Crop lessons · Leafy greens
Growing Endive and escarole in Florida
Cichorium endivia · Asteraceae (aster family)
Endive is a cool-season leafy green related to lettuce, used in salads or cooked. Curly endive (frisée) has narrow, ruffled leaves; escarole is the broad-leaved form. It must be grown in cool weather or it bolts, and its bitterness can be softened by blanching before harvest.1, 2
Planting2, 1
| How to start | transplant (easily transplanted) |
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| Seed depth (inches) | ¼ |
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| Spacing in the row (inches) | 14 to 16 |
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| Between rows (inches) | 18 |
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| Days to harvest | 60 to 80 |
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SP 103 planting dates: north Feb to Mar and Sept, central Aug to Feb, south Sept to Mar. Gardening Solutions says it can be grown December through March in central and south Florida, and September through April in north Florida with freeze protection.
Varieties UF/IFAS lists for Florida2
- Green Curled Ruffec (endive)
- Batavian Broadleaf (escarole)
Growing2, 1
| Sun | Full sun. SP 103 advises a garden spot with at least six hours of direct sun a day (general advice, not specific to this crop). |
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| Soil pH | 5.8 to 6.3 (SP 103's general target for vegetable gardens on sandy soil; no change is needed anywhere from 5.5 to 7.0). No crop-specific figure was found. |
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| Water | General SP 103 advice: young plants need light, frequent watering and maturing plants deeper, less frequent watering; vegetables will not tolerate standing water. Sandy soils need watering more often than clay, muck or amended soils. |
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| Fertilizer | SP 103 notes that leafy crops such as lettuce, kale and collards benefit from side-dressings of a nitrogen fertilizer during the season (general advice for leafy vegetables). |
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Grow only in cool weather; warmth makes it bolt. Protect from freezes in north Florida.
Pests and diseases in Florida3
- Aphids, leafminers, thrips, mites: Listed among pests of lettuce and other non-brassica leafy greens, including endive and escarole, in the commercial Vegetable Production Handbook (CV293).
- Downy mildew, Alternaria, bacterial blight, Sclerotinia, damping-off: Listed in the escarole and endive disease table of the same commercial handbook.
Harvest2
Ready about 60 to 80 days from seed. To reduce bitterness, blanch the plants for 2 to 3 weeks before harvest.
In an aquaponics system
We haven't found a published source that covers endive and escarole in aquaponics systems, so this lesson doesn't guess. The planting months above apply to a grow bed the same as to soil; the water does the watering.
What this lesson doesn't cover yet
- SP 103 and Gardening Solutions give quite different planting windows (for example central Florida Aug to Feb vs Dec to Mar); both are shown.
- No home-garden pest list was found; pests come from the commercial handbook.
- SP 103 says to blanch but does not explain how; no UF/IFAS source describing the method for endive was found.
- Neither SRAC 454 nor the FAO aquaponics manual mentions endive or escarole.
Your county extension office and its Master Gardener volunteers can fill these in for your garden.