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Little River Cooperative

Katuk

$10.00 USD
$10.00 USD
Sale Sold out

Katuk
Sauropus Androgynus

days to maturity:
plant spacing: 1 plant every 2 feet
sunlight requirements: 6-14 hours, partial shade
look out for:
harvest notes: harvest tender shoot tips often
perennial

Katuk is one of the most popular leaf vegetables in Southeast Asia and is notable for its high yield and palatability. While the mature leaves are edible in soups, stews and stir fries, Katuk is most popular as a source for a type of tropical asparagus. If it’s planted in the shade and then given very nitrogen rich soil it will produce very tender growing tips, which can be harvested and consumed like asparagus. The more you harvest the tips the bushier it will get, producing ever-more tips for harvest. 

In Vietnam, the locals cook it with crab meat, minced pork or dried shrimp to make soup. In Malaysia, it is commonly stir-fried with egg or dried anchovies. The flavor is nutty and pea-like, and the leaves contain 50% protein by weight. The flowers and small white fruits of the plant are also edible. Our teammate Jules says “my particularly favorite way to eat the leaves is to toss them with a little oil and salt and then bake them in the oven for 15-20 minutes around 350-375 degrees for the most delicious and nutritious green chip snack.” 

Katuk shrubs make good hedges because they grow bushy and upright. We have used katuk to create an edible privacy hedge before but it took years for it to fill out and really get dense enough to make the space private. If you are regularly harvesting your tips your plant will get no taller than 4-5 feet, especially if grown in partial shade. 

In the past Katuk powder was consumed in excess as part of a fad diet and people incurred respiratory damage from it, however the dose of Katuk consumed was extraordinarily high. If eaten as a food instead of used as a supplement Katuk should cause no damage to the body. 

Materials

All of our plants are produced using OMRI certified organic materials (potting mix, fertilizer & pesticides) however our nursery is not certified organic. Plants are shipped in compostable peat moss pots and we use heirloom & organic seeds whenever possible.

Shipping & Returns

We ship plant orders every Monday. Due to the nature of shipping plants we only offer expedited shipping for our live plant orders. Our returns & exchanges policy is also quite strict since its hard to control the quality of a plant once it leaves our facility, however we do our very best to make sure that each and every customer is satisfied with their plants. Read more about our policies here. 

Size

All of our plants are potted in 4" pots and their foliage size varies based on how large the plant is naturally when its root ball is the correct size for the pot. If a plant is too tall for our shipping box we may prune it to fit (bonus: many plants do better after being pruned since they make bushier growth). We do our very best to ship all of our plants in the "sweet spot" of maturity however so long as the roots have colonized the pot we will consider a plant mature enough to ship.

Care Instructions

When you receive your plant its critical to get it out of its box and into the light the day it arrives. It will also want to be removed from its compostable plastic wrapping and given fresh water to drink. Keep in mind, this plant was grown in the tropical humid climate of South Florida, so if it's terribly cold or dry where you are it'll need to be hardened off before planting outdoors. Visit our care instructions page for more thorough info about caring for your new plant friend.

  • What Our Customers Have to Say:

    This is a great, local organization with really knowledgeable & friendly staff. They make gardening easy and accessible, and I've purchased many high quality plants and equipment from them.
    -Kate Black (5 star google review)

  • And Another One:

    How lucky we are to have a resource like Little River Cooperative here in Miami, not only for the access they offer to a great selection of plants and produce, but also for the knowledge they provide and the sense of community they foster!
    -Nick Vagnoni (5 star google review)