Hi Everyone! Tell us about your quinoa grow outs here.
I encourage other growers to experiment with “winter sowing”; putting quinoa seeds in the ground outside before the last of the cold weather, to see if we have better luck with germination by allowing seeds to come up when they are ready to do so. I’ve already planted one row back in January, and will plant more rows as spring approaches, so that we can compare. Unfortunately, I may have chosen a bad season to start; this is the warmest and driest winter I’ve seen here yet. You can read more about this in my thread here: Join a winter planting quinoa experiment!
Hello Malcolm,
my grow report for 2025 is as follows.
it was the second year I grew the mix you sent me with some addition of european origin.
My sowing technique was broadsowing and then cover with a thin layer of straw.
I had to sow 3 times, because of slughs,
Each time, the germination was heterogeneous but numerous, but everything was eaten before or just at the stage first pair of leaves.
the last sowing was eaten as well, except a small patch of about two or three square meters, very dense , out of which some plants grew enormously, up to more than 2 meters.
This size of plants and the huge size of the flowers (wonderful, multicoloured) became a problem with their weight after rains. I was a little slow at deciding to support them with sticks so some of the heads just broke. others bent without breaking.
anyway the harvest has been joyfull. about 2kg (vs 750g last year out of the pinch you sent me plus some additions)
Question for all quinoa growers. What about plant size in your experiments and do you support them with some kind ot sticks or containment ?
I am soon going to sow before end of winter as you suggested. And I have a question : so you broad sow or do you cover the seeds with soil ?
Thanks for the report! I don’t support the plants, since on a large scale this would be impractical, and I want to select for plants that can stand up by themselves. If plants are getting too large to stand up, it might be better to grow them in a location with less nitrogen.
I’ve always covered the seeds with soil, though lightly; in my climate surface sown seeds tend to try out. This year, I’m putting a pinch of seeds in each location where I want a plant, and then scratching or scuffling them lightly into the soil. We will see how that works, since getting good emergence is the hardest thing with growing quinoa in my experience.
I did sow a few days ago, with some soil over the seeds and I added some mustard seeds in the hope slugs will eat the mustard rather than de quinoa seedlings…