Why Does Cilantro Bolt? As an amazing survival mechanism, cilantro will bolt when temperatures heat up in late spring or summer, quickly producing stalks of little white flowers and seeds to ensure its own reproduction. The plant is unable to tolerate the heat, and so proceeds to do the most logical thing.

Cilantro, also known as coriander, typically bolts when exposed to high temperatures or when subjected to long days. When plants bolt, they are producing flowers and seeds in an effort to survive and reproduce. The warmer and longer days of spring or summer can cause cilantro to bolt prematurely, leaving the leaves too bitter to be palatable.

Cilantro plants bolt and flower when you expose them to warm temperatures for a longer period of time, especially the afternoon sun. This is a natural process in which the plant produces flowers and seeds to ensure its survival and reproduction.

When a plant begins to flower is called bolting. Bolting is often caused by stress or heat in cool season plants like cilantro. The stress causes the plant to produce seeds so that it can propagate itself for the future.