How to Grow Daikon Radish: Growing Guide to Planting, Care & Harvest

Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus

Growing calendar

Typical timing for central Japan (Kanto region). Shift it for your own climate, and record your actual dates.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Sow / plantGrowing

Guides

Common problems

Start from what you can see on the plant.

Wilting Yellow leaves Leaves dying White powder Leaf spots Pests Fruit problems

Varieties (31)

31 daikon radish varieties have their own page, with days to maturity, growth habit, traits and uses.

April Cross Chinese White Winter Green Meat Karaine Minowase Summer Cross Miyashige White Neck Oharu Onmy Relish Cross Shinden Risoh Daikon Shrinmei Tama Daikon

See all 31 daikon radish varieties

Pests and diseases (40)

Problems recorded for this plant, most serious first.

White Rust

MajorDisease

Creamy white slightly raised irregular pustules form on the leaf underside and burst through the skin releasing white powder. The upper surface turns pale yellow and heavy infection ruins appearance and market value.

Root-lesion Nematode

MajorPest

Elongated blackish brown necrotic lesions form on the root surface and fine roots rot away. Above ground the stand is uneven and plants stay small with pale foliage.

Cabbage White Caterpillar

CommonPest

Irregular holes appear in the leaves and eventually only the veins remain. Dark green pellets of frass are conspicuous at the crown and on leaf undersides.

Diamondback Moth

CommonPest

Larvae graze the leaf tissue from below, leaving the upper skin as white window-like patches. As they grow they chew many small holes and also attack the growing point.

Bolting

CommonDisorder

A flower stalk rises from the center of the plant and the leaves turn tough and stringy, spoiling eating quality. Heading vegetables run to seed without ever forming a head.

Damping-off

CommonDisease

The stem pinches in at soil level, turning water-soaked to brown and thin, and the seedling topples over. Infection before emergence makes the stand uneven with missing plants.

Bacterial Soft Rot

CommonDisease

The crown or the head becomes water-soaked and soft, then collapses into a slimy mush. The rotting tissue gives off a distinctive foul odor.

Cutworms

CommonPest

Typically a newly transplanted seedling is severed at soil level and found toppled the next morning. Scratch the soil beside the cut seedling and a gray-brown caterpillar turns up.

Sawflies

CommonPest

Feeding advances rapidly from the leaf margin, leaving only the veins within a short time. The larvae rear up when disturbed and are often lined up on the leaf underside.

Puffy Fruit Seedcorn Maggot Clubroot Fruit Cracking Bacterial Wilt Fusarium Yellows Powdery Mildew Sclerotinia Rot Black Rot Anthracnose Root-knot Nematode Bacterial Spot Downy MildewScabRadish MosaicRing DisorderVerticillium Black DotMosaic DiseaseRhizoctonia DiseaseCircular Brown SpotRoot ConstrictionPlant-parasitic NematodesWhite Leaf SpotFusarium Wilt and Damping-offBacterial RotYellows and Witches' BroomYellow LeafBlack StainAlternaria Black SpotBacterial Leaf SpotBlack Dot Ring Rot

Written byYasuGrowing vegetables and fruit in Chiba, Japan, and building Gadenin. Corrections are welcome. 15 years of growing.