Ferula asafoetida

Category: Home & Garden

It’s native to Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kashmir,Tajikistan, China and Kazakhstan and is a bit smaller than some other species. It only grows to about three feet tall. Ferula grows best in a cold, arid, sunny climate. While it’s a fussy plant, in the right climate, it will hunker down and stubbornly grow (and spread) without any interference from us. But when the weather takes a turn that these plants don’t like, they go dormant. That’s why they grow so slowly. It’s an ongoing cycle of dormancy, resurgence, dormancy, and resurgence. But if you can manage the environment as best you can, you can speed things up. Asafetida needs full sun, but it doesn’t like heat. Don’t be tempted to grow it in partial shade to keep it cool. It actually needs full sun. In the wild, you’ll find most species growing in sandy or loamy soil in full sun. The quickest way to get rid of asafetida is to plant it somewhere with heavy, poorly-draining soil. Your soil should have a pH around 6.5 to 7.5. Remember, your ferula won’t die, it will just go dormant in adverse conditions. That means it will stop growing, or it might even die back temporarily. The more often the plant goes dormant, the longer it takes to mature.