The Basics of Bolting

This week was the week of the bolting greens!

My beautiful romaine was the first to go! It was about 2 months old at this point. I had harvested many of the larger leaves from it already. But, all of a sudden, its primary stock shot up towards the sky! And within a few days, the remaining green leaves that I hadn’t harvested yet became paler. Within a few more days, a few small flowers formed on the tip of the primary stalk. This romaine lettuce had officially bolted!

Maybe you’ve heard the term “bolting” before. But what exactly is bolting? Well, it’s your plant’s attempt to make baby plants!

Every plant’s evolutionary purpose is to reproduce and carry on the species in future generations. What that means in the plant world is that they want to produce seeds! And each plant does it differently. For our greens, they first produce green growth (the parts we enjoy!) followed by flowers that will be pollinated, and finally seed heads that hold tiny little seeds. If left, the seeds will mature, and eventually, the pod will become thin and break open to release the seeds!

Check out the picture of my bolted bok choy.

While bolting can be great for the gardener who wants to save seeds, this inevitable process is generally not a favorite for connoisseurs of the greens! As the plant bolts, it produces a milky substance which you can see when you break the stems on mature bolting lettuces and other greens. This milky sap is what leads to bitterness as the plant secretes the sugars from the leaves into the flowering stalk. The mature plant also becomes woodier as it directs its energy into the flower and seed heads.

The goal with greens is to eat them when they are in their prime – which means consuming them before they become mature and start to bolt! Understanding what triggers bolting can help us be more prepared so that we can enjoy our greens before they bolt.

When greens predict that the end of their life is coming, they will start to bolt as a last-ditch effort to carry on the species. Greens tend to bolt the fastest when:

• temperatures are consistently above 80oF
• daylight hours become longer
• the plant has become quite mature
• the plant is stressed (especially due to drought or insufficient water or nutrients)

While you can’t avoid bolting, you can help your greens last a little longer by keeping them in an area that doesn’t receive full-day sun (6 hours is plenty for most greens, especially in the heat), watering them consistently to keep the soil cool and providing enough nutrients.

And if (or should I say when) your greens do bolt, let the pollinators enjoy the flowers for a few days! The bees love them and you might too! After enjoying the blooms for a little while, you can then replace them with your new Planted Places seedlings. These are some examples of bolting plants.