Stretching spinach plant stems are a sign it is time to plunk the leafy greens before they turn knotty and acrimonious .
The cool solar day of spring are idealistic for growing delightful , nutritious lettuces , but moolah bolting is a star sign it is time to make your final crop . That ’s becauselettuce grows fastin chilly , wet weather , yielding succulent and tender leave with a flavor that is usually shiny and serious than the supermarket greens sell in bags . However , when temperature rise , lettuce plants start out bloom or bolting . The main stem develop magniloquent with lots of outer space between the leaves . Then , the leaves turn bitter and lose their succulence . Here is what you need to know about lettuce bolting to harvest your harvest at its best .
Why Lettuce Bolts
Lettuce(Lactuca sativa)is anannual vegetablethat bolts when the plant life matures and arrive at the end of its life cycle . This increase pattern also encounter to many other nerveless - time of year plants , includingcilantro , prickly-seeded spinach , and broccoli . When a plant bolts , it is doing what comes naturally . It produces flower that constitute seed so more plant can grow , a process sometimes called “ going to seed . ”
bolt is triggered by quick weather and the tenacious days of summertime , usually when the daylight temperatures climb above 75 ° F , and nighttime temperatures are over 60 ° F . After bolting , lettuce parting taste bitter and grow tardily . The plant uses most of its vim to produce peak and seeds before pass away . You ca n’t keep plant from bolting indefinitely , but there are a few ways to delay the process so you’re able to keep harvesting tasty lettuce leaves .
Tips for Delaying Lettuce Bolting
It is essential to pick the good lettuce varieties and supply the veracious care for your plant to get the foresighted harvest possible . Beyond that , these bakshish can aid extend lettuce harvest :
1. Buy Heat-Tolerant Lettuce
For starter , plant deadbolt - resistant or hotness - patient of types of lettuce , such as butterhead mixture or romaine cultivars like ‘ Sparx ’ and ‘ Salvius . ’
2. Sow Lettuce Seeds Outdoors in Early Spring
Start your lettuce outdoors early in the spring . It can brook a light frost and curt dusty snap , especially if it is pass over for protection , so you may part picking young leaf before the temperatures increase . Sow more lettuce seeds every few day or week . This will not delay bolt , but it will give you a uninterrupted provision of leaves until it is too hot or cold to keep planting .
In most regions , you’re able to alsoplant lettuce in the falland enjoy a late - time of year harvest until the plants buckle under to a freeze .
3. Grow in Well-Drained Soil with the Correct pH
Lettuce boom when thesoil pH is between 6.2 and 6.8 . If you do n’t know your pH , corrupt a test kit from a garden center , on-line seller , or nursery , or ask your local extension overhaul to examine your soil . Well - drained soilalso help lettuce acquire well and quicker , somix in some organic materialsif take .
4. Fertilize the Plants
Adding food to the soil will fuel healthy growth . After the new simoleons seedlings are a couplet of weeks erstwhile , fertilize them with a balanced 10 - 10 - 10liquid fertilizer . Fertilize them every two calendar week until the summer heating system arrives .
5. Shelter the Plants from Full Sun
Give your loot a interruption from full sun . Growpots of kale on a porch or patiothat get some shade . In the garden , plant it under marvellous plants , like Indian corn , or use a shade cloth over your loot bed . Regular wateringcan also help stay bolt .
Mulch around your plantswith shredded leaf or clean chaff to help hold the wet in the soil .
6. Harvest Spinach Correctly
When you harvest lettuce , take the tabu leaves first and let the young intimate leaves keep develop . dilute or pull foreland lettuce before the heading plant get too honest-to-god and heavy .
Benefits of Lettuce Bolting
Although it means your supplying of fresh leaf is coming to an end , beetle off in cabbage is n’t always a bad thing . The blooms on lettuce flora canattract pollinator such as beesand other bug that prey on garden pest . you may alsocollect the ripened seminal fluid of open - pollinate lettucesbefore they drop down and replant them later . ( Seeds saved from hybrid lettuces usually wo n’t raise into the same sort of parent plant . )
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes , but choose a heat - tolerant variety , like iceberg lettuce , and determine the temperatures to make indisputable it does n’t get too hot , which can induce the clams to bolt out .
Bolted shekels is safe to eat up , but it does n’t taste very skilful . Do a gustation test to see if your bolted lettuce will be tasty enough to do .
If you cut back a bolted lettuce plant down to its theme , it will regrow unless the weather is hot , which can kill lettuce plants .
Credit: Helen Norman
