Benefine Certified Organic Endive Chicory Vegetable Seeds - West Coast Seeds - MS563A

PRODUCT DETAILS

CERTIFIED ORGANIC! We love the flavour of this trés fine frisée endive as much as its amazing uniform growth. The green outer edges of the rosette have a mature, bitter flavour, and this matches perfectly with the succulent and sweet blanched interior leaves. The petioles are thick, with high moisture content, and have that wonderful taste that matches so well with hot oil dressings. Benefine Organic is compact and upright, with well-filled heads that are very bolt resistant. The plants are frost hardy for fall growing, but also do well in warm weather, with high resistance to tipburn.

• Certified Organic
• TFM type frisée
• Frost hardy
• Heat tolerant

All About Benefine Organic

Latin

Cichorium endiva (endive) & C. intybus (radicchio)

Family: Asteraceae

Difficulty

Endive is easy.

Radicchio is moderately difficult.

Belgian endive (witloof) is downright challenging – but worth the effort.

Season & Zone

Season: Cool season

Exposure: Full-sun

Timing

Sow after the last frost date and again in mid-summer to take advantage of the fall growing season. Optimal soil temperature: 10-22°C (50-72°F). Seeds sprout in 2-15 days, depending on conditions. In hot weather plants may go to seed quickly, so have new plantings ready to go.

Starting

Either direct seed or start indoors and transplant. Sow seeds 5mm (¼”) deep, and thin or transplant to allow 30-45cm (12-18″) between plants in rows 30-45cm (12-18″) apart.

Days to Maturity

From direct sowing.

Growing

Ideal pH: 6.0-6.5. Enrich soil with compost and add ¼ cup balanced organic fertilizer into the soil beneath each transplant. Rapid, continuous growth is essential for good yields and high quality. Regular watering is essential. Fall plantings can be protected from rain by putting a cloche over them. Endive heads can be blanched to reduce bitterness by placing a cardboard or plastic disc on top. Radicchio requires a good supply of phosphorus and potassium, but will not head and may bolt if there is too much nitrogen available. Days to maturity shown are from date of direct sowing. If transplanting, subtract 10-15 days.

Harvest

Use as a cut and come again crop or let the heads develop and cut at ground level. Many will grow back.

Seed Info

In optimal conditions at least 65% of seeds will germinate. Usual seed life: 3 years. Per 100′ row: 140 seeds, per acre: 40.6M seeds.

Diseases & Pests

Aphids – Water can be used to remove aphids from plants. Wash the plant off with water occasionally as needed early in the day.

Moulds and rot from heavy rains can be prevented by growing under cover. Tip burn is a calcium deficiency within the plant that can be caused by an imbalance with over nutrients. Make sure to add lime to the soil, do not over-fertilize, and harvest just before full maturity.