Growing daikon radishes

So, here I am growing daikon radishes for the first time, and a couple of questions have come up.

I planted a row about 8 feet long and a little too close together because I didn't know how well they would sprout. After they were up for a three weeks I thought I would pull one to see what it looked like. It was as skinny as can be and it's taste was VERY strong. It was like all the flavor of a two inch diameter radish was packed into that little thread of a radish root.

Six weeks have gone by now, and many of the radishes are blooming... another surprise to me.

So here are my questions for you daikon radish experts:

1. When can the radishes be thinned as something to EAT (with the normal mild flavor of a daikon)?

2. Is it normal for them to be blooming so soon after planting?

3. When is normal harvest time? I see they are called winter radishes by some. Is fall and later the right time to pick or will they be delicious in the summer too?

Hi Jon -

Your radishes are bolting. The long days are telling them to flower and not bother storing carbs in their roots.

This batch of daikon may best be left for seed. It's best sown in autumn and left to winter over in the ground. They're frost hardy down to -5C in my direct experience and probably more if mulched deeply...we don't get that cold here but in Tucson they had no trouble and cold weather makes them sweeter. When spring arrives the top growth will take off and quality will start going down as they shift to reproductive mode.

Thinning should be done asap after established sprouting to get radishes that are sizable to eat in the long run. You can eat the tiny things, greens and all though...maybe like a garnish on a salad or toss into a stir fry towards the end.

With long hot dry days they will go to flower/seed and not make yummy radishes, more like stalks I think they like spring/fall better. Maybe with some shading and extra watering they could do better?? I don't know, I'm usually helping grow different types of radish but I do have a small of of Daikon in now too!! The French Breakfast radishes I seeded at the same time are bolting worse than the Daikon, though.

Well, a year has gone by. I took the advice and planted my daikons in the fall after things cooled down. I planted them far enough apart that they did not need thinning. They sprouted well and grew just a little because things cooled down more than I expected. We had a mild winter this year and the radishes did well, without growing hardly at all.

Things are warming up and the tops are starting to grow. I checked the size of the root and they are still only pencil thick. I am trusting that they will thicken up soon. All of this is a surprise to me as other types of radishes grow so fast.

I'll let you know how things go.

Does anyone else have a diakon radish story to tell?

In the huge region of south and east Asia where they are native, these radishes are mostly grown for cooked or fermented use.  I remember seeing whole truckloads of them in India and Bangladesh and wondering what in the world people do with all those radishes!!  They are cooked up in curry, like everything else, and including the greens.  If they are grown with any stress, or in the wrong season, they won't produce much root; but they will still produce greens, and in fact they will produce those greens in less time from seed than just about anything else.  Cooked up, radish greens are comparable with, and interchangeable with, turnip or mustard greens.  I would just plant them whenever and wherever and find out how they grow by trial and error, eating greens the whole time.  I like the greens better than the roots anyway, and often grow them in dense patches and cut the greens off and let them grow back for multiple harvests...

A good question, Jon!
Although I personally don't have experience with daikon (yet!), I've noticed that most winter crops are sown from half July to (first half of) September in the northern hemisphere.
This gives the plants time to sprout, grow and stock energy into the plant itself, in this case the root, before the winter sets in.
Hopefully this season will bring you the results you're looking for. In any case you've grown your own, local, adapted daikon seed already!!

I suspect your roots are as big as they're going to get this time.  Mine put out new leaves at the beginning of the month and then began forming a flower.  I'd already pulled all the big ones by this time anyway, but I got those last little ones up and eaten too (yum).

Like Alder, I love the greens too;  I learned how to cook them as "namul" by watching Korean cooking videos:  boil/simmer till soft, cool in cold water, drain and squeeze out as much liquid as possible (grab a handful and just start squeezing, discarding the water), then season the leaves as desired.  Soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil are great.  So is any vinaigrette you like.  I can eat a whole bowlful this way!  

My attempt at them last year failed because not enough sun on my balcony.  The maple trees were trimmed though so I'm hoping that between that and a growlight I can get them to grow this time, planted them in early March.  Intending to grow them until they flower and then harvest.  Then I'll try again come August in my new location to do winter possible harvest, or let them go until spring next year.

G Freden wrote:I suspect your roots are as big as they're going to get this time.  Mine put out new leaves at the beginning of the month and then began forming a flower.  I'd already pulled all the big ones by this time anyway, but I got those last little ones up and eaten too (yum).

Like Alder, I love the greens too;  I learned how to cook them as "namul" by watching Korean cooking videos:  boil/simmer till soft, cool in cold water, drain and squeeze out as much liquid as possible (grab a handful and just start squeezing, discarding the water), then season the leaves as desired.  Soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil are great.  So is any vinaigrette you like.  I can eat a whole bowlful this way!  

Thank you for the namul recipe! I've had daikon radishes in my food forest garden for at least 24 years. They were a mainstay in permaculture philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka's food forest orchard, too. My daikons happily seed themselves and seem to have a life of their own, without much input from me. I don't care much for the roots (usually hard, stringy and bitter) or the greens (I'll have to try the namul recipe), but I do like the young pods, which make a great substitute for regular radishes. I put them in salads and stir fry dishes. Daikon radish sprouts are also powerful "superfoods" packed with vitamins, minerals and anti-cancer compounds. The plants also break up clay soil and attract all kinds of pollinators which love the flowers. Daikons are definitely a plant everyone should have in their food forest.