Spinach bolting! What to do when spinach bolts [Easy Guide]

As the days grow longer and the temperatures rise, you might start to notice that your spinach looks a little strange. This often happens quickly. It could be that you start to observe seed heads forming at the top of the spinach over the course of a day, or that you wake up one morning to find that the plant has grown dramatically overnight. In this article, I will talk about bolting spinach & what causes spinach to bolt.

What is bolting & what causes bolting in spinach?

Bolting can result from a variety of circumstances, but the two most frequent ones are: When temperatures climb over 75 degrees Fahrenheit (about 23 degrees Celsius), spinach frequently starts to bolt; or as the days become longer and the plants receive more sunshine.

Your spinach will most likely start to bolt in late spring or early summer, depending on where you reside.

We must always keep in mind that spinach is a cool-weather plant. It truly does well in the spring and in the conditions of the fall.

By putting it in a shady area or making sure it gets lots of water, we can encourage it to grow in less-than-ideal conditions. But in the end, we are battling this plant’s biology and its own internal life cycle.

What happened when I decided to delay the bolt

I must say, I had a fantastic spinach harvest. But after that, I was still a little greedy and wanted more spinach. I wasn’t quite ready for it to go to seed, so I decided to plant a new line, give it some beautiful shade from my tomato plants, and attempt to fool nature into giving me at least one more modest harvest.

Some of them are clearly growing; they haven’t yet bolted. However, if I compare them to the spinach I was producing in the springtime when the weather was really excellent for them, I find that they don’t even come close.

My advice to you is to plant them at the time of year when they desire to grow since it is the greatest thing to do. Please share any tips or methods you have in the comments section below if you want to keep spinach from bolting for a longer period of time.

We’ve now covered the causes of bolting spinach and possible solutions. Next, how can you utilize spinach to its most potent when it bolts?

Can you eat spinach when it’s bolted? How to cook and prepare bolting spinach

There are a few different ways.

The first is merely a reminder that spinach that is beginning to bolt is still edible, however the longer it is allowed to bolt, the more bitter it will become. In particular, seed heads are bitter.

In order to prepare it, I simply cut off the bolting spinach at the bottom of the stall, remove the seed hedge, and slice it up. I then either create lovely spinach saute or an omelet.

Is it easy to save spinach seeds for replanting?

The one thing I make sure to do, though, is to completely avoid cutting when I pick the bolting spinach. This brings me to the second option for dealing with bolting spinach: saving the seeds.

So, as you may recall, they were all spinach plants before.

There is a lot going on in this bed, but I’m only going to ask you to pay attention to a few different aspects.

These plants, which currently look awful, were saved for a reason. I’m not sure if you can tell, but these are spinach plants, and the reason why they now appear so differently is that one is female and the other is male.

The gender of a spinach plant cannot really be determined before the plants begin to bolt. We only realize which ones are male and which ones are female when they fully mature, resemble flowers, have a lot of pollen on them, and produce seeds.

To ensure the viability of the seeds, you must really have both of these in your bed.

Additionally, you can learn how to harvest spinach seeds by clicking this link so that you have enough for the following growing season. I hope this information was useful to you. Happy planting!

FAQs on spinach bolting

What does bolting spinach look like?

The leaves of spinach change from oval to arrowhead shape when it starts to bolt. More leaves are produced, and the plants become higher. These leaves are bitter. The plant produces stalks that are covered in tiny clusters of flower buds as it matures.

Should I let spinach bolt?

Although even heat-tolerant forms of spinach eventually yield seed, the amount of bolting is minimized. Crop rotation is a great concept; during the hotter season, plant low bolt cultivars instead of cool season kinds in the early spring and late summer.

How do you trim spinach so it keeps growing?

Remove the leaf stem by pinching, cutting, or snipping it just above the top of the soil level and near the base of the plant. To allow for regrowth, you shouldn’t leave more than 1/2 inch of stem above the soil’s surface.

Will spinach bolt in hot weather?

In reality, heated weather has a significant effect on the flavor of many plants, making them bitter or harsh. The plants may even start to bolt or start to blossom and set seeds when exposed to heated temperatures for an extended period of time.

How hot is too hot for spinach?

Young seedlings can survive in temperatures as low as 15 to 20 F, but 50 to 60 F is the ideal growing range. In order to prevent the spinach from bolting, try to maintain a constantly wet soil. When spinach bolts, a sturdy central stem emerges to develop seed, and the plant produces bitter foul-tasting fruit.

Why is my spinach so small?

If the soil is too warm or too moist, germination will be inhibited. It’s possible that your spinach seeds aren’t maturing because it’s too hot or too moist.

When should you pick spinach?

The outer leaves are ready to harvest when they are around 6 inches long. Alternatively, if it is spring and the plants are nearing the conclusion of their season and will soon bolt (flower), you can pick up or cut the entire plant.