Bolt

Ever wonder what it looks like when a plant has bolt or "gone to seed"?

A plant is said to have bolt when it goes from being mostly leaves to mostly flower and seeds.  This is usually due to hot weather.  When the ground temperature goes above a certain level, the plant very quickly abandons almost all leaf growth and puts all it's energy into producing flowers and seeds.  Why?  It's the plants survival mechanism to ensure the next generation (in the form of seeds).

Once a plant starts to bolt, it puts it's entire reserve energy into producing seeds, so the rest of the plant becomes tough, tasteless, or even bitter.  If you can catch a plant in it's very early stages of bolting, you can temporarily delay the plant's rapid decline by cutting off the flowering stem.  But for most plants this will only give you a little extra time to harvest before the plant is inedible.

And as you can see in the photo above, bolt can occur in any stage of a plant's growth cycle.  In the front row are newly transplanted baby Chinese Cabbage.  Nearly 50% of these transplants have already bolted, so this second crop is not likely to happen.  Just too "hot" now for cabbages.  The back rows are bolting pac choi plants.  We've had a great harvest of pac choi this year so we aren't too upset about these last remaining plants going to seed on us.  Pig Food.