Last edited by shiny on November 09, 2026. View history
Tarwi
A variety of lupin bean
A large, flat, white-seeded edible lupin that is a staple food in South America, where it is called tarwi. Also makes excellent humus. Scatter sow in trays in spring once frost is past, and transplant at 20 cm when 5 cm high.
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Tarwi facts
Lifespan
Crop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
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 tarwi, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 6°C and a shortest growing cycle of 150 days at its best temperature, about 2250 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 tarwi 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.
Photos
Tarwi plantings
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 150 to 330 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 Lupinus mutabilis Sweet
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Rosidae Fabales Leguminosae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: -5 °C, rest: -5 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | shallow (20-50 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about tarwis
Resources outside Growstuff.