Why Does Mustard Bolt? Causes and Control Measures
Mustard belongs to the cruciferous Brassica genus of vegetables and is widely grown in China, but the bolting phenomenon that occurs during cultivation directly affects the high nutritional value and commercial value of mustard, bringing relatively large losses to growers. So what causes mustard bolting? Let's find out together.
1. Causes of bolting
Mustard, especially leaf mustard, is currently one of the main processing vegetables used to make salted vegetables. It can be produced all year round with a balanced supply, not just one crop planted in autumn. Therefore, when planted in late spring or summer and other seasons unsuitable for cultivation, buried under such long-daylight climatic conditions, mustard obtains the conditions for flower bud differentiation and flowering development, and bolting and flowering are extremely likely to occur. In addition, under poor fertilizer and water conditions and low management levels, premature bolting can also be caused.
2. Preventive measures
According to the local climatic conditions, cultivation time and environment, choose suitable bolting-resistant varieties. Do not introduce varieties blindly. In the case of direct seeding, choose varieties with flat-round tumorous stems. The sowing time can avoid or shorten the high-temperature summer drought weather that is unfavorable to mustard growth, which helps control early bolting of the plants. For early-maturing cultivation in high-altitude areas, covered seedling raising must be adopted. The method is to cover with a shade net with a shading rate of more than 95% for 3-4 hours at noon every day when the seedlings have 3 true leaves, until the seedling stage ends, while ensuring sufficient fertilizer and water supply to prevent mustard from bolting due to lack of nutrients.
3. Control methods
For fresh mustard supplied for processing on time, the cultivation season and climatic conditions cannot be changed, so the method of early harvesting can be adopted, that is, harvesting leaf mustard before bolting. Although the yield is lower this way, it can guarantee quality and minimize losses.
The above is an introduction to the causes of mustard bolting and control measures. We hope it can help you. To learn more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.