About This Plant
Anise is a long-season annual Apiaceae herb grown mainly for sweet licorice-scented seed. It performs best in full sun, warm frost-free conditions, and well-drained near-neutral soil, with direct sowing preferred because seedlings resent transplanting.
How to Grow Anise
Learn how to grow Anise from seed to harvest in 130 days. Intermediate difficulty. Complete nutrient guide, pH/EC requirements, and growing conditions for soil & container.
Sources cited: 23.
Nutrient Requirements by Growth Stage
Anise has good field evidence for balanced fertility, but no anise-specific hydroponic NPK ppm or EC program was found. Primary research supports yield response to field NPK, including an N80-P60-K60 kg/ha treatment in one factorial trial and a recent production recommendation near 120 kg N/ha in Turkey…
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Growing Environments
Outdoor soil production is the best-supported environment for anise, including home gardens, commercial fields, and open-field or agroforestry systems. Greenhouse and container culture are possible, but the evidence is mainly potted research rather than commercial seed-crop systems; one controlled study used 30 cm by…
Temperature
Grow anise as a warm-season annual centered around 18-25C for productive growth. FAO EcoCrop gives an 18-26C optimum and 5-30C absolute range, while OMAFRA and the olive-agroforestry trial converge on about 18-25C. For germination, the strongest controlled seed study found best performance at constant 20-25C and poor results at 30C, so warm but not hot seedbeds are preferred.
Humidity
No complete source gives a universal production RH range for anise, so the 50-70 percent band should be treated as protected-culture operating guidance rather than a strict species optimum. A controlled glasshouse study grew potted anise at 55-60 percent RH with 25C days and 18C nights…
Light
Anise is a high-light herb for field or bright protected culture. FAO classifies the crop as requiring very bright light, and university extension guides recommend full sun…
Airflow
No source found an anise-specific airflow velocity, so publish airflow as disease and drying management rather than a strict m/s target. Open spacing, ventilation, and quick canopy drying reduce conditions that favor powdery mildew and other foliar disease…
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Hydroponic System Compatibility
Verified systems are soil and substrate based. FAO, OMAFRA, extension guides, and field studies support outdoor beds, well-drained soil, and potted or substrate culture…
Growing Media
Use fertile, well-drained loam or sandy-loam media in full sun. OMAFRA recommends well-drained sand to loam soils and pH 6.0-7.5, while FAO gives an optimum near pH 6.5-7.0 and low salinity tolerance…
Container Specs
Container dimensions are lower-confidence than field spacing because few sources state pot sizes. The best direct evidence is a glasshouse study that grew one anise plant in 30 cm diameter by 30 cm height plastic pots with sandy loam soil…
Training & Support
Anise normally needs no training system. Extension guides describe an upright annual of about 18-24 inches, and the 2026 germplasm field study recorded roughly 35-75 cm plant height…
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Propagation
Propagate anise from seed, with direct sowing as the primary method. Penn State lists anise among herbs that do not transplant well, and WSU recommends direct seeding in May…
Harvesting
Anise is mainly a once-through seed crop, though leaves can be cut lightly once plants are large enough. Seed harvest should occur before heavy shattering: cut or pull plants when fruits are physiologically mature and straw-colored to greyish-green, preferably early in the morning when seed loss is lower…
Planting Calendar
For temperate gardens, direct sow in April-May after hard frost risk and once soil is workable and warming; WSU specifically lists May for anise. Indoor sowing in March-April with May transplanting is a fallback for short seasons, but direct sowing remains preferred because anise resents transplanting…
Common Issues
The issue list was corrected away from hydroponic assumptions and toward anise-specific field risks. Keep powdery mildew and aphids, but remove unverified spray rates, biological release rates, and ppm-based deficiency claims…
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