All You Need To Know About Growing Mustard

Growing mustard greens at home is not that difficult.

However, you still need some knowledge on how to grow mustard greens if you want to get high yields.

If you have any questions about growing mustard greens, you will most likely find answers to those questions in the following FAQ section.

Table of Contents

Time & Duration

When to grow mustard greens from seed?

Since mustard greens grow well in cool weather, the best time to grow mustard greens is spring and fall.

Of course, you can also grow your first batch of mustard seeds in spring, grow other plants in summer and come back to the second batch of mustard seeds in fall to optimize your growing schedule.

Does mustard grow year-round?

While you can grow mustard greens year-round, mustard still grows best during cool periods of the year.

Consequently, if you try growing it in summer, you will most likely not get satisfying yields and I therefore recommend you just grow mustard greens during spring and fall in the main season.

Do mustard greens grow fast?

Compared to most other garden vegetables, mustard greens grow quite fast.

In fact, it will only take around one month to grow mustard greens from seed to harvest while you would have to wait many months to grow melons, pumpkins or even tomatoes to maturity.

How long does it take to grow mustard greens?

It will take you around 35 days to grow mustard greens from seed to harvest on average.

This also greatly depends on the growing conditions you provide to your plants and also on your skill level.

The more experienced you are, the faster you will be able to grow mustard to maturity.

Do mustard greens grow back every year?

Once you harvest the whole mustard plant, mustard greens will no longer grow back.

Hence, if you want to get multiple batches of yields per year, you would also have to sow multiple batches of seeds.

You should also not expect that mustard grows back next year and have to plant new seeds every time you want to get mustard yields in future years.

How long do mustard green plants live?

If you harvest mustard greens on time, your plants will live between one and two months.

However, if you don’t harvest them and just let them grow, your plants will live until the first strong winter frost arrives and this means that if you start growing mustard in spring, they can live up to 8 months in most regions with moderate temperatures.

How long does it take until mustard greens flower?

If you grow mustard greens just to harvest the plant material, you will never see mustard plants flower since they just need more time.

Thus, if you want to save mustard seeds instead, you should let your plants grow for a few months until your mustard plants produce the first flowers.

Can you grow mustard greens in fall?

Growing mustard greens in fall is definitely possible.

Just make sure that you wait until hot summer months have passed but don’t wait too long since otherwise, your plants would not be ready to harvest before winter frost arrives.

Can you grow mustard greens in winter?

Growing mustard greens in winter is not a good idea since mustard is sensitive to frost and you would therefore have to grow it indoors.

In turn, you would not be able to provide natural growing conditions to your plants and this would result in much slower growth behavior.

Location & Climate

Will mustard greens grow in shade?

While mustard grows well with cool climatic conditions, you should still not try growing it in complete shady since your plants would just grow much slower.

Instead, make sure that mustard plants get at least a few hours of sunlight per day on average to assure healthy growth of your plants.

Will mustard greens grow in partial shade?

Mustard greens grow well in partial shade since they get sufficient hours of sunlight while they are still being protected from excessive radiation and heat.

In fact, half-shady environments are the best spots to grow mustard greens and you will even get better results compared to growing mustard in full sun.

Do mustard greens grow best in full sun?

Mustard doesn’t grow best in full sun since mustard likes the cold and if you grow it in full sun, it will just be too warm for your plants.

Hence, make sure to choose a partially shady spot around your home to provide perfect growing conditions instead of exposing mustard to full sun all day long.

Will mustard greens tolerate frost?

While mustard greens like cool weather, they still don’t like frost at all.

Consequently, you should wait with transplanting mustard greens outdoors until you don’t expect frost anymore to protect your plants from frost exposure as best as possible.

Do you have to protect mustard greens from the sun?

There is no need to actively protect mustard plants from the sun.

Instead, just choose a spot where your plants get a healthy mix of sun and shade and your plants will be protected from excessive sun exposure in a completely natural manner.

How much space do you need to grow mustard greens?

Since mustard greens grow relatively small, you will not need more than one square foot of space per plant.

Hence, if you have a big garden, you can grow lots of mustard greens and can supply your family and friends with delicious salads.

Will mustard greens grow indoors?

While you could try growing mustard greens indoors, it is not a good idea since mustard plants need the cold to grow well and it would just be too warm indoors.

Moreover, your plants would also take away lots of space for you and I therefore recommend you just grow mustard outdoors instead.

Can you grow mustard greens without a garden or balcony?

If you don’t have a garden or a balcony, your only option to grow mustard at home would be to do it indoors.

However, since mustard greens like cool growing conditions, you would not be able to provide those conditions indoors and your yields would be quite limited due to that.

Can you grow mustard greens in small flats?

The smaller your flat is, the more problematic it is to grow mustard greens at home since your plants would just take away lots of space from you.

Hence, if you live in a pretty small flat right now, I recommend you wait with growing mustard greens until you move to a bigger home.

Can you grow mustard greens in an aquarium?

While you could grow mustard in an aquarium, you would still run into some issues.

For instance, you would not be able to assure that water will be able to run off properly.

Moreover, once you fill an aquarium with potting soil, it becomes quite heavy and almost impossible to move.

Consequently, instead of growing mustard greens in an aquarium, you should rather grow them in flower pots.

Can you grow mustard greens in a terrarium?

Similar to growing mustard greens in an aquarium, you should also not try growing mustard in a terrarium since you would just not be able to provide good growing conditions to your plants and the growth of your plants would be quite slow.

Can you grow mustard greens in buckets?

Growing mustard greens in buckets is perfectly fine as long as you make sure that excess water will be able to run off properly and that you also use big buckets so that your plants get sufficient nutrients to grow as well as possible.

Can you grow mustard greens in bags?

Another exotic option would be to grow mustard greens in bags. In fact, this will work as long as you use fabric bags instead of plastic bags.

You should also make sure that those bags are stable and also big enough to accommodate lots of soil so that your plants get a good environment to grow fast.

Can you grow mustard greens in hanging baskets?

Since mustard plants don’t get that heavy and also don’t produce heavy crops, you can easily grow mustard greens in hanging baskets.

In fact, mustard is one of the best plants to grow in hanging baskets due to its light weight.

Can you grow mustard greens in rainy climatic zones?

Rainy climatic zones are perfect environments to grow mustard greens since those plants love cool weather and don’t like too sunny climates that much.

However, still make sure that you choose a spot where your plants get some sun so that they can grow as fast and strong as possible.

Can you grow mustard greens in tropical climatic zones?

Since mustard greens don’t like the heat at all, it is not a good idea to grow them in the tropics.

Instead, you should rather grow bananas, coconuts, papayas, tomatoes and other plants that grow well in those extremely hot climates.

Can you grow mustard greens in regions with permafrost?

Permafrost is not a great environment to grow mustard since even though mustard likes the cold, it is not resistant to frost.

Consequently, if you want to grow mustard in regions with permafrost, you would need to use a greenhouse or grow mustard greens indoors instead of outdoors in the cold.

Do mustard greens grow on vines?

Mustard greens don’t grow on vines. Instead, they grow on plants that can grow big in the vertical but stay rather small in the horizontal.

Mustard greens will also not produce big crops and you will often just plant them to harvest the plant material for making delicious salads out of it.

Do mustard greens grow underground?

Mustard greens don’t grow underground.

Instead, in contrast to onions or garlic, the whole mustard plant grows above the soil surface and this makes it pretty easy for you to harvest mustard greens in time since you just need to look at the size and color of the leaves of your plants.

What is the best orientation for growing mustard greens?

Since mustard greens grow well in the cold, you should grow mustard in east or west orientation.

South orientation will be ok if you want to provide your plants with more sunlight.

Never grow mustard in north orientation since your plants would just not get sufficient sun exposure.

Can you grow mustard greens with indirect sunlight?

Growing mustard greens with indirect sunlight in a greenhouse is perfectly fine since your plants will get decent growth conditions while still being protected from animals at the same time.

Just make sure that temperatures inside these greenhouses don’t get too high.

Where do mustard greens grow best?

Mustard greens grow best in a half-shady environment in your garden where they have lots of space to grow well and don’t have to compete for sunlight and nutrients with each other.

If you want to get really big mustard yields, you should also plant mustard greens in high-quality soil.

Where to grow mustard greens in pots?

If you want to grow mustard plants in pots, you should place those pots outdoors to assure cool climatic conditions for your plants but you should also put your pots in a protected location so that your plants are protected from wind or heavy storms at the same time.

Where to grow mustard greens indoors?

You should assure to grow mustard greens in a bright room indoors so that your plants get sufficient sunlight.

However, still don’t expect the same yields as outdoors since it will often just be too warm inside your home and your mustard plants will just not grow that well.

Can you grow mustard greens in water?

Growing mustard in pure water is a pretty bad idea since your plants would just not get sufficient nutrients and also the roots of your plants may start to rot.

Consequently, instead of growing mustard in water, make sure to use high-quality soil from the garden center.

Can you grow mustard greens with LED lights?

While LEDs or other artificial lighting could help you grow mustard greens indoors, the use of artificial lighting would also lead to a huge waste of energy and money.

Hence, instead of using artificial lighting, make sure to utilize natural sunlight as best as possible.

Can you grow mustard greens in dark rooms?

You should never try growing mustard greens in dark rooms since your plants would just not get sufficient sunlight to grow well.

Thus, make sure that you grow mustard in bright rooms or even better grow mustard greens outdoors in your garden or on your balcony.

Soil Requirements

Can you reuse soil for growing mustard greens the next year?

It is definitely possible to reuse soil for growing mustard greens for many growing seasons.

You just need to make sure that you loosen the soil after each growing season and that you also add some fertilizer to the soil so that it provides enough nutrients to your plants.

Do mustard greens grow well in waterlogged soil?

Waterlogged soil is not a good medium to grow mustard greens since it would cause the roots of your plants to rot sooner or later.

Consequently, make sure that water can run off properly to avoid any waterlogging issues for your plants to stay healthy in the long run.

Do mustard greens grow best in acidic, neutral or alkaline soil?

Mustard grows best in slightly acidic soil with a soil pH between 6 and 6.7.

However, as long as you use high-quality soil from the garden center, you will be perfectly fine in this regard and don’t have to worry about these technicalities that much.

Will mustard greens grow in sandy soil?

While you could grow mustard in sandy soil, you would still not get decent results since your plants would just not get sufficient nutrients.

Thus, make sure to use a more balanced soil mix instead of growing mustard greens in soil that is too rich in sand.

Will mustard greens grow well in clay soil?

Clay soil is also not a good environment to grow mustard greens since it is just too solid and the roots of your plants would just not develop well.

Moreover, waterlogging may also become an issue and I therefore recommend you rather grow mustard in soil that is looser instead.

Will mustard greens grow in compost?

Compost can be a great medium to grow mustard greens as long as you mix it with some potting soil to balance the acidity level in the soil.

Moreover, a mix between compost and potting soil is also great not only for mustard, but also to grow many other garden vegetables at home.

Plant Care

Do mustard green plants need a lot of water?

While mustard plants don’t need lots of water while they are still young and small, their water demand will grow exponentially once your plants get bigger and also once temperatures will increase outdoors.

Do you have to water mustard greens on a regular basis?

Whether you have to water mustard greens on a regular basis greatly depends on the climatic conditions outdoors.

For instance, if you grow mustard greens in your garden and your plants have access to rainwater in the soil, you will not have to water your plants during rainy periods at all.

However, during dry periods, you will have to water your plants much more often since they would just dry up otherwise.

Should you use filtered or unfiltered water to water mustard greens?

Unfiltered water is perfectly fine to use for mustard plants as long as it is not too rich in lime.

Hence, in most regions, you will not have to worry about filtering tap water and can rather use unfiltered water to water mustard greens and other plants.

Should you use rainwater to water mustard greens?

Instead of using tap water, you can also use rainwater to water mustard plants.

Just install a rainwater barrel in your yard and collect rainwater during rainy periods that you can then use to water your plants during dry periods of the year.

When to stake mustard green plants?

While there is no urgent need to stake mustard plants, you can still do so to stabilize your plants as best as possible.

However, you should still wait with staking mustard plants until your plants reach a size of at least 3 inches in the vertical.

What to stake mustard greens with?

The simplest way to stake mustard plants is to just anchor one stick next to each plant and tie mustard plants with cord to those sticks.

This simple measure will make your plants much more resistant to wind and other adverse conditions outdoors.

What to do when mustard greens turn yellow?

If the leaves of mustard greens turn yellow, this usually indicates that you should alter your watering behavior.

Moreover, also add some fertilizer and see if the leaves of your plants turn back to green.

Also check your plants for pests or diseases and get rid of them once you detect any issues in this regard.

How to protect mustard greens against wind?

While stable mustard plants are often able to deal with winds on their own, you may still want to protect your plants against heavy storms by just tying them with cord to sticks you place next to each mustard plant.

How to protect mustard greens against heavy rain?

While there is no need to actively protect mustard greens from rain, you should still wait with transplanting mustard greens outdoors until your plants reach a minimum size of at least 2 inches in height so that they are stable enough to deal with heavy rain on their own.

How to protect mustard greens against hail?

If you grow mustard plants in pots, you just need to move those pots once you expect hail in your region.

If you grow mustard greens in your garden, try to cover them with foil from the garden center to keep away big damage from your plants.

Should you pinch out mustard greens?

Pinching mustard plants is not a good idea at all since you would remove plant material that you would have harvested otherwise.

Consequently, by pinching out mustard, you would just lower your yields and I am sure that you don’t want to do that ;).

Where to pinch mustard greens?

If you still want to pinch mustard greens for your own reasons, make sure that you do it outdoors in your garden or on your balcony instead of pinching your plants indoors to avoid a mess inside your home and also to keep away garden pests from your plants indoors.

Can you grow mustard greens without fertilizer?

If you use high-quality soil right from the start of your mustard growing project, there might be no need to add additional fertilizer to your plants.

However, if you really want to maximize your yields, you might still want to add some fertilizer to speed up the growth of your plants.

Should you cover mustard green plants to protect them against frost?

While you should not cover mustard greens since you would alter lighting conditions, you should rather wait with growing mustard outdoors until you don’t expect frost anymore to protect your plants from excessive levels of cold as best as possible.

How to get rid of moss when growing mustard greens?

Moss on the soil surface is a good indicator that you water mustard greens far too often.

Therefore, once you spot moss on the soil surface next to your plants, make sure to slow down your watering schedule and moss will vanish pretty soon.

Pests & Diseases

Can you grow mustard greens without using pesticides?

If you provide optimal growth conditions to mustard greens, chances are that you will be able to grow them without using any pesticides since your plants will grow big and strong soon and will become resistant to pests in a completely natural manner.

Should you use natural or chemical pesticides for mustard greens?

If you really want to use pesticides, at least make sure to rely on organic pesticides instead of chemical substances to protect the soil and also to make your overall mustard green growth project as organic and healthy as possible.

What are the most common mustard pests?

Flea beetles, aphids and bugs are just some of the annoying companions you might have to deal with when growing mustard greens outdoors.

However, don’t be discouraged since it is pretty easy to keep away those intruders if you know what you are doing.

How to protect mustard greens against pests?

To get more information in this regard, make sure to check out how to control mustard pests and diseases and also my pest prevention articles on how to get rid of various garden pests and diseases in an easy but yet efficient manner.

Growing Difficulty

Should you grow mustard greens with children?

Mustard greens are great plants to grow with children since mustard will grow quite fast and you will be able to see results quickly.

However, mustard greens will still not produce exciting crops and you may therefore consider growing carrots or other plants that do that to make it more interesting for your kids.

Are mustard greens good plants for a school project?

Mustard greens are great plants for a school garden since they grow well in cool weather and are also quite resistant and also allow some mistakes.

By growing mustard with school kids, you can also make them more aware of how much work it needs to grow our food and these kids will therefore likely appreciate their food much more.

Is growing mustard greens difficult?

Growing mustard greens is not difficult at all.

In fact, if you get some information on how to grow mustard greens from this article, you will be able to grow mustard in a decent manner, even though you might just be a beginner yet.

Harvest

What color do ripe mustard greens have?

Ripe mustard leaves have a deep green color.

However, not only the color of your plants is important, but you should also wait with harvesting mustard greens until the leaves of your plants are big enough to make it really worth it.

Can you save seeds from mustard green plants?

If you only grow mustard greens for harvesting the plant material, you will never see any flowers on your plants since mustard green leaves are ready to harvest within one month and mustard plants will only flower after around three months.

Hence, if you really want to save seeds from mustard plants, you should not harvest the plant material but rather let your plants grow for longer instead.

Can mustard greens get overripe?

If you don’t harvest mustard plants in time, the leaves of your plants may start to rot and may also just no longer be that delicious and rich in nutrients.

Thus, it is crucial that you harvest your plants once they show you the signs that they are ready for it.

What parts of a mustard plant can you eat?

You can eat the whole mustard plant. This not only includes mustard leaves, but also the stems and the seeds mustard plants may produce.

Hence, make sure to use the whole plant to make your growing project as economical as possible.

Additional Questions

Is growing mustard greens expensive?

Growing mustard at home is not expensive at all. All you need is some mustard seeds that you can get virtually for free.

Hence, everyone can grow mustard greens at home from a financial standpoint and you should definitely give it a try since you just have nothing to lose and a lot to win.

Is growing mustard greens fun?

For me, growing mustard and other plants at home is quite a lot of fun and also pretty interesting.

In fact, I really love seeing the progress my plants make every day and it also gives me a feeling of peace when I sit next to my plants after a stressful day.

Do mustard greens grow on trees?

Mustard greens don’t grow on trees but rather grow on plants that completely grow above the soil surface and also start to flower if you don’t harvest mustard greens but rather let them grow in a completely natural manner.

Do mustard greens grow from flowers?

Mustard greens don’t grow from flowers. In fact, you will just harvest the plant material and therefore don’t have to worry about flowering patterns of mustard at all, at least as long as you don’t want to save mustard seeds.

How many mustard plants should you grow per pot?

While you should only grow one mustard plant in small pots, you can grow multiple mustard plants in big pots.

Just make sure to provide each plant with enough space so that your plants don’t have to compete for nutrients or sunlight with each other to get the best results.

Which animals feed on mustard greens?

Mice, rabbits and slugs are just some of the hungry animals you will have to keep away from your plants when growing mustard greens outdoors.

Thus, make sure to take some protective measures in this regard if you don’t want to wake up one day and your plants may be gone.

Will pets eat mustard plants?

You should also keep away rabbits and other rodent pets from your mustard plants.

Otherwise, your pets will most likely feed on your plants and this will greatly reduce your yields and may also slow down the growth behavior of mustard plants.

Are mustard greens toxic for pets?

Mustard can also be quite problematic for cats, dogs and other pets since it contains some elements that are just hardly digestible by pets and may cause diarrhea or other serious issues.

Thus, make sure to keep your pets away from mustard greens as best as possible.

Why mustard greens grow small?

If mustard plants grow small, this usually indicates that you haven’t provided sufficient nutrients or that the climatic conditions outdoors haven’t been optimized.

Hence, to get better yields in future years, make sure to use high-quality soil and also grow mustard while it is still cool outdoors.

What to grow with mustard greens?

Make sure to also check out my mustard green companion plant article on what plants to grow with mustard and what plants to avoid.

Can you grow mustard greens from mustard greens?

You can also grow mustard from mustard plants.

In fact, you can get multiple mustard plants from one mustard plant if you make cuttings and let them develop roots before you plant them into the soil.

Can you grow mustard greens without seeds?

If you don’t want to grow mustard from seed, you can also rely on seedlings from the garden center.

However, you would miss out on an important growing step and I therefore suggest you just grow mustard greens from seed instead to get the full experience.

Do you have to pollinate mustard greens by hand?

You don’t have to pollinate mustard greens by hand.

In fact, you will not have to worry about pollination at all if you just want to harvest the plant material and don’t want to save mustard seeds from your plants.

How to grow big mustard greens?

To really optimize the growth of mustard plants, you should plant mustard in high-quality soil and also make sure that you add some organic fertilizer.

Moreover, make sure to choose a perfect spot outdoors where your plants get a decent mix of sun and shade and also have enough space to get sufficient nutrients and sunlight.

Can you grow mustard greens commercially?

While you could try growing mustard commercially, the risk to fail would be quite high and also your upfront costs for machinery and land would be significant.

Hence, it would be better to grow mustard for recreational purposes instead of making a real business out of it.

Can you grow mustard greens from fresh seeds?

While you could grow mustard greens from fresh seeds, you will still not have access to fresh mustard seeds most of the time and therefore, you might rather have to rely on seeds that you can get from the garden center or from an internet vendor.

Can you grow mustard greens from dried seeds?

It is perfectly fine to grow mustard from dried seeds. If you choose quality seeds, you will have pretty decent germination rates and will be able to grow mustard as well as with fresh seeds.

You will also be more flexible since you will be able to store those dried seeds for quite a long time.

Can you grow mustard greens from cuttings?

Growing mustard from cuttings is perfectly fine as long as you know what you are doing.

However, if you are still a beginner when it comes to growing mustard and other plants, you might rather want to grow mustard from seed since it is just much easier.

Should you use a mustard greens growing kit for growing mustard?

I personally don’t like those growing kits since they will just give you low-quality equipment that will break pretty soon.

Thus, instead of using a mustard growing kit, make sure to get decent gardening equipment that can help you grow plants at home for quite a long time.

Do mustard greens grow in the wild?

Many mustard varieties also grow in the wild.

However, you will still not be able to harvest those mustard greens most of the time since they just look quite different from cultivated varieties and the risk that you confuse them with toxic plants is quite high.

Should you talk to mustard plants?

Talking to mustard plants is quite a big waste of time.

Hence, instead of talking to your plants, I recommend you rather use your time for things that can really have a significant impact on the growth of your plants.

Should you plant mustard greens at half moon or full moon?

Also the moon phase in which you start growing mustard greens doesn’t matter for your overall success at all.

Just do what’s best from a climatic standpoint and you will be perfectly fine to grow mustard without having to worry about moon phases at all.

If you want to get even more information about growing mustard at home, you should also check out my mustard growing guide where I show you how to grow mustard from seed to harvest step-by-step.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassica_juncea

Own research and experience.

About the Author

My name is Andreas and I’m really passionate about our environment and also about growing plants. In fact, I have grown several different plants over many years. I love to see my plants grow and also always try new things to improve my overall conditions at home.

In my blog posts, I want to share my experiences with you so that you can become successful in growing various different plants and improving your home as well, even though you might still be a beginner right now.

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