This is for informational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional.
🐝🦋 Popular pollinator attractor
▷ IDENTIFICATION🔍
Common Name: Nasturtium
Botanical Name: Tropaeolum majus
Family: Nasturtium family (Tropaeolaceae)
Tropical herbaceous annual or perennial for Zones 9 to 11
PRECAUTION: Not appropriate for all, consider consulting a doctor first. See section “ADDITIONAL INFORMATION > Animal Toxicity and Medicine Interactions”.
▷ OTHER NAMES & LOOKALIKES 🏷️
Other Names 🏷️
◦ Garden Nasturtium
Lookalikes 🔎
◦ Dollar Weed (Hydrocotyle umbellata): Native herbaceous perennial weed common is areas with moisture, especially in ditches, swamps, and disturbed soil.
▷ APPEARANCE 🪞
Plant Description🌿🗒️
Beautiful flowering annual or perennial with climbing stems for groundcovers or container planting. Leaves are green with light veins that web outward from the center, round shaped, and flat with the stems attached at the middle underneath each leaf, 1″ to 6″ diameter. Foliage that has been crushed has a peppery and floral aroma. Flowers are tubular with 5 extending petals and may be red, orange, yellow, or multi-color. The fruit is a 3 lobed capsule which contains small, light brown seeds.
Dimensions, Root Depth, and Spacing 📏↔️
Height: 1′ to 10′
Width: 1′ to 3′
Root Depth: 6″ to 12″ deep; Ideal minimum container size 7 gallon or 8 gallons. Larger containers allow plants to grow taller and wider!
Spacing: 12″ to 18″ apart
Flower Season and Fruit or Seed 🌻🍎🫘
Flower: 5 petals with red, orange, yellow, or multi-color. Tropical climates create blooms all year, while cold Winter climates bloom from Spring to Fall.
Seed: Light brown, round, textured, ¼” diameter
▷ REPRODUCTION🌱
Sexuality: Hermaphroditic
Pollination: Self pollinating; Bees, butterflies, other beneficial insects, and hummingbirds also pollinate
Growth Rate: Fast
Propagation:
◦ Cuttings: Plant cuttings, ⅜” diameter (the wider the stem, the higher percentage of success) and 4″ to 6″ tall. Add cuttings to water and change the water every day for 1 month until roots form, later planting in soil in a container, or propagate by planting in soil during the Spring.
Seed Germination: Soil pH 6.0 to 7.0 at preferably 65°F to 75°F, kept moist, however not wet or dry. Plant seeds ¼” deep, emerges 7 to 10 days after being sown. Germination rate of 80% (depending on producer).
Indoor Planting: Grow plant for 1 year prior to transplanting outside 10 weeks after last frost date, or once temperatures are safe above 50°F.
Outdoor Planting: Plant seed 10 weeks after to last frost date.
▷ REQUIREMENTS❤️
Sunlight, Water, Fertilizer, and Pruning ☀️💧✂️
Sunlight: Prefers 6 to 8 hours of full sun
Note: Avoid aerial watering, which encourages fungal growth and disease.
Outdoor Watering: Requires consistent moisture, however do not water excessively and cause wet soil. Water regularly during Summer (every 1 to 3 days) and less frequently in the Winter (2 to 3 times each week). Tiny pots and K-cup seed starters need water every day during Summer and every 2 days during Winter. Small pots require watering more often, especially if exposed to full sun, while large pots and shaded pots need less water.
Indoor Watering: Deep and infrequent, do not allow the soil to dry, however to not allow the soil to be excessively wet.
Drought Resistance: Moderate drought tolerance once established
Fertilizer: Fertilize once in the Spring and once in the Summer. Scatter evenly at the base of plants, avoiding clumps of fertilizer and preventing contact with stalk and stems. Large clumps of fertilizer won’t evenly supplement nutrients into the entire soil surface after it mixes with water from rain or irrigation. Fertilizer clumps around the base of plants may cause the main stalk to rot or have contact burns, which could damage or kill the plant. Do not throw fertilizer over plant tops, as the clumps of fertilizer caught in between leaf nodes and on foliage may either burn or rot the foliage.
Pruning: Avoid pruning during Winter as it may kill the plant. This same rule applies for the Fall in northern climates. Remove withered flowers, dead leaves, and leggy stems to enhance plant’s appearance. This also promotes new stems to appear with more leaves and flowers.
Soil, Planting, and Environment 🌄🏞️🏜️
Soil: Prefers well drained, fertile soil; Tolerates a variety of soil types
pH: 6.0 to 7.0
Planting: When planting a potted plant, dig a hole that’s as deep as the pot and have each side of the plant at least as wide as the pot. For plants with wide roots, dig a hole that is twice the width of the pot and gently space out the root system and then cover with soil to promote healthy growth. Burying tangled roots could cause health issues or stunted growth.
Habitat: Native to South America and Central America, common in meadows, rocky slopes, and tropical forests.
Temperature Preference and Temperature Tolerance🌡️
Temperature: 65°F to 75°F
Heat Tolerance: 85°F; Drought tolerant once established
Cold Tolerance: 50°F; Sensitive to cold, temperatures lower than 50°F may damage the plant, optionally harvest the entire plant if it won’t be brought indoors before frost kills the plant.
Salt, Wind, and Pollution Tolerance 🧂💨 ☣️
Salt Tolerance: Not tolerant
Wind Tolerance: Moderate tolerance
Pollution Tolerance: Low to moderate tolerance
▷ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION📚
Description 📝
Nasturtium is a tropical annual or perennial plant with bright flowers, ideal for companion planting to repel pests. The plant stems, leaves, flowers, and seeds are all edible and may be used in salads or as a garnish.
Attract and Repel Wildlife🐝🦋🐦🐌🪰🐇🦌
Deer and Rodent Resistant🦌🐇🐁
Attracts: Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other beneficial pollinators
Repels: Aphids, cabbage worms, squash bugs, flea beetles, and whiteflies
Diseases and Pests🐜🦠
Note: Proper care keeps plants resilient and healthy, preventing diseases and pests. This list details the potential threats, specific diseases and pests vary depending on environmental climate.
Diseases:
◦ Blackspot: Fungal disease that causes black spots to appear on the leaves.
◦ Powdery Mildew: Disease caused by a fungus due to overwatering or overcrowding, making the plant vulnerable to other pests.
◦ Root Rot: Affects the roots of plants growing in wet or damp soil, may be lethal to both indoor and outdoor plants.
Pests:
◦ Aphids: Small, soft-bodied sucking insects which pierce plant tissues and draw out the juices.
◦ Leaf Miners: Specific insect larvae that forms tunnels to feed on the inside of leaves.
◦ Snails and Slugs: They eat a wide variety of plants, including young seedlings, mature plants, and turfgrasses, and may cause damage to gardens and flower beds.
◦ Whiteflies: Flying insects that suck the sap from plants.
Animal Toxicity and Medicine Interactions ☠️❤️🩹
Animal Toxicity: Safe for dogs, cats, and horses.
ASPCA Website – Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants “Nasturtium”
Individuals may have a sensitivity or allergies to nasturtium, consult a healthcare professional first and proceed at own risk.
WebMD Website – Nasturtium “Interactions”
Use and Harvest⚕️🌾
Use:
◦ Flowers: Bright addition for salads, pickling, and for garnish.
◦ Stalks and Leaves: Excellent used raw or cooked in soups, stews, stir-fry, salads, and for garnish.
◦ Seeds: May be used raw as capers, try with sauces, marinades, salads, dressings, and pickling.
Benefits: Antioxidant (protects cells), anti-inflammatory (reduces internal and external inflammation), and diuretic (increases urination).
Dosing: Use in moderation
Click Here for How To Harvest, Dry, and Properly Store Herbs and Seeds
Harvest: Never harvest more than 20% of a plant’s leaves or roots!
◦ Flowers: From Summer to Fall
◦ Leaves: Any time available
◦ Seeds: Harvest the capsule pod to collect the seeds from Summer to Fall. Follow harvesting techniques in the link above to extract and properly store the seeds.
Aroma, Flavor, and Culinary Combinations🧼🍴
Flowering stage impacts leaf flavor, creating a slightly bitter taste.
Aroma: Crushed leaves are peppery and floral
Flavor: Herbaceous and peppery
Culinary Combinations: Nasturtium compliments herbs and spices (thyme, rosemary, mint, oregano, sweet basil, cilantro, parsley, cinnamon, nutmeg, sage, chamomile, goldenseal, lavender, cardamom, coriander, tarragon, lemongrass, chives, elderberry, ginger), quinoa, whole wheat enriched pasta, wild rice, beans (sugar snap peas, green beans, chickpeas [garbanzos], black, pinto), legumes (lentils, mung beans), tofu, tempeh, mushrooms, nuts (roasted cashews, almonds, walnuts, pecans, and pine nuts), vegetables (arugula, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Winter squash [pumpkin, butternut squash, acorn squash], Summer squash [zucchini, straightneck, and crookneck], sweet potato, red potato, white potato, eggplant, zucchini, garlic, bell pepper, carrot, beet, asparagus, brussels sprouts, radish, tomato, and cucumber), and fruits (avocado, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, apricot, mango, citrus [lemon and lime], and figs)
Click Here to explore a comprehensive list of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients with function explanations, deficiency or excess symptoms, and vegan food source rankings (high, medium, low)
History 📜
Nasturtiums are native to the tropical and subtropical forests of the Andes mountains in South America and Central America. The Incas used nasturtiums as a food and medicine, harvesting them for teas and poultices.
Lifespan⏳
1+ years longevity for life expectancy.
Vegan Botany 