Chicory

Does chicory reseed it self or come back in the spring? I am thinking of adding some to a clover plot or two and want to know if I will have to replant the chicory every year. This was my first time ever planting it this year.

It is supposed to be a perennial, but I know it does take some time for it to fully establish itself so you may not have great over-winter results for a while until that happens.

Sticker – Have you found anything that eats chicory?

I tried it and nothing in SE MN would touch it. Even the Turkeys which eat anything…and everything. I tried 2 years and gave up. Maybe not long enough as they say sometimes it’s an acquired taste. Mine never reseeded itself or came back in the spring.

Yep, I planted at small plot of Grouse’s alfalfa max which has chicory and clover in with the alfalfa and the deer were hitting the chicory the most.

Chicory is a perennial herb. Assuming reasonable winter snow cover, it will come back next spring. Our AlfalfaMAX and Mega Clover Plus blends both contain chicory and all of my plots on my personal farm still have chicory growing in substantial quantities even though the youngest plot I have was seeded in 2018.

Even the oldest plot, seeded in 2016 still had chicory in it last summer but then I had to use low-dose roundup to kill grasses and that cut down but did not totally eliminate the chicory.

Chicory can winter kill in low areas that stay too wet, and in wind-prone areas that see the snow cover drift off and expose the ground. My best areas for chicory are on well-drained plots with a slight slope and good wind protection so the snow does not blow off.

It will also reseed itself, but both you and your deer have to let it grow high enough to form the flowers. Training your deer to do this can be very difficult, especially since I’ve heard that deer don’t actually like you very much.

Turkey also love, love, love young chicory and I probably lose 50% of my chicory to turkeys that pull out the young plants when they are about 3 inches high. One customer I have plants a “turkey strip” of pure chicory every year and he has pics of turkeys running deer out of “their” plot.

In theory, it should be possible to seed some chicory into an existing plot, but holy Moses is chicory seed fine and you’re going to want to add only a few OUNCES per acre, so I’m short of ideas as to how you’d actually spread it evenly.

Grouse

Thanks Grouse, that’s what I was looking for. I knew is was a perennial, but that doesn’t always work with MN winters.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but won’t Gly and Cleth kill Chickory? Just wondering how to control grasses beside mowing.
DT

Answered my own question. Looks like Clethodim is OK for chicory.
DT

Just spit balling here, but would a guy be able to frost seed chicory when he frost seeds his ladino clover? I am going to over seed/frost seed 2 weak clover plots this spring with ladino clover. Could I just mix is some of that fine chicory seed in with the clover seed? I would have to apply a light coat going several different directions, but in theory it should work correct? Or doesn’t chicory frost seed well?

I planted chicory while listening to the Twins first game at Target Field which I believe was in 2010 and it still grows back every year. I usually mow it down to like 10″ when it gets really tall and full of purplish flowers. It never gets completely eaten but there is always camera pictures of deer with mouths full of it.