What is Bolting?
In plants, “bolting” refers to the development of flower stalks, which will eventually develop into seeds. Since all plants have the goal of reproducing themselves, bolting will happen eventually in all cases, but sometimes it is undesirable, especially in crops. Gardeners struggle the most with bolting in plants which are cultivated for their leaves, such as spinach, chard, bok choy, kale, cabbage, cilantro, and so forth. There are a number of ways in which premature bolting can be avoided. The reason bolting is undesirable is that it changes the flavor of the leaves of the plant. As the plant starts to sink energy into producing flowers and seeds, it allows the leaves to die, and they start to turn woody and bitter. If a plant is not caught soon enough, the leaves will simply wither away, leaving only the flower stalk behind. In plants cultivated for their flowers, like cauliflower and broccoli, premature bolting can also cause the heads to be relatively small and tasteless, which is
