How to Plant and Grow Daikon: Add Some Zing to Your Garden

How to Plant and Grow Daikon: Add Some Zing to Your Garden Raphanus sativus var. Longipinnatus

It has always seemed to me that daikon radish is one of the easiest fall crops to grow. Sometimes I’ve sown seeds and forgotten about them, only to return to large white roots.

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These radishes require little upkeep and store well. During the dark of winter, I love munching on them to add some zing to an otherwise dreary day.

Daikon is a specific type of radish characterized by its large root. It’s no surprise that its name comes from two Japanese words: dai, which means large, and kon, which means root.

It also has a longer date to maturity than other types of radish, which makes sense for its larger size.

Like all radishes, it is a member of the Brassicaceae family. Daikon also goes by other names including white radish, Chinese radish, and Japanese radish.

Although daikon is widely grown and consumed throughout East Asia, it is thought to have originated in the Mediterranean. However, these radishes soon made their way to countries including China, Japan, and Korea sometime during the third or fourth century.

Since then, they have been a mainstay in certain Asian cuisines, appearing in dishes including stews, stir fries, and ferments.

Daikon is a winter radish, meaning it grows best when it is allowed to mature in colder weather. Therefore, it is typically planted in mid-summer to early fall, depending on your growing zone.

These radishes are often used as cover crops to loosen soil and reduce erosion. This has given them the name tillage radishes.

As with other