Comments on: Pigweed: going in!

By: Marnie

Marnie — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:33:27 +0000

Hi there,

I’ll second eating the pigweed. And yes, it’s got oxalates, but so does spinach. (It is toxic to horses, but a horse would have to eat A LOT of it.) Get this - they’re actually selling it at an organic market here in Toronto as a gourmet green at $5 for a small bunch. If pigweed grows so readily there, why not try to grow “true” grain amaranth? It’s more nutritious than the spinach you’re trying to grow, and there’s probably a growing market - there’s plenty of 100-milers out there who would kill for some local amaranth grain, and plenty of other cultures eat it as a green. For seed, Salt Spring Seeds carries it.

I’d be your first customer! :-)

By: eat the weeds

eat the weeds — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:31:13 +0000

Pigweed is edible and is more nutritious than spinach. Just eat the pigweed! There are many recipes on the internet.

By: Mike (tfb)

Mike (tfb) — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:18:05 +0000

Vera: That’s all interesting stuff about amaranth. There’s always so much more to learn. I wouldn’t be surprised by the alleopathic effect thing, seeing how hardy and resourceful pigweed is at surviving when crowded, when cut, when mulched over…why not kill off the competition as well! I haven’t noticed any poor germination patterns that I might attribute to this, there are usually so many other factors present, like super hot, dry weather and not enough moisture… And I’m not sure how much residue might be involved, because I don’t till in that much, it generally gets pulled. But I definitely have residue in there. I’ll keep an extra eye out… Thanks for the info!

By: Vera

Vera — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:33:44 +0000

I wouldn’t feed young plants to rabbits or any livestock! The young plants are high in oxalates and nitrates which cause poisoning if eaten in large quantities…the same applies to humans when this Amaranthus retroflexus as well as the other species are ate as greens; which they are in many parts of the world. I assume those peoples who have eaten this for hundreds of years probably know when it’s the right time to be harvested and consumed. So if you have rabbits I suggest small amounts :)
Also did you know that Amaranth residues can have an allelopathic effect in the soil causing poor germination in some plants? Don’t know how true this is, but just something I’ve read. Have you noticed any difference with the large quantities tilled in?

By: Mike (tfb)

Mike (tfb) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 03:37:34 +0000

Steve: Yes, I hope the pigweed problem just…goes away, too!! :) I’m next to positive about the source of the seed, it’s apparently viable for five years, and that expiry date is approaching, so…the “it’ll vanish” theory sounds good to me, though I’ll truly believe it when I see it. Cut up pieces haven’t been a problem, they usually dry out. It’s all generating from seed, we wipe out millions of seedlings at the seed leaf stage, and some sections like this just get away for a bit… The tractor is a last resort. I wish I could mulch more, but the only half-imaginable way right now is to use plastic, which I’m not partial to (use it only on melons), plus requires drip tape for irrigation, which we’re not yet set up to do… Oh well!

By: Steve Mudge

Steve Mudge — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:44:54 +0000

Hope the problem with the Pigweed goes away–like the other poster commented a while back–careful all that tilling doesn’t create lots of Pigweed cuttings that will take root…

Our garden is small so we have the luxury of mulching everything–virtually no weeds and very little watering. We can get the native tree mulch(Pecan,Oaks, etc.) very inexpensively from a local supplier–on a larger scale like yours it may be impractical.

Really enjoying reading your blog, keep up the great work. And thanks for letting us know how far north you are!