How to Grow

How to Grow Nasturtiums USA | Care, Pests & Disease Control

Move through the SoilCommander growing library like a course: keep the navigation in place, open the next lesson, and build your garden plan step by step.

How to Grow Nasturtiums USA | Care, Pests & Disease Control guide thumbnail

Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)

Nasturtium scrambling and climbing over a garden bank — “Tropaeolum majus Garden Nasturtium Harmony Gardens Broadwater Farm Estate Haringey London England 01 large” by Acabashi is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons

8 sources cited · Verified

The short answer

Site
6+ hours of sun, soil pH 6–7
Biggest risk
Southern bacterial wilt

Nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus) — annual.

This crop carries an unusually heavy problem load: 2 diseases, 7 pests and 0 nutrient issues are documented for it, so most of the effort in growing it well goes into prevention.

Core growing advice on this page is checked against named horticultural and university-extension sources — see References.

Diseases

Nasturtium scrambling and climbing over a garden bank — “Tropaeolum majus Garden Nasturtium Harmony Gardens Broadwater Farm Estate Haringey London England 01 large” by Acabashi is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons
“Tropaeolum majus Garden Nasturtium Harmony Gardens Broadwater Farm Estate Haringey London England 01 large” by Acabashi is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Southern bacterial wilt (nasturtium)

Ralstonia solanacearum

Nasturtium virus diseases (unspecified/unidentified)

Pests

Nasturtium scrambling and climbing over a garden bank — “Tropaeolum majus Garden Nasturtium Harmony Gardens Broadwater Farm Estate Haringey London England 01 large” by Acabashi is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons
“Tropaeolum majus Garden Nasturtium Harmony Gardens Broadwater Farm Estate Haringey London England 01 large” by Acabashi is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Aphididae (various spp.)

Slugs

Gastropoda (slugs, various spp.)

Glasshouse whitefly adult on a leaf — Sanja565658, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sanja565658, CC BY-SA 3.0
Glasshouse whitefly

Trialeurodes vaporariorum

Two-spotted red spider mite with silk threads, magnified — Gilles San Martin, CC BY-SA 2.0
Gilles San Martin, CC BY-SA 2.0
Glasshouse red spider mite (two-spotted spider mite)

Tetranychus urticae

Mealybugs

Pseudococcidae

Flea beetles

Chrysomelidae (Alticini)

Caterpillars

Lepidoptera larvae

Quick Facts

Nasturtium orange flowers among round green leaves — “20 May 2016, Tropaeolum majus in the Banks of Caminho de Albufeira, Vale Navio.” by Kolforn is licensed under CC BY 3.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons
“20 May 2016, Tropaeolum majus in the Banks of Caminho de Albufeira, Vale Navio.” by Kolforn is licensed under CC BY 3.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Factor Value
Soil pH 6 - 7
Sunlight 6-6 hours direct sun
Minimum survivable temp -5C
Soil texture Chalk, loam, sand; poor to average soil
Drainage Well-drained
Lifecycle annual
Edible parts leaves, flowers, seed pods

At a Glance

Close-up of a red nasturtium flower — “-37 100 Nasturtium, Troika Red (50044729353)” by Carol VanHook is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons
“-37 100 Nasturtium, Troika Red (50044729353)” by Carol VanHook is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Tropaeolum majus Nasturtium Southern bacterial wilt… Nasturtium virus diseas… Aphids Slugs Glasshouse whitefly Glasshouse red spider m… Mealybugs Flea beetles Caterpillars DISEASES PESTS

Soil & Growing Conditions

Nasturtium scrambling and climbing over a garden bank — “Tropaeolum majus Garden Nasturtium Harmony Gardens Broadwater Farm Estate Haringey London England 01 large” by Acabashi is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons
“Tropaeolum majus Garden Nasturtium Harmony Gardens Broadwater Farm Estate Haringey London England 01 large” by Acabashi is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Soil pH range

6 7

Span reflects genuine variation between the cited authorities, not a single agreed figure.

Growth Stages

A yellow and orange bicolour nasturtium flower — “2025-05-21 Tropaeolum majus（ナスタチウム）DSCF2401” by Matsuoka.A is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons
“2025-05-21 Tropaeolum majus（ナスタチウム）DSCF2401” by Matsuoka.A is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Stage BBCH Notes
Sowing and germination 0 Soak seed 8-24 hours to speed germination, then sow about 1.5cm deep indoors in early spring or outdoors March-June after last frost (Horticulture.co.uk).
Establishment and climbing growth 1 Thin or plant out at 15-30cm spacing depending on variety, in full sun on poor to average, well-drained soil; scrambles over the ground or climbs a support (RHS).
Flowering 6 Long-spurred flowers in red, yellow and orange appear through summer and autumn; rich soil or extra feeding favours leafy growth over flowers (RHS).
Harvest of leaves, flowers and seed pods 8 Peppery leaves, flowers and unripe seed pods can all be picked and eaten throughout the growing season.

Harvest & Storage

Nasturtium leaves with developing seed pods — “3854 - Tropaeolum majus (Große Kapuzinerkresse)” by Tubifex is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons
“3854 - Tropaeolum majus (Große Kapuzinerkresse)” by Tubifex is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

When to pick: Deadhead to encourage further flowers; leaves, flowers and seed pods harvested for culinary use through summer and autumn (RHS)

Storage

Best used fresh; not typically stored long-term

References

  1. country=INTL

  2. country=US

  3. Tier 1. RHS factsheet on glasshouse red spider mite (two-spotted spider mite), naming tomato and strawberry among the host plants affected under glass or in a polytunnel.

  4. country=UK

  5. country=UK

  6. Directly fetched and verified. RHS explicitly does not recommend pesticide use against aphids; recommends tolerance, manual squashing, and encouraging/purchasing natural predators (ladybirds, hoverflies, lacewings, parasitoid wasps, earwigs) as biological control, especially under glass.

  7. Directly fetched and verified. RHS explicitly distinguishes yellow sticky traps as a monitoring tool rather than a standalone control method, and notes traps also catch non-target parasitoid wasps -- a genuine trade-off between two control methods, preserved rather than simplified. No specific pesticide/insecticidal soap product is named on this page (RHS links out to a general pesticides statement instead), so none is recorded here.

  8. Directly fetched and verified (canonical URL differs from requested URL /biodiversity/slugs -> redirects to /biodiversity/slugs-and-snails). RHS explicitly advises against slug pellets (even organic) due to wildlife harm, and cites RHS's own controlled trial finding no damage reduction from physical barriers (copper tape, bark mulch, eggshell, grit, wool) -- while also noting some other studies have shown copper barriers to repel slugs, a preserved disagreement rather than a silently resolved one. Details Nemaslug (Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita) biological control including application temperature range and its lack of effect on snails specifically.

8 independent sources are cited for this crop. Where they disagree - soil pH is the clearest case - every figure is preserved rather than averaged into false precision.

Frequently Asked Questions

What soil pH do nasturtiums need?

A pH of about 6–7. That span reflects genuine variation between the authorities we cite rather than a single agreed figure — the References section lists each source's exact range.

What problems affect nasturtiums?

Our data links 2 diseases and 7 pests to this crop. See the sections above for each one and how to manage it.

Plan next season before the problems start

Almost everything on this page resolves to your own frost dates rather than the calendar — the last spring frost moves by roughly two months between zone 3 and zone 10. The USA Garden Planner works from your zone so the timing is already decided before the season starts.

Get the USA Garden Planner →

Instant PDF download · Written for US growing conditions

SoilCommander Editorial Team

US vegetable growing guides · Checked against USDA & Cooperative Extension guidance

Every SoilCommander guide is written and maintained by our editorial team for real US growing conditions, and checked against USDA hardiness and frost-date data and Cooperative Extension growing advice before publication.

Vegetable Growing Guides USA

Last verified 2026-08-30

Relevant next steps

Where To Go From Here

Take this crop from reading into a written plan for your own beds.

USA garden plannerTurn this crop guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and a harvest record. All growing guidesBrowse every crop we cover for your region, A to Z. Planting CalendarSee how this crop fits alongside everything else you are growing.
Free Tool
soilcommander.com/pages/garden-planner
1 · Shape
2 · Crops
3 · Conditions
4 · Plan
Choose your garden shape
🍅
Bed 1
Tomatoes
🍌
Bed 2
Legumes
🥦
Bed 3
Brassicas
🥕
Bed 4
Roots
🥥
Bed 5
Alliums
🌿
Herbs & More

Free planning tool

Plan your veg garden before you dig a single inch

Sketch your exact plot shape, pick your crops, and get a spacing-accurate bed layout with companion pairings and a rotation plan. Spacing, companion pairings and rotation work the same in any climate — pair the layout it gives you with the USA planting calendar for your own frost-date timing.

Garden Layout Planner Tool

Free to use. Nothing to install.

Plan the next step

Use the printable SoilCommander planner for your region to turn this guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and weekly garden tasks.

Get Planner