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Last edited on November 01, 2026. View history

Orach

Atriplex hortensis

An ancient vegetable of the quinoa family, eaten like spinach. Eat the leaves raw when young and steamed or similar when larger, and pinch out the growing tips continually. Grows to over 1 m at the seeding stage and self seeds easily.

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Orach facts

Lifespan

Annual living and reproducing in a single year or less
Optimal temperature 12–28 °C
Absolute temperature 3–36 °C
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal rainfall 500–800 mm/year
Absolute rainfall 300–1400 mm/year
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal soil pH 6.5–7.5
Absolute soil pH 5–8.2
FAO EcoCrop

Crop cycle

120–150 days
FAO EcoCrop

Max altitude

1000 m
FAO EcoCrop

Optimal light

very bright
FAO EcoCrop
What are growing degree days?

A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.

Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.

For orach, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 3°C and a shortest growing cycle of 120 days at its best temperature, about 2040 growing degree days to a first harvest.

Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your orach will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.

Varieties of orach

Image of green orach

green orach

Atriplex hortensis
Image of red orach

red orach

Atriplex hortensis

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Orach harvests

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Find orach seeds

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Time to harvest

If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 120 to 150 days.

From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.

Ecological requirements

Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Atriplex hortensis L.

Family / Taxonomy Magnoliopsida
Caryophyllidae
Caryophyllales
Chenopodiaceae
Life form herb
Life span annual
Habit erect
Optimal soil depth medium (50-150 cm)
Optimal soil texture light
Optimal soil fertility low
Optimal soil drainage well (dry spells), excessive (dry/moderately dry)
Optimal soil salinity medium (4-10 dS/m)
Photoperiod short day (<12 hours)

Learn more about oraches

Resources outside Growstuff.