Quinoa white Seeds

White quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) seed for sowing, in packs of 100 seeds ($1.90) or 500 seeds ($5.90), dispatched from India within 1–2 weeks. Quinoa germinates easily but sets seed only if it flowers in mild weather. The sowing date that matters is the one that keeps flowering out of the heat.

Also known as: Quinua, Kinwa, Quinoa blanca, Quinoa blanc, Reismelde, Kinoa.

Will quinoa set seed where you live?

The limiting factor is heat during flowering. Extension trials in Utah, Idaho and Oregon report that many varieties set little or no seed when temperatures pass about 35 °C (95 °F) while the plants are in flower, and extra irrigation did not prevent it. A plant can look tall and healthy and still carry an empty head. Cooler summers help: in one Utah season a high-elevation site set seed while a warmer valley site did not.

Choose a sowing date that puts flowering in the coolest part of your growing season:

Your climate	When to sow	Main risk
Cool summers: Pacific Northwest, northern US, Canada, UK, high elevation	As soon as the soil can be worked in spring, around the last frost date	Wet autumn: ripe seed sprouts on the plant
Hot summers: days regularly above 35 °C (95 °F), such as much of the US South and inland Australia	The earliest workable date in spring, so flowering finishes before peak heat	Poor or no seed set; start with a trial row
India, plains: rabi season	Late November; ICAR trials at Kota yielded more from a 25 November sowing than from 15 December	Late sowing pushes flowering into spring heat

What's in the pack and how to check the seed is alive

A common garden rate is about 10 seeds per 30 cm of row, thinned later to one plant every 25–35 cm. At that rate the 100-seed pack sows roughly 3 m of row, about 10 mature plants. The 500-seed pack sows roughly 15 m, enough for a small bed or a second sowing if the first one fails.

We have not run a germination test on this lot, so we do not quote a percentage. You can check it yourself in two days, because quinoa germinates fast: with moisture and a suitable temperature, roots can appear within 24 hours. Fold 10 seeds into a damp paper towel, keep it in a closed bag at room temperature, and count the seeds with a visible root after 1–2 days. Use that count to decide how thickly to sow.

Until sowing, keep the packet cool and dry, and sow it this season. Quinoa seed loses viability quickly in warm, humid storage.

Sowing: cold soil is fine, deep soil is not

Temperature and frost

Some seed catalogues ask for 18–27 °C soil. Field guidance from Idaho and Ontario puts the optimum lower, around 4–16 °C, and recommends sowing early in spring so that flowering comes before summer heat. Quinoa germinates across a wide temperature range, so there is no reason to wait for warm soil.

Emerged seedlings tolerate light frost. Until the seed reaches the soft-dough stage, temperatures below about −2 °C (28 °F) cause damage. After that stage, plants have survived down to about −7 °C (20 °F).

Depth

• Fine, moist garden soil: about 6 mm (¼ in).
• Light, sandy soil that dries at the surface: up to 13–25 mm, the range used in field trials.
• Deeper than needed cuts emergence, and so does a surface crust. On soil that crusts, keep the surface moist or cover the row with fine compost instead of soil.

Spacing and the first two weeks

Sow thinly in rows 30–45 cm apart and thin to 25–35 cm between plants. Seedlings usually emerge within about 5 days, then grow slowly for 1–2 weeks while the taproot develops. Weed by hand during this stage.

Why first quinoa crops fail

• Healthy plants, empty heads. Flowering hit a heatwave. Sow earlier next season using the table above.
• Pulling the quinoa and keeping the weed. Lambsquarters (Chenopodium album) is a close relative and looks almost identical as a seedling. University of Idaho notes that young quinoa usually has a pink-to-red stem base, while lambsquarters stays green to grey. Sow in marked, straight rows. Lambsquarters can also host pests and is suspected of carrying downy mildew to quinoa.
• Nothing came up. Run the paper-towel test on the seed you have left. If it sprouts on the towel, the problem was the bed: too deep, crusted, or dried out after sowing.
• Waterlogged ground. Standing water lowers yield and encourages root disease. Use a well-drained bed and keep the soil moist, not wet.
• Ripe heads left in the rain. Most modern quinoa has little or no seed dormancy, so ripe seed can sprout on the plant after autumn rain.

Harvest before the autumn rain

Expect about 90–130 days from sowing to harvest, depending on variety and region. Harvest when the leaves have dropped and the seed is hard to dent with a fingernail. If rain is forecast, cut the heads and finish drying them under cover. Rub the dry heads over a bucket and winnow off the chaff.

The seed coat carries saponins, which taste bitter and soapy. We have no saponin data for this lot, so rinse and rub the harvested grain in several changes of water before cooking.

Pack and seed data

Parameter	Value	Status
Species	Chenopodium quinoa, white-seeded	Confirmed (listing)
Pack sizes	100 seeds ($1.90), 500 seeds ($5.90)	Confirmed
Optimum soil temperature for germination	4–16 °C	Approximate (extension field data, not a lot test)
Sowing depth	13–25 mm field range; about 6 mm in fine garden soil	Approximate
Germination rate of this lot	Not tested	No data
Named variety, saponin level	Not recorded	No data

FAQ

Can I plant quinoa from the grocery store?

Food quinoa is processed for eating, usually washed or abraded to remove saponins, and nobody checks it for germination. If you try it, run the paper-towel test before you sow.

Is white quinoa grown differently from red or black quinoa?

No. The colour describes the seed; sowing, spacing and harvest are the same. Heat tolerance and days to maturity depend on the variety, and the named variety of this lot is not recorded.

Can I save seed from my own plants?

Yes. Quinoa is mostly self-pollinated, with some wind pollination. Keep it about 30–90 m (100–300 ft) from other quinoa varieties to keep the line true, and dry the seed well before storing it.

Do you ship to the US, UK and Australia?

Seeds are dispatched from India within 1–2 weeks and shipped internationally where the destination's import rules permit. Check your country's seed-import requirements before ordering.

This listing is for growing and seed collections. We make no health or medical claims for this plant.