[summer rose]

Hello everyone,
I am a novice vegetable grower and new to this site. I have planted some pak choi and to my disappointment noticed that they are being eaten rather quickly by some unknown! The leaves are all bitten away! Also do I remove the flowers that are appearing? Has anyone got the  solution for me as to what I should do next?

[gillie]

The bug eating them might be flea beetle.  However if the pak choi is flowering it has bolted and will not be any use.

Pak choi is very good at bolting!  A lot of people recommend sowing it in September as an autumn crop to prevent this.  Sow it where you intend it to grow.  Transplanting encourages bolting (ask me how I know!).

Gillie

[boosh]

Hello Summer rose and welcome to the forums.
I will be sowing Pak Choi for the first time this year, i have also been told it hates to much heat and bolts quicker than a horse out the stables,  also pigeons have a fondness for it, so i will be sowing it under some debris netting to give it protection and shade, fingers crossed. 

[catllar]

It is a member of the brassica family, so the old cabbage white caterpillars love it too. Personally I have given up on it and buy it from the Chinese supermarket! (By the way you can stirfry the flowers!)

[SG6]

Tried it and it bolted. It is tropical, Thailand etc, so heat shouldn't affect it. Looked into it and the opinion is that being tropical it has developed to expect an equal amount of day and night.

In the summer here the day is longer then the night so it bolts. Sowing late August to early September means the equinox so the Pak Choi sees equal day and night so doesn't bolt.

Fortunately it grows fast so we can get a crop before the cold and the long nights short days arrive.

[Cazzy]

I'm growing it for the first time this year too and have heard about the quick to bolt problem.

If it is a heat issue then maybe the cooler summers up here will be fine for a june sowing.  I'll re-sow later in the year too and see how that compares.

[viettaclark]

I didn't have caterpillars on my pak choi last year (broccoli, kale, cabbage...yes!) but the slugs liked it. It didn't bolt and went through that awful winter so we had pak choi in February!!!

[Spana]

I tried it last year and didn't think it worth the effort

[solway cropper]

I'm determined to get pak choi that looks like the stuff on the seed packet. Last two years it bolted but this time it's firming up nicely...only now the flea beetles are leaving huge holes in the leaves. It's a shame when a veg looks so nice in the catalogues but is almost impossible to grow.

[summer rose]

Thank you all for your most helpful comments, they are really appreciated. I may well have another go later in the year then. I will need to try something else for now!! Cheers!

[oldcow]

I also read in Joy Larkcom's Oriental Vegetables book that bolting can be caused by the pakk choi being exposed to very cold weather when it's young. That sets the plant for bolting early. That is one of the reasons why bok choi planted in the summer is less likely to bolt.
I'm growing mine under mesh to avoid insect damage (together with the other brassicas), fleeced them when the weather was cold and the plants young, and they look lovely. Also watered very regularly (lack of water being another risk factor for bolting). No sign of bolting yet...

[maxie]

Ive got to disagree here as i find pak choi easy to grow.
I set it off in modules,they germinate very fast and transplant very well,then plant into a tub,not the ground as this keeps the dreaded flea beetle off and you get lovely clean plants.
Fair enough it does bolt fast but the white part of the leaf goes very chewy when they are bigger,so i use them young and just grow half a dozen at a time.

[compostqueen]

I love the stuff but mine have always been hit and miss but I did get fab crops one year, so I have a go every year as it's a great one for stir fries. The chooks like it too