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badflash
07-02-2010, 03:16 PM
Started doing research on this green and found some pretty neat stuff. This may be a good fit for aquaponic systems. Sounds like it would need a long cycle time though as it is not a plant that requires a lot of water after it gets its true leaves.

Being a heavy feeder, but not one that requires it, it may be ideal for keeping the nitrates and phosphates in check. Picked young it makes an excellent green. Let it grow large and it produces an amazing seed head. The variety Golden Giant can produce 1 pound of seed per plant.

The seeds have some amazing versitility. They can be ground into a flour, sprouted for sprouts, popped like popcorn, and the one that got my undivided attention was that they can be malted to make beer!

stucco
07-02-2010, 04:42 PM
We had some folks over for a tour of the yard. We sent them home with several plants and to return the favor the guy brought some plants he had sent over from Jamaica one of which he called callioo. It grew like crazy in the dirt garden and greens tasted great. We thought it looked the same as weed that grows wild all over the place here so we looked it up and it turned out to be amaranth. We haven’t tried the seeds yet, but we are working on that since they have started to bolt.