Re: Amaranth

**sanderson** 9/1/2017, 9:15 pm

Thanks, a little scraggly right now. Notice the natural mutant yellow one? lol

**trolleydriver** 9/14/2017, 12:18 pm

I said in an earlier post that I probably will not grow Amaranth again. Well I may have to eat those words. The Amaranth is winning me over.

Amaranth - Page 5 Img_4726

countrynaturals 9/14/2017, 1:19 pm

trolleydriver wrote:I said in an earlier post that I probably will not grow Amaranth again. Well I may have to eat those words. The Amaranth is winning me over.

I'm on the same fence. The plant is beautiful, but we don't like the leaves. Haven't tried harvesting the seeds yet, but it looks like more trouble than it's worth. What's winning you over?

**trolleydriver** 9/14/2017, 1:34 pm

countrynaturals wrote:
I'm on the same fence. The plant is beautiful, but we don't like the leaves. Haven't tried harvesting the seeds yet, but it looks like more trouble than it's worth. What's winning you over?

I have not tasted the leaves but I guess I should give them a try. What is winning me over right now is the flower/seed heads. But it's taken a long time for them to mature to the point where I really like them. I definitely will not grow Amaranth in my SFG but I can think of a couple spots in other areas of the garden where they might work out.

countrynaturals 9/14/2017, 4:50 pm

trolleydriver wrote:
countrynaturals wrote:
I'm on the same fence. The plant is beautiful, but we don't like the leaves. Haven't tried harvesting the seeds yet, but it looks like more trouble than it's worth. What's winning you over?

I have not tasted the leaves but I guess I should give them a try. What is winning me over right now is the flower/seed heads. But it's taken a long time for them to mature to the point where I really like them. I definitely will not grow Amaranth in my SFG but I can think of a couple spots in other areas of the garden where they might work out.

I harvested mine today and got NOTHING! I thought we were supposed to get seeds but all I found was chaff. Time for some more research to see what went wrong. geek

UPDATE: I went back and looked again -- did some more shaking -- a few seeds fell out. Maybe there's still hope. Cool

**sanderson** 9/14/2017, 6:26 pm

TD, what variety?

**trolleydriver** 9/14/2017, 6:32 pm

sanderson wrote:TD, what variety?

The Amaranth is Dreadlocks from Baker Creek.

http://www.rareseeds.com/dreadlocks-amaranth/

**Scorpio Rising** 9/15/2017, 9:48 pm

My daughter saw some Amaranth today in Columbus in containers and said "what is that plant?" I told her, and she said, interesting looking! She had heard of it, probably as the weed. It is actually considered a weed, commonly called pigweed. It is edible as well. Never have.

countrynaturals 9/16/2017, 10:20 am

Scorpio Rising wrote:My daughter saw some Amaranth today in Columbus in containers and said "what is that plant?" I told her, and she said, interesting looking! She had heard of it, probably as the weed. It is actually considered a weed, commonly called pigweed. It is edible as well. Never have.

I've heard of pigweed. Thanks, Scorpio. I've learned something already today, and I haven't even finished my first cup of coffee. Cool

**trolleydriver** 9/16/2017, 11:13 am

countrynaturals wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:My daughter saw some Amaranth today in Columbus in containers and said "what is that plant?" I told her, and she said, interesting looking! She had heard of it, probably as the weed. It is actually considered a weed, commonly called pigweed. It is edible as well. Never have.
I've heard of pigweed. Thanks, Scorpio. I've learned something already today, and I haven't even finished my first cup of coffee.

I read somewhere that not all species of the amaranth genus are pigweed.

Here are some benefits of Amaranth:

https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/vegetable/amaranth.html

The following article states "Calling amaranth 'pigweed' or 'superweed' is perhaps an attempt by Monsanto and others who fall into the trap, to make an ideological statement."

https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/rethinking-a-weed-the-truth-about-amaranth

**Scorpio Rising** 9/16/2017, 1:29 pm

Interesting read! The kind that grows wild isn't pretty, just green then brown. Birds like the seed heads a lot! But they like grass seed heads too (guess they just like seeds! LOL)

**trolleydriver** 9/18/2017, 12:06 pm

Sorry for posting more pics of our Amaranth but these plants are just amazing me. According to the description at Baker Creek these Dreadlock Amaranth plants are not supposed to exceed 3 feet in height. Well the tall one in these photos is more like 6 feet. And the flower head on one stem is 24 inches in length. They are just loving this sunny, hot, dry location in our regular soil.

Amaranth - Page 5 Img_4733

**trolleydriver** 9/22/2017, 7:00 pm

Granddaughter wearing Dreadlocks Amaranth.
Amaranth - Page 5 Img_2069

I'm

**sanderson** 9/22/2017, 8:01 pm

A D O R A B L E !!

**AtlantaMarie** 9/23/2017, 8:44 am

What a cutie!!

**trolleydriver** 10/12/2017, 5:29 pm

Here I go again with photos of my Dreadlocks Amaranth. Some of it is starting to go to seed.

Amaranth - Page 5 Img_4921

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