Skip

Last edited by shiny on November 10, 2026. View history

0
plantings
0
harvests
0
seed packets
Growstuff is a free, community-run site for people who grow food. Keep track of what you plant and harvest, find seeds to swap, and see what is growing near you. Join to record your own hyssop.

Hyssop facts

Lifespan

Annual living and reproducing in a single year or less
Optimal temperature 10–24 °C
Absolute temperature 7–36 °C
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal rainfall 600–1000 mm/year
Absolute rainfall 400–1500 mm/year
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal soil pH 6–7.5
Absolute soil pH 5.5–8.5
FAO EcoCrop

Crop cycle

180–220 days
FAO EcoCrop

Max altitude

2000 m
FAO EcoCrop

Optimal light

cloudy skies to very bright
FAO EcoCrop
What are growing degree days?

A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.

Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.

For hyssop, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 7°C and a shortest growing cycle of 180 days at its best temperature, about 1800 growing degree days to a first harvest.

Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your hyssop will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.

Photos

Hyssop crops

What people are saying about hyssop

Nobody has posted about hyssop yet.

Sign in or sign up to post your tips and experiences growing hyssop.
Image of hyssop

Who's planted hyssop

Nobody has planted this crop yet.

Sign in or sign up to track your hyssop plantings.

Hyssop harvests

Nobody has harvested this crop yet.

Sign in or sign up to track your hyssop harvests.

Find hyssop seeds

There are no seeds available to trade on Growstuff right now.

Time to harvest

If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 180 to 220 days.

From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.

Ecological requirements

Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Hyssopus officinalis L.

Family / Taxonomy Magnoliopsida
Asteridae
Lamiales
Labiatae
Killing temperature growth: 0 °C, rest: -30 °C
Life form sub-shrub
Life span perennial
Habit erect
Optimal soil depth medium (50-150 cm)
Optimal soil texture medium, light
Optimal soil fertility moderate
Optimal soil drainage well (dry spells), excessive (dry/moderately dry)

Learn more about hyssop

Resources outside Growstuff.