How to Grow Love-Lies-Bleeding Amaranth USA
On this page
- Love-Lies-Bleeding Amaranth (Amaranthus caudatus)
- At a Glance
- Quick Facts
- When to plant in the USA
- Soil & Growing Conditions
- Growth Stages
- Harvest & Storage
- Diseases
- Pests
- Love-Lies-Bleeding, Habit to Harvest
- Plan your Love-Lies-Bleeding Amaranth planting
- Growing Love-Lies-Bleeding Amaranth in another region
- Sources
- Frequently Asked Questions
In the US, love-lies-bleeding amaranth is ready to harvest 90–100 days after planting.
The short answer
- Ready in
- 90–100 days
- Site
- soil pH 5.5–7.5
- Biggest risk
- Damping-off
Core growing advice on this page is checked against named horticultural sources — see References.
Love-Lies-Bleeding Amaranth (Amaranthus caudatus)
Also known as: Amaranth, Love-lies-bleeding · 13 sources cited · Verified
At a Glance
Quick Facts
| Factor | Value |
|---|---|
| Soil pH | 5.5 - 7.5 |
| Germination temp | 70°F (21°C) |
| Optimal growing temp | 70-82°F (21-28°C) |
| Minimum survivable temp | 32°F (0°C) |
| Time to harvest | 90-100 days |
| Soil texture | Chalk, clay, loam, sand (unfussy) |
| Drainage | Moist but well-drained, or well-drained |
| Lifecycle | Annual. |
| Edible parts | seeds, leaves |
When to plant in the USA
United States. Grown for its dramatic drooping crimson tassels as much as for grain, but cultivated as a grain amaranth: sow once soil reaches at least 65°F, in practice late May or early June, with seed no more than 1/2 in deep on a fine firm seedbed. There is no advantage in sowing earlier — Purdue notes early-season frost damage is not an issue because the crop is not sown until the soil has warmed anyway. Soil pH 6.5-7.5. If you want the seed rather than the display, the harvest rule is the same as for other grain amaranths: a killing frost has to dry the plant before the grain can be threshed and stored, and seed begins shattering before that frost arrives, so time it closely. If you are growing it ornamentally, cut tassels for drying while the colour is at its deepest and before shattering starts.
Soil & Growing Conditions
Growth Stages
| Stage | BBCH | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Establishment | 0 | Grown from very small seed — sow no more than ¼–½in (0.5–1cm) deep, in-situ in mid-spring once the danger of frost has passed. Amaranth germinates best at soil temperatures of 18–24°C (65–75°F) (UIC Heritage Garden). Choose a warm, sheltered, full-sun site with moist but well-drained soil. |
| Vegetative Growth | 3 | Plants grow quickly into upright, bushy annuals, typically 1–1.5m tall with a 0.5–1m spread, carrying large ovate leaves (RHS). Grow in full sun; keep the soil moist during dry spells — the plant is drought-resistant once established but crops best with steady moisture — and work in organic matter to promote strong leafy growth. |
| Flowering | 6 | From midsummer into autumn the plants produce long, drooping, crimson, tassel-like flower racemes made up of thousands of tiny flowers (RHS). Each amaranth flower head can carry up to 60,000 seeds (UIC Heritage Garden). |
| Fruit Development | 7 | Seed heads develop from the drooping racemes after flowering (RHS); amaranth seed typically ripens about three months after sowing (UIC Heritage Garden). |
| Ripening / Harvest | 8 | For ornamental use, cut the flower spikes fresh or hang them to dry for arrangements as their colour develops (RHS). For grain, wait until the seed heads are dry, then gently but briskly rub or shake a head between your hands to check the seed falls readily (UIC Heritage Garden); seed heads left standing are attractive to birds (RHS). Grain amaranth generally is left until a killing frost and a week of dry weather, then stored at about 11% moisture (Purdue NewCROP). |
| Senescence / Dormancy | 9 | It self-seeds readily; save clean, dry seed to sow again the following spring. |
Harvest & Storage
Diseases
Pests
Love-Lies-Bleeding, Habit to Harvest
Plan your Love-Lies-Bleeding Amaranth planting
When to sow and plant Love-Lies-Bleeding Amaranth depends on your own frost dates. Check the USA vegetable planting calendar. To work out where it fits in your beds, sketch your plot in the free Garden Layout Planner.
Growing Love-Lies-Bleeding Amaranth in another region
Sowing dates, frost timing and local advice differ by country. Use the guide for where you garden.
Sources
-
Annual, blooming from summer until frost, 3-5ft tall and 1-2ft wide. Full sun or partial shade. Wants well-drained soil kept moist, yet is particularly drought-resistant once established. Set plants out after the last frost; note it does not flower until three months after sowing. Both seed and leaves are edible, traditionally used as both a grain crop and a leaf vegetable. Pests: aphids on flowers and foliage. Diseases: Phytophthora blight and root rot, bacterial leaf spot.
-
General fungal/oomycete seedling-disease mechanism (Pythium, Rhizoctonia spp.), not amaranth-specific; used as a reusable cross-crop disease reference.
-
Short-season field study, the closest published analogue to Prairie conditions: amaranth sown at Prosper, North Dakota in the first week of June; first seed shatter 15 September (1993) and 14 October (1994); harvest before a killing frost was not feasible because of high moisture in the sample; grain yield decreased as harvest was delayed beyond first seed shatter, especially after a killing frost; amaranth should be harvested as soon as possible after a killing frost to reduce yield loss and maximise seed germination; the cooler 1993 season yielded 20-40% of 1994 at the same harvest dates.
These 5 sources are specific to this region. The full list of 13 sources behind this guide (FAO EcoCrop, GBIF, Internal project document, citing RHS and others) is in the references of our UK guide to love-lies-bleeding amaranth; they describe the plant itself, which is the same wherever it grows.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does love-lies-bleeding amaranth take to grow?
Typically 90–100 days, depending on cultivar and growing conditions.
What soil pH does love-lies-bleeding amaranth need?
A pH of about 5.5–7.5. That span reflects genuine variation between the authorities we cite rather than a single agreed figure — the References section lists each source's exact range.
What problems affect love-lies-bleeding amaranth?
Our data links 1 disease and 1 pest to this crop. See the sections above for each one and how to manage it.
Plan next season before the problems start
Almost everything on this page resolves to your own frost dates rather than the calendar — the last spring frost moves by roughly two months between zone 3 and zone 10. The USA Garden Planner works from your zone so the timing is already decided before the season starts.
Get the USA Garden Planner →Instant PDF download · Written for US growing conditions
How this guide is put together
The growing data on this page — sowing windows, pests, diseases, soil and site requirements — comes from named horticultural sources, listed in References below, checked against USDA hardiness-zone and frost-date data, with Cooperative Extension sources cited directly where one exists for a crop. An automated pipeline assembles that verified data into the page you're reading: it selects which facts to lead with and builds the surrounding prose and layout. It does not invent a date, a source or a number — where a verified value for a field isn't available, the page leaves it out rather than guessing. A person reviews and publishes each page; nothing goes live unverified.
Related Problem Guides
Last verified 2026-09-03
Where To Go From Here
Take this crop from reading into a written plan for your own beds.
Keep going
Plan the next step
Use the printable SoilCommander planner for your region to turn this guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and weekly garden tasks.