[hubballi]

My healthy looking Pak Choi I sowed earlier this yer (FEB) are starting to bolt and flower. Is this normal ? I know the leaves are nowhere big enough to harvest yet for cooking.

[mumofstig]

They will bolt at the slightest thing, I'm afraid - it's one of those veggies that is difficult to grow, simply because there is always something wrong with the weather for it - too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry. My most successful sowings were in the early autumn

[AnneB]

You have to be choosy about which variety if you want to grow it before mid-summer.  Most pak choi will bolt really quickly if grown in the spring as Mum says.

I have grown the variety Green Boy from Real Seeds very successfully in spring, without it bolting.  Their website says that their other variety Santoh is the same, but I haven't tried that personally.

[Potty Plotty Lotty]

I've had success with the Yuushou F1 variety and am only growing that this year. I grow lots and harvest them small, or just as they flower.

Last year my Santoh from real seeds bolted more quickly and I personally wasn't too keen on the leaf texture-it was a bit too lettuce-like for me.

 

[hubballi]

But the weather has been very cold for a while 

[DD.]

They will bolt at the slightest thing, I'm afraid - it's one of those veggies that is difficult to grow, simply because there is always something wrong with the weather for it - too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry. My most successful sowings were in the early autumn

[solway cropper]

I've tried growing pak choi for the last 4/5 years without much success so I'm not bothering any more. It's not as if there are no alternatives and I can't see the point of persevering with something that's just giving you heartache.

[oldcow]

I've grown pak choi for the last three years (Hanakan variety). I usually harvest it as a baby vegetable, because it tastes much better. You can eat it at pretty much any stage, and the flower stems are quite delicious. I've never tried to grow it as big as you see in the shops - but then I think that when it gets to that stage it's a bit watery.
If you want to delay bolting, make sure the plants don't suffer cold when they're small, and give them plenty of water.

[compostqueen]

Pak choi is not difficult to grow and I grow it every year. I do follow the instructions on the packet about sowing times though as varieties will vary