The Quinoa Thread

[wifezilla]

I did post on another thread about my sprouting experiment but I suppose I better post it here too...

The quinoa from the store sprouted JUST FINE The savings on using the bagged "food" quinoa vs the seed quinoa are amazing. In the seed packet, 95/gram. In the food bag, less than a penny per gram.

I planted both the seed packet stuff and the food stuff. The only good thing about paying for the seed packet was I will have different colors. The seed packet quinoa was a rainbow assortment. The food stuff was white.
***

FarmerDenise, that is why I am trying both the amaranth and the quinoa. I suspect with our cool night temps, the quinoa might do better, but then again our hot dry falls might be better for the amaranth. Hard to tell around here! LOL

So far I have the quinoa planted along the edge of my fence along with some carrot seeds. I have the Love Lies Bleeding amaranth planted in a big whiskey barrel I used to grow patty pan squash last year. I can't remember where I found the companion planting info, but the quinoa website recommended planting them together since the seeds are so small. You mix the two seeds together to make it easier to plant. Anything that gets me 2 crops from the same space is fine by me

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

hello! i know this is an old thread... well i am gonna try and revive it a bit.
i posted on this thread before that i had got amaranth and quinoa seed... well i took on too much at once and they both went belly up... so now i'm planning for next season.
first off, i am definitely trying to stay small. very hard for me to do i just want to try everything! hee hee hee
so this year is gonna be back to basics, small amounts of veggie plants (dad will end up doing 15 or so tomatoe plants anyhow and i'll get talked into watering them alot so they will pretty much be partly mine along with whatever else he decides on growing) and a few little patches of experimental new things. such as amaranth, quinoa, indian corn, and millet.

so i would really like to hear anything anyone would share. good, bad, indifferent. tips, tricks, or don't do what i did's.
thanks!

 

[Kassaundra]

I am definately planting quinoa this comming year, and may plant amyranth too. I love eating quinoa, and it is so expensive.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

looking at my seed catolog... i'm not sure which type to get... :/ this spring i had gotten "orange giant amaranth". but i'm kinda liking the "love-lies-bleeding red" and the "love-lies-bleeding green" and the "orang giant".... i wonder if any one type would be more suited to here? wonder if i could get all 3 kinds and plant them all together. see if one type does better then another... and if they all do good then i wonder if i would end up with crosses in colors? oooohhhh... i like colors hee hee hee

AND ***GASP*** WHERE IS THE QUINOA IN MY BAKER CREEK CATALOG?!?!?! i know i got em from them this spring b/c they are the only place i ordered from! GAH! someone please tell me that page is sticking to another one andi just keep missing it! help! where could i get quinoa seed if not from them?

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

wait... nevermind.... found the quinoa in my catalog... oopsie ^.^

 

[lesa]

I really enjoy Love Lies Bleeding and Elephant head. I have only grown the red. It is gorgeous- really show stopping and the chickens enjoy it. I started with a lot of Love Lies Bleeding and have ended up with more Elephant head. I am assuming they crossed. The great thing about these plants is that they produce about million seeds per head! If you buy them, you will only buy them once! I did not have any luck growing millet- though the ornamental millet grow great for me?? Haven't tried Quinoa.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

well i'm really hoping to grow a good sized patch of each and have alot of seed saved to grow a large patch the next year if it grows well and isnt too hard to harvest.

 

[lesa]

Do you mean harvest for seed saving or for animal feed? When I feed it to the chickens- I just wait till fall (after I have enjoyed the plants in the garden), cut them down and serve to the chickens....For seed harvesting, I cut off the heads and save them till spring. I don't bother trying to separate the seeds out- I just kind of tear apart the head and plant the pieces! Are you in zone 4? If so, they should grow fine for you.

 

[Kassaundra]

wait... nevermind.... found the quinoa in my catalog... oopsie ^.^

What page, I was looking for it the other day and kept missing it.

 

[April Manier]

OK, I successfully grew Quinoa this year. It really struggled along until it got cooler and then went nuts!

This being said, I won't do it again. I already grow seeds for Territorial and other companies. It is tooo much work to harvest and clean the quinoa when i can buy it! LOL