How to Stop Spinach From Bolting
- 1). Study spinach seed varieties for heat resistance before making a purchase. Some hybrid varieties, including Spinner and Correnta, produce through the summer without bolting. They may be labeled "long-standing" or "slow to bolt." Hybrids marketed as cool-season or broadleaf varieties, however, suffer at temperatures above 75 degrees F.
- 2). Plant your spinach at the right time. Sow cool-season variety seeds one month to six weeks before the final spring frost date. Follow them with heat-resistant varieties planted from late spring into midsummer. For a late-season crop, resume sowing cool-season seeds two months to six weeks before your earliest autumn frost date. Planting at two-week intervals ensures a spring-to-fall supply of fresh spinach.
- 3). Water your spinach with the hose frequently enough to keep the soil moist until the seedlings appear. Continue watering at the rate of 1 inch every week to 10 days during dry periods. Dry soil increases the likelihood of bolting.
- 4). Harvest the outer leaves from your spinach rosettes as soon as they're big enough to eat. Let the inner leaves keep growing. Harvesting in stages, instead of pulling up the entire plant, delays bolting.
- 5). Remove new stalks from your spinach plants with stem clippers as soon as they emerge. This process is the same as removing the spent blooms from your ornamental annuals. The longer you delay seed production, the more spinach leaves you'll harvest.
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