Chicories: Growing Radicchio, Endive, Escarole and the Chicory Family
Chicories (radicchio, Belgian endive, catalogna and puntarelle, curly endive and escarole) thrive, by Johnny's figures for radicchio, endive and escarole, at about 60 to 65 F; their seed can enter thermal dormancy above 77 F; and the family turns bitter with drought, heat, late harvest or light on the heart. Sow for a fall harvest, blanch or force as each member needs, and rotate them with lettuce as one family.
Sources: Utah State University Extension, NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, Penn State PlantVillage, Penn State Extension and 5 more. See the sources we used. How we source our guides
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Chicories are the bitter salad crops of the genus Cichorium: radicchio, Belgian endive (witloof), catalogna and its puntarelle shoots, curly endive and escarole. As a family they want cool weather, they carry a bitter edge you can soften, and they run to seed when the season turns against them. Johnny's Selected Seeds gives 60 to 65 F as the ideal growing range for radicchio, endive and escarole, and says high temperatures above 77 F can push their seed into thermal dormancy; Utah State Extension says 20 F does not seriously harm young radicchio. In our reading, the family rule is simple: sow in summer, grow into the cool of fall, and keep heat, drought and stray light off the plants.
The chicory family: members and guides
The family has 2 cultivated species, as NC State Extension draws the line: Cichorium endivia gives curly endive and escarole, and Cichorium intybus gives radicchio and Belgian endive. Penn State's PlantVillage puts Italian dandelion and witloof on the intybus side as well, and Specialty Produce places puntarelle there too: it is the tender center shoots of a catalogna plant. The table lists 7 members (our count), what each is grown for, how its light is handled, and which of our guides covers it. Today one member guide is up, the chicory guide, and it covers six of the 7 rows.
| Member | Species | Grown for | Light handling | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radicchio (Rossa di Treviso, Rossa di Verona) | C. intybus | A head of leaves, loose in some varieties and tight in others (Utah State) | Some varieties need cool weather to head (Utah State); Treviso and Verona types are often forced indoors (Seeds from Italy) | Chicory guide: sowing dates and forcing steps |
| Belgian endive (witloof) | C. intybus | Roots dug in fall and forced in winter into tight white heads called chicons (Utah State) | Forced in complete darkness | Chicory guide: digging, storing and forcing roots |
| Catalogna (Italian dandelion) | C. intybus | Leaves, picked at any size (Johnny's) | None needed | Chicory guide: spacing and harvest |
| Puntarelle | C. intybus | The young inner shoots of catalogna, cut from late fall into mid-spring (Specialty Produce) | None in the garden; the shoots go into cold water to curl and turn milder (Seeds from Italy) | Chicory guide: cutting the shoots |
| Curly endive | C. endivia var. crispum | A loose rosette of finely curled, fringed leaves (NC State) | Blanched in the garden before harvest | Chicory guide: blanching |
| Escarole | C. endivia var. latifolium | Broad, smooth leaves that NC State calls less bitter than curly endive | Blanched in the garden; self-blanching varieties exist, and Johnny's spaces them 8 to 10 inches apart to help | Chicory guide: blanching |
| Wild chicory | C. intybus | A roadside plant with blue flowers whose dried roots often serve as a coffee substitute (NC State) | None | No guide; Penn State lists it among garden weeds |
The names slide around in catalogs. Seeds from Italy points out that most chicories form some kind of head and most endives stay loose, with exceptions both ways, and that one is often sold under the other's name. When a packet is unclear, the species on it settles which row you are in.
Cool weather: what every chicory needs
The family's salad types do their finest growing at about 60 to 65 F: Johnny's gives that range for radicchio, for endive and escarole, and for Italian dandelion. Utah State says radicchio and witloof grow most strongly at 75 F or below, and Johnny's says summer radicchio can still succeed where nights drop below 60 F. Cold is less of a worry than heat. Johnny's says hardened transplants of all three types can take 20 F, and Seeds from Italy says its chicories and endives survive the low 20s.
Heat hurts twice. First at sowing: Johnny's warns that high temperatures above 77 F can put chicory and endive seed into thermal dormancy, with the strongest germination at 60 to 68 F soil, so it shades summer flats to hold the soil surface under 75 F. Then in the field: Utah State says summer heat slows radicchio, lowers its quality and sends it to seed, and NC State describes wild chicory as a plant that struggles in heat and humidity, which it says can make southern summers hard going.
That is why the family is mostly a fall crop. Seeds from Italy grows spring chicories in the north from transplants, as is usual, and for fall crops it direct seeds or sets out transplants in July or the first days of August, a little later for endive and escarole. Utah State times fall radicchio from the harvest backward: it sets a harvest target about 3 to 4 weeks beyond the first fall frost, then sows 75 to 85 days ahead of it. Roots grown for forcing take longer: the Minnesota farm trial below planted them at the end of June or start of July because they need more than 100 days to mature. Our chicory guide turns Utah State's rule into sowing dates at four NOAA weather stations; work from your own frost dates, never from a hardiness zone, which does not say when frost arrives.
Why chicories taste bitter, and how to soften them
Bitterness is the family's signature, and the growing sources treat it as something you can push up or down. The sorting below into "raises" and "lowers" is our reading of their wording.
| Factor | Effect | Members named | Who says it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry soil while growing | Raises it; Utah State waters 1 to 2 inches a week | Chicory in general | Utah State, Penn State PlantVillage |
| Summer heat | Can raise it, or bring off-flavors | Witloof | Utah State |
| Leaving heads past full size | Raises it, and toughens the leaves | Radicchio | Utah State, Penn State PlantVillage |
| Storing near apples or pears | Raises it | Radicchio | Utah State |
| Light reaching roots being forced | Raises it and turns the chicons green | Witloof | Utah State |
| Blanching (keeping light off the heart) | Lowers it; NC State ties the bitter taste to chlorophyll, which blanching slows | Curly endive, escarole | NC State, Seeds from Italy, Johnny's |
| Cooking | Lowers it | Wild chicory leaves; outer puntarelle shoots | NC State, Specialty Produce |
| A cold-water soak | Makes the shoots milder and curls them | Puntarelle | Seeds from Italy |
In practice that means steady water, cutting on time and keeping the heart out of the light. Cool weather helps in a different way: Seeds from Italy says chicory color deepens as the weather cools, the way lettuce does, Utah State says some radicchio varieties need cool temperatures to head, and PlantVillage says radicchio needs them. No source we read claims frost itself removes bitterness, so we do not either.
Forcing and blanching across the family
Forcing regrows a dug root in the dark; blanching covers a plant where it stands. Johnny's is explicit that its endive and escarole blanching methods are not meant for the other chicory types.
- Belgian endive (witloof): Utah State stores trimmed roots for 3 to 7 weeks at 32 to 34 F, then stands them in moist sand in a dark cellar at 50 to 60 F and cuts chicons 3 to 5 weeks later. Johnny's moves stored roots after 6 to 10 weeks into a dark room at 55 to 70 F and cuts in about 21 to 29 days.
- Treviso-type radicchio: Seeds from Italy digs the plant in fall, cuts the root back to 10 to 12 inches, pots it, covers it and lets it regrow at 50 to 60 degrees, with new growth in about two weeks.
- Heading radicchio: Utah State's version of forcing happens outdoors: radicchio stays outdoors after the first frost date, since cool temperatures favor heading in some varieties.
- Curly endive and escarole: Seeds from Italy keeps light off for the final 7 to 14 days, with a cover over the plant or its leaves tied up while dry. Johnny's sets a 4 to 6 inch disk in the center about 3 days before harvest. NC State covers each plant for several weeks and ties leaves only in dry weather, so the inner leaves do not rot.
A Minnesota vegetable farm forced both Tardivo radicchio and Belgian endive under a SARE grant, writing it up on the University of Minnesota Extension's fruit and vegetable blog. It stored roots at 32 to 35 F, forced them in a dark walk-in cooler kept near 60 F with the root bottoms in 3 to 4 inches of circulating water, and cut radicchio after about 3 weeks and endive after closer to 6. The farm also found that direct seeding gave the single, well-formed taproot forcing needs, which mattered more for endive than radicchio. The four sources differ on temperature (50 to 70 F) and timing (2 to 6 weeks); that spread is our count across them, and in our reading the slower end belongs to Belgian endive.
Bolting: when chicories go to seed
Bolting is the family's other shared trait. NC State's plant pages give chicory (C. intybus) a biennial or perennial life cycle and endive and escarole (C. endivia) an annual or biennial one, and PlantVillage says chicory is usually grown as a biennial. NC State describes the pattern in wild chicory: a leafy rosette in the first year, then wiry stems with blue flowers in the second. Johnny's notes that catalogna left unpicked will send up that flower stalk in time. Seeds from Italy puts it in garden terms, calling chicory a perennial grown as an annual and endives annuals, and says plants left in the ground regrow in spring, though not with the quality of first-year plants.
The sources name different triggers for each species, and we show both rather than pick one. Utah State says high summer temperatures send radicchio to seed. NC State says curly endive and escarole may bolt with short days and cool weather. In our reading, the practical answer for both is to cut on time: fall timing keeps radicchio out of summer heat, and cutting endive and escarole once they reach size keeps them from sitting on into the short, cool days NC State links to bolting. Utah State adds two feeding notes that keep heads tight: avoid heavy nitrogen, and stop feeding once heads begin to form.
Rotation, pests and diseases the family shares
Chicories belong to the aster or sunflower family, Asteraceae. Penn State's rotation table groups chicory, radicchio, endive and escarole with lettuce, dandelion, artichoke, sunflowers and tarragon, and Texas A&M's composite family list adds salsify. For rotation, in our reading, lettuce and chicories count as one block. Iowa State says a plant family should not return to the same spot for 3 to 4 years, and 5 or more is better, and Utah State says shifting radicchio to a new bed each year keeps most of its diseases in check.
Weeds count too. Penn State lists chicory, dandelion and thistles among the aster family weeds, and Iowa State warns that weeds in a crop's family can act as alternate hosts for its diseases and insects. PlantVillage's chicory page lists downy mildew, which it says favors cool, moist weather and survives in crop debris and wild lettuce, and bottom rot, favored by warm, wet weather; Johnny's sets radicchio transplants slightly high to discourage bottom rot.
On insects, Utah State names aphids, which can also spread viruses, plus worms and loopers; NC State names slugs, snails and cutworms as occasional pests. Seeds from Italy sees few problems beyond wireworms or root maggots in early spring. For spacing in a mixed bed, Texas A&M suggests tucking leaf or Bibb lettuce between slower endive and escarole, since the lettuce comes out first.
Choosing a chicory to grow
In the sources above, radicchio and the endives are grown in the garden and cut in fall, while Belgian endive and Treviso radicchio add an indoor stage that needs a dark spot near 50 to 60 F through winter. In our reading, catalogna asks the least: Johnny's says to pick it at any stage. The flow below is our sorting of the members by those needs.
What you'll need for chicories
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Burpee 72 Cell Greenhouse Kit
Seeds from Italy grows spring chicories in the north from transplants, as is usual.
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Sources we used
We saved and read each page listed here in October 2026; where two disagree, the page shows both figures.
- "Utah State University Extension: How to Grow Chicory in Your Garden"
- "NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Cichorium endivia (escarole)" and "Cichorium intybus (chicory)"
- "Penn State PlantVillage: chicory"
- "Penn State Extension: Plant Rotation in the Garden Based on Plant Families"
- "Iowa State University Extension and Outreach: Crop Rotation in the Vegetable Garden"
- "Texas A&M AgriLife Extension: Vegetable Rotations, Successions and Intercropping"
- "University of Minnesota Extension blog: Forcing Chicories" (a farmer's guest post on a SARE-funded trial)
- Seed company: Johnny's Selected Seeds growing notes for "Radicchio", "Endive and Escarole", "Belgian Endive" and "Italian Dandelion"
- Seed company: "Seeds from Italy: How to grow radicchio, chicory, endive, escarole" and its "Catalogna Puntarelle" description
- "Specialty Produce: Puntarelle"
Related guides
- How to grow chicory
- Arugula guide
- Kale, a cold-hardy fall green
- How to grow Swiss chard
- Companion planting chart
Frequently asked questions
What vegetables are chicories?
Two species make up the cultivated family. Radicchio, Belgian endive (witloof), catalogna and its puntarelle shoots belong to Cichorium intybus, while the endives, curly and escarole, belong to Cichorium endivia. Wild roadside chicory is C. intybus too.
Are endive and escarole chicories?
Yes, in the broad sense. NC State calls curly endive and escarole chicories of one species, Cichorium endivia, separate from the species that gives radicchio and Belgian endive.
Why are my chicories so bitter?
Usually dry soil or a late harvest, both of which Utah State links to bitterness, along with summer heat for witloof. Water 1 to 2 inches a week, cut heads at full size, and blanch endive and escarole for 7 to 14 days before harvest, as Seeds from Italy does.
Why does my radicchio or endive bolt?
Utah State says summer heat sends radicchio to seed, and NC State says endive and escarole may bolt with short days and cool weather. In our reading, cutting on time is the common fix: a fall crop dodges the heat, and heads cut once they size up do not sit into short winter days.
Can I grow chicories after lettuce?
Not in the same spot if you rotate by family: Penn State puts lettuce and chicories in one family, Asteraceae, and Iowa State keeps a family out of a bed for 3 to 4 years.
Which chicories can be forced?
Belgian endive and Treviso-type radicchio. Their roots are dug in fall and regrown in darkness at roughly 50 to 70 F; the sources give 2 to 6 weeks from start to new growth or a cut (our count across four sources).