Can parsley bolt in its first year?

18 years ago

I guess I'm confused about parsley's growth habit. I know it's classified as a biennial, which means it produces foliage in its first year and flowers and dies in its second. But I have a dozen parsley plants I bought from a nursery and planted in April that are now starting to bolt. When I bought them they were stocky and about 4 to 6 inches (10-15 cm) tall Â not huge. We've had crazy weather, including lots of heat (upper 80's Â°F / low 30's Â°C), rain, and humidity lately, which set in suddenly after a much cooler spring. Can these conditions cause parsley to bolt in its first year? Can it flower in its first year if it's started from seed too early in winter? Or are these last year's plants that the nursery overwintered and sold as new starts?

I'm cutting out the fat central stalks to delay flowering and will probably harvest them all next week. I'll replace them with new starts for use later in the season. But I'm pretty annoyed and disappointed that my summer supply of this herb looks to be on its way out.

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Comments (6)

Daisyduckworth
18 years ago
Parsley will often bolt when it's transplanted. It's the way it has of protesting! Most plants with a long tap root strongly object to moving house. And if it's been kept at the nursery for a long time, they can actually use growth retardant chemicals to prevent it from growing. Once you get such plants home, and you stop using the retardants and plant them out, the parsley catches up with itself quite quickly and will bolt to seed almost immediately.

So, yes, it can happen regardless of the weather you describe (which is about our standard autumn conditions).
nygardener
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks, Daisy! However, as I said, it's been in the ground since (mid) April, or about 2Â½ months. During that time it's grown quite bushy and put up plenty of new leaves.
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Frankly, I don't even really like parsley, though I've decided to give it another go, and see if I can change my mind. These are just volunteers that wandered in from my neighbor's yard, and being who I am, I certainly can't turn down a free plant...or in this case, several dozen free plants. They wandered into my vegetable garden, which at the moment I reserve for annuals. I potted up some and gave it to my mother, who put them into her garden, and she reports that they're doing well. I moved some across the yard into my herb bed, and those are doing fine. For good measure, I potted up a few more and brought them inside for the Winter...I don't have high hopes for this last set, but hey, what have I got to lose? Meanwhile, there are still plenty of plants left at the edge of the vegetable bed, which could very well still be there in the Spring. So really, I don't have anything to lose if none of these make it. They were volunteers, and I have just dozens of them now residing in 4 different locations, and I don't even really like the stuff! If none of these make it (seems unlikely, frankly), I doubt I'd bother to plant more seeds. After all, more will probably wander in from the neighbor's yard next year or the year after! I'm just wondering if I'll see them bear seeds (and prolifically reseed themselves, it would appear) every two years, or every year, based on the calendar.
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nygardener
Original Author
18 years ago
Have others had the experience of parsley (undisturbed) bolting in its first year, because of heat or other conditions?
breezyb
18 years ago
I've never seen it happen. In fact, I was/am way way behind in getting a lot of my seedlings in the garden this year. Had a couple of cell-packs of flat Italian parsley that were revoltingly rootbound, having been sown back in March.

I potted them up a couple of weeks ago & they're now full & lush with no signs of bolting or die back at all. I'm really surprised, because when I came across them I was sure they were goners & at first considered just tossing them on the compost pile.
Linda_8B
18 years ago
In Texas it can. And it has this year. These were plants that came up on their own early this year from scattered seed. Some are bolting, some aren't.
Susan Rider
9 months ago
My parsley bolted the first year in a pot. must have been the transplanting and then the hot weather. thanks for the info above! will plant in a cooler spot in the ground next year.

Can parsley bolt in its first year?

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Daisyduckworth

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Can parsley bolt in its first year?

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Daisyduckworth

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