.
Frost hardiness
Semi-hardy. Tolerates light frost. Best planted close to the last frost date.
Minimum soil temperature
40°F
For direct sowing/germination, where an Extension source stated it.
Days to maturity
55–75
Sourcing notes
From transplant. CSU's semi-hardy rule (0-2wk before frost) used; PURDUE's semi-hardy rule is 2-4wk before - flagged, same systematic gap pattern. Sow-indoors figure (5-7wk) is CSU's own per-crop number, identical to broccoli's. CSU gave no crop-specific DTM (marked "Unknown" in the source); DTM combines NCSU (55-65) and MOEXT (65-75). CSU and PURDUE soil-temp minimums agree exactly at 40F. Not in PURDUE's explicit fall-planting list even though VCE/NCSU/MOEXT calendars clearly show fall culture - left the fall field blank rather than infer a weeks-before-frost number.
Related crops
Growing zones for this crop
Nurseries near these locations
Sources
- Colorado State University Extension, Vegetable Planting Guide (Fact Sheet 7.212) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- University of Missouri Extension, Vegetable Planting Calendar (G6201) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- NC State Extension, Central North Carolina Planting Calendar for Annual Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs (AG-756-01) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- Purdue Extension (Dept. of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture), Indiana Vegetable Planting Calendar (HO-186-W) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, Virginia's Home Garden Vegetable Planting Guide (Pub. 426-331) (accessed 2026-08-04)