Anyone planted Quinoa?

I am having great luck with the Quinoa in my garden this year! Learning lots! Sorry the picture is sideways... I tried to fix it, but not computer literate!! I also have more pics, may submit them later if anyone is interested!

RE: Anyone planted Quinoa?

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Posted by clabarr 5 (My Page) on
Wed, Jun 25, 14 at 12:35

Here is a picture of the leaves on some of the plants. I am worried that it is Downey Mildew, but some sites say the leaves get red naturally so I shall see!

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Posted by LilyD74 5b MI (My Page) on
Wed, Jun 25, 14 at 17:17

I've tried it several times and it is a miserable failure in my garden. :-( Susceptible to leaf miners and the purple virus that lamb's quarters gets, and picky about germination temperature (not too hot.) This year is my last attempt. I think I'll get greens but no quinoa. You are in a very different zone than me, so you might have better luck. Be aware that all it takes is about 3-5 days in a row of temps over 90 for quinoa to fail to set flower. It's just not made for heat, and doesn't like overwatering either.

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Posted by clabarr 5 (My Page) on
Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 7:26

LilyD74, did you start outside, or did you transplant the quinoa after starting it inside? So far, mine is doing great.. it is too wet for it, but this is a crazy year and staying cool so far...

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Posted by LilyD74 5b MI (My Page) on
Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 15:27

The first two years I tried I started seed outside. Year one germinated well and grew tall but failed to flower due to one week of temps over 90. Year two I planted in partial shade (4 hours of sun or so) hoping to mitigate temperature extremes, and got almost no germination. Year three (this year) I germinated inside and transplanted. I lost about 50% of my seedlings, but the rest did go in and start thriving, until the leaf miners and aphids found them; the plants are about 40% infested with the miners, and did not grow nearly as tall as the first year's plants I tried. I gave up and pulled them for the leaves that were left since they haven't flowered yet and temps are forecast for the 90's this week. I did leave two plants just to see if they might make it and flower.

Overall the healthiest plants I've had resulted from germination inside, despite the many I lost. The plant does need babying, though, at least in my environment. I'd love to see yours thrive! I think I'm giving up after this year, though. Amaranth grows well for me, at least, so I'll stick with that for now.

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Posted by clabarr 5 (My Page) on
Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 16:11

LilyD74, Thanks for the information. I watched a Washington State University Webnair on YouTube that was produced for organic farmers. It had lots of really good information and got me hyped. This is my second year trying quinoa. First year I planted it outside. It sounds crazy now, but I think I pulled what did come up, thinking it was lambs quarter weed. This year I started it inside and was not thinking it would grow as it was doing so poorly until it was outside for 3 weeks or so and them it took off.
It is supposed to look great when it blooms, or so the seed catalogs tell you. On YouTube they recommended several seed places that are working specifically to have seeds for different climates. The one I think I will try next year is Wild Garden Seeds.... I am thinking that Cherry Vanilla and Redhead are 2 good varieties that might do well in our area here.

It is a terrible wet year which they do not like, but cooler than the typical Chicago summers, so maybe I will actually get a little grain. I like new challenges and this has been one. Thanks for responding. I am really interested in anything you can help me figure out!

Connie

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Posted by naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan (My Page) on
Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 17:09

I grew quinoa two years ago in SW Michigan, probably somewhat similar weather to the Chicago area. It grew great when direct seeded in sandy soil. I knew that it looks just like lamb's quarter weeds to me when it was young so I purposely marked the planting spots very well so I would know to leave the right plants. Unfortunately, mine did not live up to the hype about beautiful fall color. It was dull and all colored very much the same. And it was definitely from the seeds I planted, not lamb's quarter. I was looking for it to be decorative and fill a spot in a school alphabet garden. "Q" has been a challenging spot to fill :) I did not process the seed into food or eat the greens so I can't report on that.

Here is a link that might be useful: Variety I planted

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Posted by clabarr 5 (My Page) on
Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 17:55

naturegirl_2007, That is exactly the same variety I planted and so far you can see mine haven't developed much of a color either. It looks so pretty in the seed catalog... The Extension people who did the webnair seemed to think that the seeds they sell in the seed catalogs are generally from Chile and suggested that seeds grown in the US would perform better. Apparently Quinoa is very good at adapting to the environment, The new seeds it produces each year will do better in the climate that they grew in than the parent did the year before. However, it will also mix with lambs quarter if it is growing close so you have to really be a dedicated seedsperson to keep it from crossing with something you don't want it to cross with.

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Posted by clabarr 5 (My Page) on
Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 18:00

I think this plant is going to have purple flowers. A couple look like they might be yellow and one or two will be white. I have 11 plants growing at this point.

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Posted by naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan (My Page) on
Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 22:57

Clabarr, I hope you get some good color on yours. The picture on the package looks lovely. I wish mine had colored up. I'd be growing it again if it had. I might still try it again somewhere else and try eating the greens.

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Posted by clabarr 5 (My Page) on
Fri, Jul 4, 14 at 7:50

My quinoa on July 3, 2014 in North Chicago area.. I am really happy about how it is currently doing and challenged to try to keep it going!

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Posted by clabarr 5 (My Page) on
Sat, Jul 12, 14 at 17:29

UPDATE: The quinoa is actually going to be several different colors -- Here are a photo of one that looks like it will be purple. I also have what appears to be yellow, Lime green, bright pink, and orange.

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