Many plants are sending up flower stalks before the bulb is ready. Why does onion bolt?
Why is my onion (pyaaz) crop bolting (going to flower) early?
MMahadev1yr ago · 441 views
5 Answers
🌾Farmer.in Krishi TeamExpert ✓1yr ago
Bolting happens when onion plants get a cold spell after the seedlings are already large, which triggers premature flowering and gives small, poor keeping bulbs. The main causes are sowing too early, using over aged or very large transplants, and exposure to low temperatures. To prevent it, sow at the recommended time for your season, transplant seedlings of correct age (about 6 to 8 weeks, pencil thickness), and avoid very large seedlings. Use bolting tolerant varieties and avoid excess early nitrogen. If a few plants bolt, snap off the flower stalks early and market those bulbs first since they will not store. Kharif and late kharif crops bolt less than very early sown rabi.
SShivkumar1yr ago
Happened to me when I transplanted thick seedlings in a cold December. Now I keep nursery age under two months and bolting is much less.
CChannabasappa1yr ago
Seed source matters too. One season I used leftover bulb seed I had saved myself and got heavy bolting, while certified seed in the next plot stayed clean. Saved onion seed often carries more bolters.
IIranna1yr ago
We faced this in northern Karnataka when an early sown rabi lot caught a cold snap. Shifting the sowing a little later so the seedlings were not too big at the cold period fixed most of it for us.
NNingappa1yr ago
Quick tip: pull the bolted plants out as soon as you see the stalk and eat or sell those bulbs fast. They never store and if you leave them they just take space and water from the good plants.