this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2025
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[–] rainwall@piefed.social 39 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

This is called "bolting" in gardening terms, when a plant goes to flower or seed.

[–] Slatlun@lemmy.ml 25 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not exactly. It is bolting when it starts sending up a flowering stem, the very beginning of flowering. Every broccoli I've ever eaten has bolted, but not many of them have bolted and flowered.

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Huh, I've only heard bolting used when plants start flowering too early, before they've produced. Like lettuces or basil flowering before there are more than a couple leaves. Usually because they're too crowded or otherwise stressed.

[–] Slatlun@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah, it usually used to indicate unwanted flowering, but in lettuces (and to a lesser extent, basil) it indicates the beginning of the flowering attempt by the plant. Most people will cull their lettuce after it bolts (stem starts to elongate into an inflorescence), but way before there are any open flowers or even buds.

Broccoli is weird though. We want it to bolt, but not really flower. That's an odd thing for most plants.