Last edited on November 29, 2025. View history
Pūhā
A variety of dandelion
How to sow pūhā: Direct seed outdoors, thin to 15cm
Sun requirement for pūhā: Plant in Full Sun
Dandelions are a large genus of flowering plants in the Asteraceae family native to Eurasia and North America. The two most common species, T. officinale and T. erythrospermum, propagate as wildflowers, but they can also be cultivated for their greens, flowers, and roots. Dandelions are perennial, herbaceous plants with long taproots, lobed leaves that grow in rosettes, and yellow flower heads composed of florets. The young leaves can be used raw in salads. They are high in vitamins and minerals. Older, larger leaves are more bitter and are best sautéed or added to soups and stews. The flower petals are used to make dandelion wine. The roots take a year to harvest, and can be brewed into a detoxifying, mildly diuretic tea or coffee substitute. Dandelions are considered a beneficial weed and have a number of uses as a companion plant. They combat fusarium wilt, a soil-borne fungal disease that afflicts tomatoes, because their roots produce an acid that "starves" the disease of one of its essential nutrients, iron. Their taproots loosen compacted soils and bring up nutrients for shallower-rooted plants. Dandelions attract pollinating insects and release ethylene gas, helping fruit to ripen. Deadhead flowers to prevent the plants from becoming invasive.
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 pūhā, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 5°C and a shortest growing cycle of 90 days at its best temperature, about 1170 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 pūhā 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.
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
by shiny,
Chop up the kamo kamo.
Remove seeds. (Save these to grow for next year)
Leave skin on.
Roast with sprigs of rosemary at 180C for about 40 minutes (until soft) It's okay to do this the day before
Remove skins (easier if the kamo kamo is cool). place in pot with chicken …
kamokamos
rosemary
garlic
pūhā
by shiny,
Pūhā grows wild everywhere in New Zealand. It's a bit like spinach, but is bitter when raw. It's traditional in a bunch of dishes, but I like to use as a substitute for steamed spinach with eggs benedict.
pūhā
There are no seeds available to trade on Growstuff right now.
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 90 to 180 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Taraxacum officinale Weber; Wigg.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Asteridae Asterales Compositae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: -5 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect, acaulescent (or rosette plants) |
| Optimal soil depth | shallow (20-50 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | heavy, medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | long day (>14 hours) |
Resources outside Growstuff.
heirloom tomato
Photos
garlic
shiny harvested not specified.