GardenPerennial Root Vegetable · zones 2–9 · 4 varieties
Horseradish
Armoracia rusticana
Brassicaceae — the same plant family as cabbage, radish, broccoli, cauliflower and 12 more here. Relatives share pests and diseases, which is why rotation plans group by family.
Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) is a perennial root vegetable for USDA zones 2–9. It wants full sun and pH 6–7.5 soil, with about 1–2 in of water weekly. First real harvest comes in 0 yr. Watch for flea beetles and root rot. Below: its full sourced profile from 8 extension sources, plus a planting calendar timed to your frost dates.
Typical dates for zone 6b — set your zone or ZIP for yours. Timing is a guide from the crop's sourced growth stages; confirm with your local frost dates and extension before you sow.
What we will not put a number on
We do not give a feeding rate for this crop, and that is deliberate rather than a gap. The figures published by extension services are pounds of nitrogen per acre for a production field — they do not convert safely to a raised bed or a pot without knowing your soil test and your fertilizer's analysis, and guessing errs toward burning roots. It is also why every chart you find online disagrees with the next one.
We give watering as a depth per week rather than gallons per plant, because that is how it is actually measured and how the published figures are written. A gallons-per-plant number depends on your spacing, your soil and whether the plant is in a pot — so it would look more precise than it is.
Site & soil
- Hardiness zones
- 2–9
- Sun
- Full sun
- Soil pH
- 6–7.5
- Soil texture
- Loam, Sandy, Well drained
- Frost tolerance
- Hardy
No published figure for the temperature frost starts to hurt it, the temperature that would kill it and a heat limit. We looked — where a number is missing here it is missing from the research, not skipped. The crop’s frost and heat tolerance above still applies.
The plant
- Mature height
- 2–5 ft
- Mature spread
- 1.5–4 ft
- Growth rate
- Fastest
- Spacing in row
- 12 in
- Between rows
- 18–36 inest
- Planting depth
- 2–3 in
- Container size
- 5–15 gal — low end is the minimum, high end is betterest
- Support
- Self-supportingest
- Grown from
- Root cutting, Division
Water & feeding
- Water needs
- Moderate
- Water per week
- 1–2 in/wk
- Critical water
- Establishment, Root sizingest
- Feeding
- Moderate
Timing & fruiting
- Years to first harvest
- 0 yr
- Harvest cues
- Lower leaf yellowing
Edible parts per source: root, leaf.
Compiled from the extensions cited below. Which ones actually show up depends on your region — your extension's local list is the last word.
| Variety | Type | Habit | Days | What it is known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Top Western | Big Top Western | Spreading | — | |
| Bohemian Heirloom | Bohemian | Spreading | — | |
| Common Maliner Kren Heirloom | Common | Spreading | — | |
| Variegated | Variegated | Spreading | — | NC State Extension records this asgrown to look at |
- Iowa State University Extension and Outreach
- NC State Extension
- Nebraska Extension (UNL/Lancaster County)
- University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service
- University of Illinois Extension
- University of Minnesota Extension
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension
- Utah State University Extension
We compile bare facts from these university-extension and horticultural sources, never copied prose. 15 of the 20 values on this page carry a citation. The rest are marked est; hover one and it says why — either nobody publishes a figure we could point at, or a person set it and attached no source. Figures vary with climate and seed source; confirm with your local extension before you buy.
Growing more than horseradish? Browse all crops, or grab the spacing calculator and frost date lookup. The GardenTrack app (now in beta) remembers what you planted and where, then tells you what to do and when. Join the beta →