Apellewa Quinoa
This is an amazing food plant. The earliest quinoa available, as far as I can determine. Apellewa was unearthed by Ellen Bartholomew, quinoa grower extraordinaire, a few years ago. She immediately realized that it was a special quinoa, earlier than any other variety, and yet yielding large amounts of high-quality grain. AND the grain size is larger than most other quinoas grown in North America. One of the problems with quinoa growing has been that most quinoas able to grow outside of their South American home have very small seed, not as large as the imported seed Americans are used to buying. Apellewa is a breakthrough in many respects. Short plants are 4 to 5 feet. Seedheads are large and usually cream colored, though there are some in the pink range. Seed is light colored and very high quality. We are proud to bring you this outstanding variety. 300 seeds
Quinoa should be planted in spring for late summer to fall harvest. It does not germinate well in hot soil, so start early, fromt 2 weeks before last frost up until bit after your date. It should be in the ground by June 1. It is not a nutrient or water-intensive crop, but do work in some organic matter, or a cover crop, before planting. In the past, and in home gardens, we have used spacings of about 12 inches between plants (in all directions). This results in a big, branched plant with a very high yield. But it requires 2 harvests. The top seedhead will mature first, and is harvested by hand with clippers. Then the whole plant can be cut later, when the side shoots mature. Recently, farmers trying to create a domestic supply for market have developed new guidelines for field spacing. They sow in rows about 8" apart, with plants every couple of inches in the row. This yields many unbranched plants, which can then be harvested all at once. While the yield is not as high per plant, it is very high per square foot. Photo courtesy of Adaptive Seeds.