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Little River Cooperative

Sissoo Spinach

$12.00 USD
$12.00 USD
Sale Sold out

Sissoo Spinach
Alternanthera sissoo

days to maturity:
plant spacing: 1 plant every 2 feet
sunlight requirements: 6-14 hours
look out for: caterpillars and slugs
harvest notes: more shade, more tender
perennial

Sissoo spinach is a vigorous, spreading ground cover that is incredibly easy to grow. It prefers 50% or more shade and tolerates a wide range of pH soil conditions, though it does require high amounts of nitrogen, organic matter, and water. This is a great understory or ground cover option for your food forest since it spreads easily, controls weeds, has very few pests and likes partial shade. Of all the “weird spinaches” we grow for tropical greens during the summer this is our favorite because it makes a handsome plant and is easy to cook with. 

The leaves are crinkly and very crunchy which makes them easy to use in the kitchen. They require steaming or boiling when eaten in large quantities because of the presence of oxalates but Brazilians eat this plant raw in salads with oil, vinegar, tomato, and onion. The leaves are rich in vitamin B, C, F and K, magnesium, zinc & phosphorous. 

This plant doesn’t produce viable seeds but luckily it propagates very easily from cuttings so once you have one happy plant you can spread it all over your food forest and even give plants to friends. 

Materials

All of our plants are produced using OMRI certified organic materials (potting mix, fertilizer & pesticides) however our nursery is not certified organic. Plants are shipped in compostable peat moss pots and we use heirloom & organic seeds whenever possible.

Shipping & Returns

We ship plant orders every Monday. Due to the nature of shipping plants we only offer expedited shipping for our live plant orders. Our returns & exchanges policy is also quite strict since its hard to control the quality of a plant once it leaves our facility, however we do our very best to make sure that each and every customer is satisfied with their plants. Read more about our policies here. 

Size

All of our plants are potted in 4" pots and their foliage size varies based on how large the plant is naturally when its root ball is the correct size for the pot. If a plant is too tall for our shipping box we may prune it to fit (bonus: many plants do better after being pruned since they make bushier growth). We do our very best to ship all of our plants in the "sweet spot" of maturity however so long as the roots have colonized the pot we will consider a plant mature enough to ship.

Care Instructions

When you receive your plant its critical to get it out of its box and into the light the day it arrives. It will also want to be removed from its compostable plastic wrapping and given fresh water to drink. Keep in mind, this plant was grown in the tropical humid climate of South Florida, so if it's terribly cold or dry where you are it'll need to be hardened off before planting outdoors. Visit our care instructions page for more thorough info about caring for your new plant friend.

  • What Our Customers Have to Say:

    This is a great, local organization with really knowledgeable & friendly staff. They make gardening easy and accessible, and I've purchased many high quality plants and equipment from them.
    -Kate Black (5 star google review)

  • And Another One:

    How lucky we are to have a resource like Little River Cooperative here in Miami, not only for the access they offer to a great selection of plants and produce, but also for the knowledge they provide and the sense of community they foster!
    -Nick Vagnoni (5 star google review)