A vigorous perennial herb with edible lilac flowers and a flavour somewhere between chives and garlic.
About the variety. Forms a clump of thin, cylindrical, hollow leaves reaching 20 to 50 cm. It grows best in full sun or partial shade with adequate moisture, and is also a good nectar plant.
Itinerário técnico
Como cultivar chinese chives?
Um guia de cultivo passo a passo, da sementeira à colheita.
pH ideal 6.0 to 7.0Temperatura ideal 15 to 22 °CCompasso 25 cm in the row, 25 to 30 cm between rows
Sementeira
Sow in trays or direct half a centimetre deep, in small groups of five to ten seeds, because the plant naturally grows as a clump and there is no point thinning. Germination takes two to three weeks at 18 °C to 22 °C. Transplant the whole clump at eight weeks. It is perennial and lasts many years: every three years split the clump in spring and replant, which rejuvenates it completely. At about 50 centimetres tall, this variety grows well in a pot twenty centimetres deep with drainage holes. Use a pot at least twenty five centimetres deep with drainage holes, and expect to water more often, because a pot dries out far faster than open ground.
Solo
It wants fertile, cool and free draining soil, rich in organic matter, at a pH between 6.0 and 7.0. Unlike the Mediterranean herbs it likes moisture and some fertility. It grows very well in a pot, as long as the pot is deep enough.
Clima
Very tough, it grows between 15 °C and 22 °C and takes hard frost. It dies back in winter in a cold climate and resprouts on its own in spring, which alarms people who think the plant has died. It tolerates part shade, an advantage in an Iberian summer. It adapts to most of western Europe. On the Portuguese coast and in southern Spain it grows all year and takes the peak of summer well, as long as it is watered. Inland in Iberia water more through the dry months. In France and Germany the natural season is spring and summer, sowing once the soil has warmed steadily. In Italy the same rule applies as in the rest of the Mediterranean: spring and autumn in the centre and south, spring and summer in the north.
Fertilização
Its needs are moderate. One to two kilos of mature compost per square metre worked in before sowing covers most of the cycle. If the leaves pale, one watering with a balanced liquid organic feed halfway through is enough. Never use fresh manure, which burns roots and encourages disease.
Rega
Water regularly to keep the leaves tender and of good size. Water shortage thins the leaves and toughens them. In a pot it dries out quickly and needs frequent watering in summer. After each cut, a good watering speeds up regrowth.
Controlo de Infestantes
Hoe often and always shallowly, because the roots are short, near the surface and break easily. The best method is to prepare the bed two or three weeks in advance, let the first flush of weeds germinate, remove it and only then sow: that gives you a decisive head start. A thin layer of sieved compost between the rows greatly reduces later work.
Controlo de Pragas
It has practically no pests and its scent keeps aphids off neighbouring crops, which is why it is a good companion plant. Watch only for thrips in very hot dry weather and onion fly on young plantings. If the leaf turns silvery with pale specks, that is thrips: sprinkle in the morning and cut the clump down. Onion fly is only a risk on young spring plantings, and a fine mesh in the first weeks solves it.
Doenças
Rust makes orange pustules on the leaves in damp autumns: cut the clump down to ground level and the next flush comes up clean. White rot attacks the base in waterlogged soil. Divide the clump regularly and do not let it get too congested. A pot without drainage is the commonest cause of rot: make sure of holes in the base and a loose potting mix.
Colheita
Cut the leaves with scissors two or three centimetres above the ground, always a whole handful at a time and never just the tips, because a leaf cut halfway dries and yellows. The clump regrows in two or three weeks and can be cut repeatedly all season. From seed it is slow: cut little in the first year, and the real cuts only come in the second year. The white flowers appear in late summer and taste of garlic, but cut them before they set seed, because it self-seeds everywhere. The reference colour is green leaves with white flowers, and that is what tells you it is ready.
