When to sow the amarantes?
Amaranth is sown in April and May, preferably once there is no risk of jelly spreading in the nursery. It must be sheltered from the wind and sunny.
It is also possible to sow indoors, terrine, pots, at a temperature of 15 to 20 ° C, from March. You will put your plants obtained in the ground at the beginning of May.
Which varieties to choose?
There are about sixty varieties of amaranths, among these are some of them.
Amaranth tail fox (Amaranthus caudatus): it has erect stems up to a meter high and flowers for a very long time between June and October. Its leaves are broad, ribbed with red. Its very pretty flowers are very small and appear in hanging spikes purple red.
Tricolor amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor) Although its flowering is almost insignificant, it has colorful foliage with green to red tones, including yellow, vanilla and coral. This variety is about one meter long.
The amaranth (Amaranthus hypochondriacus) : its bloom spreads between July and September. In this variety, the leaves and seeds are edible. The erect ears peak between 80 and 1.50 meters.
Blood Amaranth (Amaranthus hybridus ssp cruentus) : it also has a period of significant flowering since you enjoy its ears from July to September. It is one of the tall varieties and culminates at two meters. It is a kitchen garden whose foliage and seeds are edible. It differs from others because it is covered with hair.
What to do before sowing the amarantes?
You will have to dig your ground about five feet to be weeds, pebbles and roots that could hinder the growth of your flowers and especially the development of the root system.
How to sow them?
By preparing your seedlings under shelter, you gain a few weeks of cultivation which is always appreciable.
Sow under shelter:
- Take buckets specially dedicated to this attention.
- Fill them with special potting soil.
- Place one or two seeds in scoops.
- Water and be sure to keep your soil moist for the entire time needed for seed emergence.
- When the plants begin to have 5 leaves, you can perfectly transplant them in your garden or vegetable garden.
Sow in the ground:
- Sow the seeds very clear.
- Separate rows at least 40 cm
Once your plants have 4 or 5 leaves, you can thin them by keeping only the most vigorous plants and leaving a space of 30 cm between each one.
When to transplant Amaranth in the ground?
You will transplant your shoots in April or May according to the climate of your area.
Plant amaranth:
If you buy seedlings and want to transplant them, it is essential that the soil is rich and if it is not the case, enrich it with potting soil and compost.
- Fine your land to a height of 40 to 50 cm.
- Repeat your plants leaving a space of about 30 cm.
- Water well around the plant.
- Be careful to keep the soil moist, but without the water throat.
Multiply Amaranth
You can perfectly multiply your pigweed by sowing. It is also possible to recover the seeds on the faded and dried flowers to make your seedlings to come. The seeds can be kept for three years, keeping their germinability. Amaranth reseeds abundantly and spontaneously. Pay attentionbecause you will be very quickly invaded.
Where to plant the amarantes?
This plant likes fresh soil, rich and healthy, or even limestone and enriched preferably with compost or decomposed manure.
The place must preferably be either sunny, but it must above all be perfectly sheltered from the windbecause amaranth is sensitive to the onslaught of the wind.
It can be used in beds or in flowerbeds in the garden. She also makes very nice fresh bouquets that can then be dried if you wish. If you have a fence or wall that is not aesthetically pleasing to hide, think of amaranth.
It is also quite possible to grow it in pots or in a planter, in a substratum of compost with a progressive release fertilizer on your balcony or terrace.
She associates herself with the garden with the cardoons, my silver baskets, the bigles, the dahlias, the lavatères and the cosmos.
How to maintain them?
Amaranth is not a plant that requires a lot of care:
- Stanch Amaranth if placed in a windy area.
- You just have to remove the faded flowers to promote flowering.
- It will take if your amaranth is grown in pots, bring him fertilizer special flowering plant every 15 days.
How to water the amarantes?
Amaranths water when they are in the ground and the period is very hot and dry. However, care must be taken to ensure that the earth is not submerged under water. Potted plants should be watered more frequently and more regularly.
Harvest the amarantes: when and how?
If you want to harvest the young leaves, this one will be fast, since you will have to wait only 4 to 6 weeks.
To harvest the seeds, you will have to wait for them to go to seed after flowering, from July.
Amaranth diseases and what to do?
Amaranth is very insensitive to diseases, but on the other hand it is the victim of pest attacks. She particularly dreads slugs, snails and aphids:
Aphids
They feed on the sap of the plant, they move in colonies and they are of different colors. Some of them have wings.
You can treat them in different ways :
- You remove them by hand or you spray them with a jet of water to eradicate them.
- You spray your plants with a solution of soap and water that you renew every 8 days and as soon as you see it again.
Snails and slugs
They particularly like the young plants they feed on greedily. You can easily spot them thanks to the brilliant traces that you can see after their passage.
To treat them
Put a granular slug when you are sowing, you can use ferrous phosphate to eradicate easily. The beer trap is also effective because they love this drink. All you have to do is leave a saucer filled with beer.
To treat all these invasions:
Make a manure of ferns that is very effective against these pest attacks.
- Put 850 grams of fern leaves in 10 liters of water (rain if possible) and let macerate for 10 days.
- Sift and spray the potion you have prepared by diluting it to 10% on the plants.
It is also possible to recover the foliage to protect your vegetable plants in your garden.
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