Last edited on 3 Feb 2024. View history
Red Spinach
Red Spinach
A variety of amaranth
How to sow red spinach: Direct seed, thin seedlings to 15cm
Sun requirement for red spinach: Plant in Full Sun
Amaranth is a tall annual herb with clusters of dark burgundy flowers grown for it's seeds and leaves. Young greens have a flavor similar to spinach, and seeds are high in protein like Quinoa. Amaranth seeds are often ground into flour and used as a grain alternative. The plant is heat and drought-resistant but lacks a high frost tolerance. Other members of the Amaranthus genus are used as ornamentals. Amaranthus retroflexus (commonly known as Pigweed) was cultivated by Native Americans for it's grain and is currently a widespread weed in North America.
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Red spinach 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 red spinach, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 12°C and a shortest growing cycle of 30 days at its best temperature, about 420 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 red spinach 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 Amaranthus dubius Mart.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Caryophyllidae Caryophyllales Amaranthaceae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: 4 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | heavy, medium, light, organic |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| 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) |
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