How Do You Grow Amaranth?
January 2, 2023
Amaranth is an excellent small-flowering grain that makes a beautiful addition to your food & floral scape rotation. It is an outstanding source of fiber, B vitamins, manganese, and potassium – all essential minerals for plant growth and health. Amaranth has been grown for hundreds of years in Asia and the Middle East as a famine food crop. The long, thin grain can be stored without spoiling and eaten later in the season as a complete grain rather than just a starch source. Amaranth also makes an excellent green manure crop. Growing Amaranth requires similar growing practices to other seed grains such as millet or oats, though it grows much smaller and the yield per acre will usually not be quite as high. You'll need regular pollination & careful management of soil pH & moisture to ensure healthy plant growth year-round.
What is Amaranth?
Amaranth is a large-flowering grain with a short germination time and a high degree of hardiness. It is native to Central Asia and is known to grow well in temperate climates. It is also known to be very good fodder for livestock.
Amaranth is a plant that actively invites and benefits from pollination. It is therefore important to keep mites, mosquitoes, beetles, and other insects at bay during the pollination & seed collection stages. The seeds of many plants are pollinated by insects, but the plants flower first and send out staminate (male) and female (female) flowers later on. There are many species of amaranth, and most are tolerant of a wide range of soil types, weather conditions, and fertilization rates.
How to Grow Amaranth?
Amaranth can be grown both as a spring and summer crop. For spring planting you need soil that is rich in organic matter. A good way to obtain this is by using compost or manure as a soil- improver. For summer planting you should grow amaranth in soil that is rich in organic matter or compost. For both spring & summer planting, you should fertilize the ground every two or three months with a balanced liquid fertilizer.
What Are the Benefits of Growing Amaranth?
Amaranth has a rich history as a food crop and has been used as a food and medicine for hundreds of years. Recent studies have shown that Amaranth can also be used as breeding stock for both rice and corn. Growing and breeding these important crops with this grain as a source of protein would help to increase farmers' incomes and improve the nutritional composition of the final products.
Conclusion
Amaranth is an excellent small-flowering grain that makes a beautiful addition to your food & floral scape rotation. It is an outstanding source of fiber, B vitamins, manganese, and potassium – all essential minerals for plant growth and health. Amaranth has been grown for hundreds of years in Asia and the Middle East as a famine food crop. The long, thin grain can be stored without spoiling and eaten later in the season as a complete grain rather than just a starch source. Amaranth also makes an excellent green manure crop. Growing Amaranth requires similar growing practices to other seed grains such as millet or oats, though it grows much smaller and the yield per acre will usually not be quite as high. You'll need regular pollination & careful management of soil pH & moisture to ensure healthy plant growth year round.
