The evening primrose prefers sunny, and arid places with loamy soil and occurs below 700 meters above sea level. One important prerequisite is to meet adequate nitrogen requirements. While too high nitrogen levels could lead to a quality and quantity decline of the oil content in the seeds, moderate nitrogen levels lead to increased seed quality and quantity. Since the evening primrose is a light-dependent germinator it is important that the seeds are not planted too deep into the soil (0.5–1.0 cm deep). The cultivation of evening primrose is thus suitable for no-till farming, but the plants require an intense mechanical weed control. The tiny seeds (thousand kernel weight: 0.3–0.7 g) need approximately two to three weeks to germinate and are therefore very susceptible to the outgrowth of weeds.