Tips for Keeping Your Broccoli from Flowering
Broccoli is a versatile and healthy vegetable that thrives in cooler weather. However, if your broccoli plants start to flower, it can affect the taste of the vegetable. While flowering broccoli may not be ideal for consumption, the flowers can attract pollinators and provide seeds for future seasons.
Although eating flowering broccoli is not harmful, it can have a bitter taste due to the plant's focus on producing flowers and seeds. To prevent your broccoli from flowering prematurely, it's essential to maintain optimal growing conditions such as adequate water and cooler temperatures. You can also opt for slow-bolt broccoli varieties like Calabrese for a longer harvest period.
One of the most common reasons broccoli bolts is because of excessively warm temperatures. Broccoli grows best at temperatures between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit and may bolt when temperatures go above 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Depending on how quickly temperatures warm up in spring and cool down in autumn in your area, this could give you a very limited growing season for broccoli. Luckily, broccoli is relatively frost-hardy, and while it doesn't grow well in temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, it can survive in temperatures as low as 26 degrees. By carefully timing out when to plant your broccoli and choosing fast-growing cultivars like Packman or Cruiser, you should be able to have a successful broccoli harvest, even with a limited growing window.
Other stressors that can cause broccoli to bolt include over-fertilization and underwatering. Broccoli is a water-intensive crop that grows best if it receives 1 to 2 inches of water per week from rain or irrigation. Then, you should fertilize your broccoli when you plant it and regularly throughout the growing season. However, test your soil's nutrient levels to ensure you aren't over-fertilizing. You can even make a DIY soil test to check the health of your soil.
If your broccoli plants start to bolt, one option is to let them flower and go to seed. The yellow flowers of broccoli are attractive to bees and other pollinators, which can benefit your entire garden. Once the seeds have developed, wait for the seed pods to turn brown before collecting the seeds. You can then store these seeds for planting in the next season, giving you another opportunity to grow broccoli.
