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Last edited by CloCkWeRX on 11 Nov 2026. View history

Indigo

True indigo is a shrub 1–2 metres (3 ft 3 in – 6 ft 7 in) high. It may be an annual, biennial, or perennial, depending on the climate in which it is grown. It has light green pinnate leaves and sheafs of pink or violet flowers.

The native range of this species is tropical West Africa, Tanzania to South Africa and the Indian subcontinent to Mainland Southeast Asia.

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Indigo facts

Lifespan

Annual living and reproducing in a single year or less
Optimal temperature 22–28 °C
Absolute temperature 7–32 °C
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal rainfall 1300–1700 mm/year
Absolute rainfall 640–3000 mm/year
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal soil pH 6–7
Absolute soil pH 4.3–8.7
FAO EcoCrop

Crop cycle

90–210 days
FAO EcoCrop

Optimal light

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 indigo, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 7°C and a shortest growing cycle of 90 days at its best temperature, about 1620 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 indigo 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.

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Indigo crops

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Ecological requirements

Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Indigofera tinctoria L.

Family / Taxonomy Magnoliopsida
Rosidae
Fabales
Leguminosae
Life form herb, sub-shrub
Life span perennial
Habit erect
Optimal soil depth medium (50-150 cm)
Optimal soil texture medium
Optimal soil fertility moderate
Optimal soil drainage well (dry spells)
Optimal soil salinity low (<4 dS/m)
Photoperiod short day (<12 hours)

Learn more about indigos

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