Whether you garden in the ground, in raised beds, on the windowsill, or anywhere else, chickweed is a great addition or re-addition to your plant family. Read on for simple, straightforward specifics about growing chickweed.
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Family | Container Size | Good Companions | Bad Companions | Soil Conditions | Germination | Sun | Water | Temperature Range | Height | Lifespan | Reproduction | Yield Per Plant | Ingestibility | Further Reading
What Family Does Chickweed Belong To?
Chickweed (Stellaria spp., most commonly Stellaria media) belongs to the Caryophyllaceae family, also known as the carnation family.
Some of its relatives include carnation, baby's breath, and soapwort.
What Size Container Should I Use for Growing Chickweed?
The minimum container depth recommended for chickweed is 6 inches, although a container that is at least 8 inches deep may be preferable.
The container should also be at least 6 inches wide.
Chickweed has a fibrous taproot as well as several thinner roots. The roots can wind around other plants if sharing a planter. However, if they are excessively cramped, this may result in a smaller and/or less healthy plant.
Learn more in our Choosing the Right Planter for Your Container Garden article here.
What Are Good Companion Plants for Chickweed?
Some of chickweed's best companions are as follows:
- Asparagus
- Lettuce
- Spinach
- Peas
- Beans like green beans
- Fenugreek
- Clover
- Lemon balm
What Are Bad Companion Plants for Chickweed?
Chickweed is not compatible with every plant. Some things to avoid planting with chickweed are as follows:
- Wheat
- Oat
- Rye
Although it is still being studied, it is possible that chickweed may have allelopathic effects like fennel. Consider this when deciding whether or not to plant it near other plants.
What Soil Conditions Does Chickweed Need?
Chickweed prefers consistently moist, fertile soil that is high in nitrogen and has a neutral pH. In particular, it does not tolerate acidic soils well.
How Long Does Chickweed Take to Germinate?
Chickweed takes 4-10 days to germinate at a temperature of 40-85°F. The best germination rates tend to happen between 55-70ºF.
How Much Sun Does Chickweed Need?
Chickweed can grow in full sun to part shade.
In cooler seasons and regions, it grows fastest in full sun. In warmer seasons and regions, some shade — such as dappled shade or part shade — is best.
Sun recommendations can vary by region. Chickweed grown in hot areas or in warmer conditions than the ideal temperature range noted below may need more shade.
How Much Water Does Chickweed Need?
Chickweed needs 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week.
It prefers its soil to be consistently moist, so it is best to divide this amount up into multiple watering sessions each week. It tolerates some soil dryness once established but still prefers the evenly moist soil when possible.
What Is the Ideal Temperature Range for Growing Chickweed?
Chickweed grows fastest in temperatures of 50-70°F.
This is its ideal temperature range. Although it will grow in temperatures both cooler and warmer than this range, the growth could be slower or even stunted.
Minimum and maximum temperatures will vary by variety. Some chickweed varieties tolerate cooler or warmer temperatures based on their breeding and adaptations.
How Tall Does Chickweed Get?
The average height of chickweed is 4-20 inches.
It also typically grows 4-12 inches wide.
Is Chickweed Annual, Biennial, or Perennial?
Most chickweed varieties are annual, meaning that they start and end their lives in the same year. This includes common chickweed (Stellaria media), which is indeed the most common variety in North America and the most common variety sold for seeds.
A few varieties are perennial, meaning that they live for longer than a couple years.
How Does Chickweed Reproduce?
Chickweed reproduces by seed and by runners.
Using both of these methods, it tends to spread prolifically. If you do not want your chickweed patch to get larger every year, you can slow the spread by growing chickweed solely in containers and by harvesting before it goes to flower and seed. Growing chickweed in containers could also reduce the possible allelopathic effects noted in the Bad Companions section above.
How Much Chickweed is Produced Per Plant?
For chickweed, how much is produced per plant (also called the yield) largely depends on the size of the plant. Larger plants have longer stems, more flowers, and larger roots than smaller plants do. Even the size of the leaves can vary by size, age, and variety.
Chickweed stems are typically 3-20 inches long, and each stem is full of leaves that range from about 0.25 to 1.25 inches in length, spaced about 0.25 to 0.5 inch apart. The number of stems depends on the size of the plant but is typically 20-50 stems per plant at maturity.
Chickweed also produces 750 to 30,000 seeds per plant.
Can Chickweed Be Ingested?
Chickweed leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers are edible. The root is typically too tough to eat as food.
Chickweed leaves, stems, seeds, flowers, and roots have lymphatic and anti-inflammatory properties. They can be used in herbal preparations. The most common preparations are tea and tinctures. An herb:solvent weight ratio of 1:2 at 95% alcohol is suggested for a chickweed leaf tincture that uses fresh chickweed. For dried chickweed, the suggested herb:solvent weight ratio is 1:5 at 50% alcohol.
There are no known safety concerns associated with ingesting chickweed.
Further Reading
This article is intended as a quick-reference guide for gardeners. Consult your seed packet or seed catalog for variety-specific information.
When you have a bumper crop of chickweed rolling in, you may not have enough time for long, complicated recipes or many-step preservation procedures. Check out my article on quick, simple uses for chickweed here!
Chickweed is featured in these Plant to Plate articles: