looking for amaranth seeds

hi, i would like to grow amaranth next year, to eat the leaves and harvest the grain. does anyone have seeds from last years harvest? or can you suggest where i could get it from?
i would like the more attractive varieties.

if you can send them to me, i would be glad to exchange some French heirloom pumpkin seeds muscad de provence that i grew from organic seeds purchased in France as 'thanks'.

How much are you looking for. I grow three kinds of amaranth. For greens, cut flowers, grains and soil building.

Already have that pumpkin.

well, honestly, as much as you could spare. i would like to put some decoratively around the yard and also plant several plants for greens (maybe 10?) and some for grain... i don't know how many i would need for grain. this is all experimental for me. i think that most important to be would be the greens. i would love to have 20 seeds if you could spare them.

i don't think i have anything else worth sharing. this was our first year here...

Nechda Chekanov wrote:well, honestly, as much as you could spare. i would like to put some decoratively around the yard and also plant several plants for greens (maybe 10?) and some for grain... i don't know how many i would need for grain. this is all experimental for me. i think that most important to be would be the greens. i would love to have 20 seeds if you could spare them.

i don't think i have anything else worth sharing. this was our first year here...

Amaranth is a highly nutritious food (starch and protein!), extremely easy to thresh, and extremely easy to grow (very tolerant to hot and dry conditions and even poor soils) and it is also an ornamental plant. It can even regrow after cutting, providing extra harvests. This already makes it one of most perfect crops for food.

But it is rather low yielding, compared to other grains or corn.

Second disadvantage is that eating too much amaranth might disrupt your levels of calcium, due to having oxalic acid (even after cooking it). And too much nitrogen fertilization results in nitrates in amaranth, which is not healthy.

It yields an average 2 ton per ha (it can yield more, not sure how much more, but it can also yield less). If you eat a portion of 50g per week, that means you will eat 2.6 kg per year. That means you will needs 13m2 of land to grow it (that´s little!!). Or almost 100m2, if you eat one portion of amaranth per day. I will convert to feet now.

With a square 30 feet x 30 feet (900 sq feet), you can grow all amaranth to eat every day.
With a square 10 feet x 10 feet (100 sq feet), you can grow amaranth enough to eat once a week.

Nechda Chekanov wrote: i would love to have 20 seeds if you could spare them.

I have to smile at that one, amaranth seeds are super tiny. I think a teaspoon would be several thousand of them.

I have Mayo Indian Amaranth that I would be glad to trade for some pumpkins. PM me if you're interested. Also there is a resourses thread that would be a better location for such a request.

Baker Creek Seeds has a large variety...

http://rareseeds.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=amaranth&searchbox=products

yes i realize that they are tiny seeds, i was going on the minimum in hopes that someone would trade with me. tiny seeds, big plant! i would actually like to plant about a 20x20 ft area. so if you would send me as many as you would be willing to... i would be glad to send you some french heirloom pumpkin. pm me?

Hi Nechda,

Did you get the amaranth seeds? How did your plants do? I have a couple of red leaf varieties, one is short, up to 4 feet, it has small leaves. The second is Opopeo, huge bronze leaves, and a big magenta seed head. Opopeo grows 6 feet tall. I also have lots of green amaranth I got by buying a pound of amaranth seed at the health food store. A great resource for untreated seed. Let me know if you want more amaranth seed, and what you have to trade.

Thanks
Thekla

Hello Nechda,

This reply is quite late but I got my varieties three ways:

1) Rareseeds.com

2) Whole Foods (at select Whole Foods you can get Amaranth in the bulk section for 3 to 6 dollars per pound)

3) Wild Amaranth (it grows all over my region and the seeds were already in the soil/garden when I started, it is now the most predominate plant in my garden)