Full Sun
Moderate care
Light watering
Frost Hardy
8a
USDA zone
-12°C
Minimum temperature
Expected size
Height | Spread | |
|---|---|---|
1m | Max | 50cm |
30cm | Min | 30cm |
Flowering
spring
summer
autumn
winter
This plant has no fragrance
Chicory Overview
This upright plant has beautiful white flowers. It forms a rosette of deeply toothed leaves with a substantial tap root and a short stalked flower stem over the summer to autumn.
Common problems with Chicory
Pests include aphids (Green peach aphid, Lettuce aphid, Plum aphid), darkling beetles, flea beetles, loopers (Cabbage looper, Alfalfa looper), slugs & snails and thrips. Diseases include anthracnose, bacteral soft rot, bottom rot, damping-off, downy mildew, fusarium wilt, septoria blight, and white mold.
How to harvest Chicory
The leaves should be harvested while the leaves are young and tender. If the plants are being grown for their roots then they should be pulled from the soil just before the last frost date. The leaves should be trimmed to about 2.5 cm from the crown and the roots should be trimmed to a uniform size.
How to propagate Chicory
Seed
Sow in Spring or autumn and space plants 20-30 cm apart. Germination time is 8-14 days. Seeds may not come true to type.
Cuttings
Root
Special features of Chicory
Attracts useful insects
Attracts insects such as bees.
Pot plant
Can grow in large containers which can hold its extensive root systems, and provided it is given enough sunlight and good drainage holes.
Attracts birds
Other uses of Chicory
Culinary, medicinal
Medicinal
A treatment for gallstones, gastro-enteritis, sinus problems and cuts and bruises, increases absorption of calcium and other minerals. Well known for its toxicity to internal parasites.
Edible
The flowers, leaves and roots are used for salad, baked, ground and used as a coffee substitute and additive. Also grown as food for livestock. The roots are stored in sand to give white leaves.