Why does bok choy go to seed

This is important because the pH affects how well the nutrients in the soil can be taken up by the plant. Before sowing seeds or setting out transplants, conduct a soil test to determine which — if any — nutrients you need to add to the soil. Nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus are all important to growing healthy bok choy. If your soil test results show that the planting area lacks adequate amounts of these nutrients, amend the site accordingly.

Blood Meal. Bone Meal. Bone meal is rich in phosphorus, and we love this product from Espoma, which is available from the Home Depot. Find it at Arbico Organics. I know, I know. Transplant shock can stress your young plants and cause them to bolt.

Keeping your pak choi adequately watered is a crucial component to reducing stress and bolting. The soil needs to be consistently moist but not waterlogged. As a rule of thumb, an inch of water per week should do the trick, but this will vary depending on the type of soil in your backyard.

Sandy soil that drains quickly will require more frequent watering than heavier soils that drain more slowly. Add a two- to three-inch layer of organic mulch around your plants to help retain moisture in the soil. If your pak choi sends up a flower stalk, try not to panic. Whether unopened or opened, the bright yellow flowers have a bold, mustardy, peppery flavor that pairs well with all sorts of savory dishes.

You can also try leaving a bolted plant alone, allowing it to flower and set seed. I bought a bok choy at the store, cut the leaves off the stump and planted the stump and it is beginning to leaf out! For the OP and anyone else who bought plants that bolted, I'd say let the plant go to seed, so you will have seed to plant later instead of having to buy plants. My Chinese Cabbage is bolting as well.

Should I just pull the entire plant, root and all? Or cut the leaves as pat4 was asking? This is such a confusing old thread that I can understand how it just generates more questions and how there is probably a reluctance by some to step in with any answers.

Let me just say what I do: I grow bok choy each year and try to have it for as much of the growing season as possible. That means I sow seed and resow seed. I move plants around first out of the greenhouse and also where the bok choy seedlings are a little too crowded in a seed bed. Bok choy seems to bolt fairly easily. I think it bolts when it is stressed by too much cold just as it does when conditions are hot and dry. There is probably only a fairly narrow window when its growth is optimum but this doesn't mean it is unusable all the rest of the season!

As far as treating it as a cut-and-come-again when harvesting leaves: I've never done that and I've grown bok choy for a good 20 years. The flower buds are a different story, however.

Sure, if it would take a half dozen of your plants to make a fork-full and the plants are already bolting - you haven't got much going in the bok choy patch. But, if your baby bok choy is as big around as your wrist and it starts to send a flower stalk up - get that and bring it into the kitchen! Even if the little yellow flowers have started to open -- to me, that flower stalk is the sweetest part of the plant and is often, plenty tender!

It would be a shame, to my way of thinking, to throw that plant in the compost. The lower leaves, however, are probably too tough to enjoy.

But, if you've got 1 good-sized flower stalk, chances are, you will get a couple more off that plant in a few days. Of course, they will be smaller. Yes, tender little bok choy leaves are great. And, if they have begun to bolt - their season is coming to an end. All the more reason to have seed going in the ground just about every week. You may have to take a month or 2 off from sowing bok choy seed but get back to it as the temperatures begin to drop in late summer.

Bok choy makes a fine fall crop here and probably where you garden, also. Earlier this afternoon, before I read your post, I pulled up one "Chinese Cabbage" Burpee that had bolted. I studied it carefully, trying to remember what was said on this thread.

I ended up pulling off each leaf, dipping it ever so lightly into salad dressing and just eating it raw. I chewed on the stalk, and spit it out. So the entire stalk and flowers were thrown away. It seems that every cabbage plant I have has bolted, but, it is my first year growing any type of cabbage, and I will, I hope, learn.

I've never grown a fall crop. Since I am in zone 6 NJ when do I plant the seeds? Should I plant them indoors and transplant outdoors, or just plants the seeds directly into the soil? Donna, only seldom do I eat Asian greens as salad veggies.

I may eat Chinese cabbage leaves raw but perhaps not after it has bolted. There is probably a somewhat obscure one called maruba santoh that is real mild and good in a mixed salad. So, I may not be the best person to respond. A stir-fry guy here. My summer garden environment is arid, with hot days and cool nights. It isn't much like southern China, Japan or Thailand here. My idea of gardening in New Jersey is that you have a much more suitable climate. I still have bok choy over a long period during the early season.

Seed will be sown for a fall crop as soon as it cools off a little in late August and then again in a couple of weeks. Maruba santoh takes a little too long for the fall and but fun jen works well as does a twisted-stem mustard. Komatsuna was something new and a real good choice last fall. I'm looking forward to having it again this time. Here is a thread about my experiences 5 years ago.

I was just "broadening out" a little altho' I've grown Asian greens for about 20 or 25 years now. Bok choy will often bolt if it is exposed to frost or to nighttime temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit for a week. Plant bok choy after the last frost of the spring at the earliest. If you plant immediately after the last frost, however, plants will mature during the hot summer months, which can affect the quality of the crop. Instead, the University of Minnesota Extension recommends planting bok choy in midsummer, which allows the crops the opportunity to mature in September when temperatures are cooler.

According to Cornell University , shading your bok choy crops in the summer is another way to avoid bolting. You can also help prevent this problem by harvesting the crops before they reach maturity and watering the crops frequently. Not all is lost if your bok choy goes to seed, however. NC State Extension says you can harvest the leaves before the bok choy flowers and consume them as usual.