Vicia incana
Care, watering, light and tips for Vicia incana on Floravia.
Quick facts
- Family: Fabaceae
- Difficulty: Easy to care for
- Watering: every 5 days
- Light: Full sun
- Temperature: 5–35 °C
- Toxicity: Toxic to pets
About Vicia incana
Vicia incana, known as Hoary Vetch or White Vetch, is an annual or biennial legume from the Fabaceae family, characterized by its foliage covered with whitish hairs that give it a silvery appearance. Its flowers are small, purplish to bluish, grouped in clusters. It is an excellent cover crop or green manure to improve soil fertility, and can also be grown in naturalistic gardens or meadows.
Native range
Mediterranean region and Eastern Europe
Care tips
It prefers full sun to partial shade exposure and adapts to a wide range of soils, as long as they are well-drained, even poor and calcareous ones. Watering should be moderate once established, as it tolerates periods of drought; avoid waterlogging, which can rot the roots. It does not require additional fertilization, as it enriches the soil with nitrogen. A common mistake is to sow it in excessively fertile soils or with too much nitrogen, which can reduce flowering and nitrogen fixation.