CropStraightforward
Amaranth
Amaranthus cruentus L.
Temperature
22°C to 28°C
Rainfall
722mm to 1040mm per season
Conditions
What it needs
Soil
Almost any soil with some organic matter, as long as it drains.
Water
Quick and thirsty: a leafy crop that goes from sowing to first cutting in about a month, and can be cut repeatedly if it is watered and fed.
What you will need
Tick what you already have; Grow carries the rest into the cost working.
Grow holds no supplier listings and no local prices, so it cannot tell you where to buy these or what they cost near you. Ask at your nearest agrodealer or extension office, then put those figures into the planner.
Through the season
Stages
- 01
Land preparation
5 days- Prepare a fine bed
- Work in compost
- 02
Planting
2 days- Sow thinly and shallow
- 03
Establishment
14 days- Thin
- Water daily in dry weather
- 04
Growth
20 days- Weed
- Top-dress with manure tea or compost
- 05
Harvest
30 days- Cut leaves or whole plants
- Cut again as it regrows
Watch for
Common problems
Leaf webber
- What you will see
- Leaves webbed together with caterpillars feeding inside.
- What to do
- Pick off webbed shoots by hand. Never spray a leafy crop that will be eaten within days.
Damping off
- What you will see
- Seedlings collapsing at soil level in a crowded, wet bed.
- What to do
- Sow thinly, water in the morning rather than the evening, and do not sow into a bed that has just carried amaranth.
Follow the label for doses, and ask an extension officer or vet before using a chemical you have not used before.