Plant running up to flower before it is ready to eat

What causes it, and how to tell them apart

Work down the list making the observation under each heading. GrowingHQ will not guess which one you have — the observation is the answer.

1. Boltingvery common

   ·source

   Sourced guidancehigh confidence

   • Royal Horticultural Society: Bolting

   Checked 2026-08-13

   How to tell

   The trigger differs by crop, and knowing which applies is what prevents it next time. Lettuce, spinach and coriander bolt with heat and lengthening days. Beetroot and onion bolt after a cold spell when young — so a bolted beetroot points back to a sowing made too early, not to the weather this week.

   ·source

   Sourced guidancehigh confidence

   • Royal Horticultural Society: Bolting
   • Home and Garden Information Center — Clemson Cooperative Extension: Bolting in vegetable crops

   Checked 2026-08-13

   If it is this, do first

   Harvest whatever is still usable now rather than waiting for it to improve, and sow a replacement. Bolting does not reverse.

   ·source

   GrowingHQ editorial positionhigh confidence

   A practical judgement about what to do next, not a claim about plant physiology.

   • GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ

   Checked 2026-08-13

Where GrowingHQ holds more for one plant

This page lists the causes across every plant. The plants below are the ones where something about that plant changes the answer — different candidates, or a different observation that separates them.

Commonly reported on

• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Coriander
• Beetroot
• Radish
• Onion