Last edited on 2 Nov 2026. View history
Colorado Quinoa
A variety of quinoa
How to sow Colorado quinoa: Direct seed outdoors, thin to 10cm
Sun requirement for Colorado quinoa: Plant in Full Sun
An easy-to-grow, attractive quinoa with good flavour. Plants reach 5 to 6 ft with multicoloured seed heads and tan to gold seed. Sow in trays in spring, prick out at 2.5 cm diagonal spacing, and transplant at 6 to 8 cm high, 10 cm apart on the diagonal.
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Colorado quinoa facts
Lifespan
Crop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For Colorado quinoa, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 2°C and a shortest growing cycle of 90 days at its best temperature, about 1260 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your Colorado quinoa will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
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Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Chenopodium quinoa Willd.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Caryophyllidae Caryophyllales Chenopodiaceae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: -8 °C, rest: -8 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | heavy, medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about Colorado quinoa
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