Small nettle

Urtica urens

In other languages: Kleine brandnetel (Nederlands) · Ortie brûlante (Français)

Grows wild in Belgium.

Small nettle is an annual herb of 10–50 cm from the nettle family, the small, fierce sibling of the familiar common nettle. It grows on loose, fertile soil that is often cultivated: vegetable plots, arable fields, farmyards, around stables and muck heaps, in borders and on waste ground. In Belgium it is fairly common, but much less abundant than common nettle. You can recognise it by the low, branched plants with fresh green, deeply toothed oval leaves, the short green flower clusters in the leaf axils and the stinging hairs, which sting harder than you would expect from such a small plant. It forms no rhizomes, so it stays neatly in its place, and the young tops can be cooked just like those of common nettle.

Caution: The stinging hairs cause a painful, itchy rash. Take care with small children, who often play with bare legs and hands, and with dogs running through the plants. Wear gloves when weeding and picking, and never eat the leaves raw.

Updated on 9 October 2026

Light
Sun or partial shade
preferably some sun
Moisture
Normal
no wet feet
Hardiness
down to -15 °C
protect young plants
Size
0.3 m
tall, 0.25 m wide
Flowering
May–October

Key facts
Pruning months	July–August
Height	0.3 m
Native to Belgium	Yes
Flowering	May–October

Identify

How to recognise it

Habit: Annual herb of 10–50 cm, upright and branching from the base, with square stems covered in stinging hairs.
Leaf: Opposite, oval to elliptic, 2–5 cm, deeply and sharply toothed and fresh green. The leaf stalk is fairly long, on the lower leaves often almost as long as the blade.
Flower: Small green flowers in short, upright clusters in the leaf axils, shorter than the leaf stalk, from May to October. Male and female flowers grow on the same plant; the wind does the pollinating.
Fruit/Seed: Tiny, flat, egg-shaped, pale brown nutlets, produced in large numbers.
Roots: A short taproot with fine side roots and no creeping rhizomes: easy to pull up, wearing gloves.
Confused with: Common nettle is perennial and larger, with creeping yellow rhizomes, longer, pointed leaves and drooping flower clusters longer than the leaf stalk. Dead-nettles look similar but do not sting and have large two-lipped flowers.

Flowering: May–October · Pruning: July–August

In your garden

Why grow it?

Food plant for butterfly caterpillars: the small tortoiseshell, among others, also eats small nettle, although most butterflies lay their eggs on common nettle.
The many tiny seeds are food for seed-eating birds in late summer.
Aphids on the shoot tips feed ladybirds and their larvae early in the year.
The young tops are edible: cooked, they lose their sting and taste like spinach, in soup, quiche or mash.
Stays small and does not spread by rhizomes, so it is far easier to keep in check than common nettle.

Small nettle: where does it grow best?

In the wild: vegetable plots, arable fields, farmyards, around stables and muck heaps, waste ground, verges and open spots in villages.
Sun to half shade.
Loose, sandy to loamy, fertile soil that is often cultivated; it likes places with plenty of manure or compost.
In the garden: in a corner of the vegetable plot, by the compost heap or along an edge you dig over every year anyway.

Goes well with

Common nettle: Together a nettle corner for butterfly caterpillars: the small one on bare soil, the large one along the edge.
Common chickweed: Grows on the same rich vegetable-plot soil and is edible too.
Red dead-nettle: Flowers in the same places for bees and bumblebees, without stinging.
Shepherd’s purse: Another annual of open, cultivated ground, with seed for birds.

Maintenance

Small nettle: when and how to plant it?

It usually appears by itself on fertile, cultivated soil; sowing is rarely needed.
If you do want it, collect some ripe seed in summer from plants in your own garden or neighbourhood, or buy seed of native origin.
Sow in March–May on loose soil, sow thinly and rake the seed in very lightly.
Keep the soil moist until germination and leave 15–20 cm between plants.
Wear gloves when handling the plants, and never dig up plants from the wild.

Care

Water: Not needed; only after sowing in dry spells.
Feeding: Not needed: it usually grows on rich soil already.
Harvesting: Pick the young tops before flowering, with gloves and scissors. Cooking or blanching removes the sting.
Weeding: Too many? Pull up or hoe off young plants before they set seed; without rhizomes they do not come back.
Self-seeding: Let a few plants ripen where they are not in the way if you want it back every year.

Tip: Pick the young tops before flowering with gloves and scissors: brief cooking or blanching removes the sting, and you have a vegetable that tastes like spinach.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: July–August.

When: Not really needed; pull or cut the plants in July–August, before most of the seed is ripe.

How:

This small annual needs no pruning.
If you want fewer seedlings, pull up or cut the plants before they set seed.
Pulled plants without seed can go on the compost heap, be used as mulch between crops or, like common nettle, go into a bucket for plant feed.

Caution: Always wear gloves and long sleeves: the stinging hairs even get through thin fabric.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed: Ripens from July. Sow in spring on bare soil or let it self-seed; the seed stays viable in the soil for a few years.

Small nettle: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −15 °C: protect young plants.

Annual: the plants die at the first proper frost.
The seed overwinters in the soil and germinates in spring, as soon as the ground warms up and is cultivated.
In mild winters some plants survive and simply keep flowering.

Diseases and pests

Stings: The stinging hairs cause a burning, itchy rash that usually fades within a few hours. Wear gloves and long sleeves when weeding and picking.
Too many seedlings: On rich, cultivated soil it can germinate in large numbers. Hoe early, mulch the soil and do not let it set seed.
Competition with vegetables: Grows fast on rich soil. Pull it out around young crops; between large plants it can stay.
Aphids and caterpillars: Part of the deal, and food for ladybirds and birds. Just leave them be.

Through the year

March: Sow on bare soil. First seedlings.
April: Young plants; weed where they grow among the vegetables.
May: Pick young tops for soup. First flowers.
June: Flowering. Leave caterpillars on the leaves.
July: Seed ripens. Remove plants if you do not want seedlings.
August: Flowers and seed; new plants germinate. Remove before they set seed.
September: Late plants are still flowering.
October: Flowering until the first frost.
November: The plants die back; the seed overwinters in the soil.

You and this species

Did you know?

Urens means ‘burning’, from the Latin urere, to burn. The French name ortie brûlante also refers to its fierce sting.
Each stinging hair is a tiny, glass-like tube with a brittle tip. When you touch it, the tip snaps off and the hair injects a mixture of substances, including histamine, into your skin.
In common nettle, male and female flowers grow on separate plants; small nettle carries both on the same plant.

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