PSA: misinformation about bolting
Hi all!
I know we’re all (mostly) amateur gardeners here and get our information from a variety of sources.
I’ve seen several posts lately giving misinformation (and thus misguided advice) about what causes certain plants to bolt and what to do as a result, so I wanted to provide some clarity here to help y’all save time and effort.
Plants may be triggered to bolt (flower) either due to warming temperatures, lengthening days, or a combination of both.
*If plants bolt primarily due to lengthening days, resowing new seeds or using shade cloth will not change day length and you’ll waste money and effort planting new seeds and installing shade cloth.*
Here are a (not-exhaustive) list of vegetables that bolt primarily due to day-length triggers:
- Spinach
- Lettuce
- Radish
- Cilantro
- Onion/leeks (biennial, second year bolt)
Warm temperatures can accelerate this process.
Best advice I’ve seen for dealing with bolt is:
- shade cloth for heat-triggered bolting to postpone the bolt by a few weeks
- pinch off flowers when they first appear (although this may still cause some leafy greens’ flavor to turn bitter)
- plan your garden for seasonal succession planting. So cool weather vegetables early, swap in warm weather vegetables once they bolt, then plant new cool weather vegetables in late summer/fall when days shorten and temperatures drop, and over-winter them if possible
Happy planting!