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Vegetables · Leafy

Growing spinach

Spinacia oleracea · also called Palak, Vilayati palakA cool season leafy green sown direct and cut several times. This guide covers true spinach (Spinacia oleracea), not the spinach beet that is also sold as palak.

East coast: coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra, coastal Odisha

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.True spinach is a cool season crop that bolts quickly in warm weather and long days. Indian guides place it in the hills and in the northern plains in winter; winters here stay too warm for it.Includes AI suggestions where no published guide covers a detail
A dense bed of spinach plants with arrow-shaped, bright green leaves
Photo: Peter Forster · CC BY-SA 2.0
Not suited here

Not a crop for this region

True spinach is a cool season crop that bolts quickly in warm weather and long days. Indian guides place it in the hills and in the northern plains in winter; winters here stay too warm for it.3,4

Where it grows nearest

Across India

When to sow it

Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.

Not suited here

Sowing now in:Sub-tropical foothillsNorth-west plainsGangetic plainsArid westCentral plateau
  • Sow
  • Nursery
  • Transplant
  • Under cover
  • Today
  • Not suited here
East coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal AndhraNot suited hereSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduNot suited hereDeccan plateauinterior Maharashtra, Telangana, north KarnatakaNot suited here
Compare all 12 regions
Temperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluCold desertLadakh, Lahaul and SpitiSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, DehradunNorth-west plainsPunjab, Haryana, DelhiGangetic plainseastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal plainsNorth-east hills and valleysAssam, Meghalaya, SikkimArid westRajasthan, Kutch, north GujaratCentral plateauMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, VidarbhaDeccan plateauinterior Maharashtra, Telangana, north KarnatakaNot suited hereSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduNot suited hereWest coastKerala, Goa, KonkanNot suited here
Today
See the dates as a table
RegionSowNurseryTransplantHarvest
East coastNot suited here
Temperate HimalayaSeptember to OctoberMarch to June
Cold desertApril to May, after the snow meltsUnder cover: Early OctoberUnder cover: Mid to late October
Sub-tropical foothillsAugust to December
North-west plainsOctober to November (November preferred)
Gangetic plainsOctober to November (November preferred)
North-east hills and valleysSeptember to October
Arid westLate October to November
Central plateauLate October to November
Deccan plateauNot suited here
South interiorNot suited here
West coastNot suited here

What it needs

Soil, sun and warmth

  • Soil pH1,4

    6 to 7.5

    Grows on many soils. Well drained loam or sandy loam suits it more than heavy soil. It is moderately tolerant of salt and responds well to farmyard manure.

  • SunlightNo published guide covers this for the East coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    Full sun in the cool months. Late in the season, when days lengthen and warm up, light shade can slow bolting.

  • Temperature3,1

    Grows best at 15.5 to 18.3 °C

    Takes hard frost.

    Monthly temperatures for the East coast aren't in the library yet.

Good neighbours6

Grows well with

Seed and the season's end

Saving seed1,4

Sow the seed crop in November in the plains, in rows 60 cm apart, and thin to 10 cm. Keep it at least 1,000 m from other spinach (1,600 m for foundation seed), as wind carries the pollen. Take one leaf cutting, then leave the crop to flower.

When the seed is ready

Seed ripens unevenly, about 120 to 150 days after sowing, so it is gathered in about three pickings once the plants dry.

Cleaning the seed

Pull out off-types, early bolters and the small extreme male plants before and during flowering. Thresh the dry plants by beating with sticks and clean the seed by winnowing.

Dry the seed well to a safe moisture level before packing it.

After the last picking6,4Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

Clear and destroy crop debris. After a seed crop, work the residues into the soil and plough in volunteer plants to cut down leaf spot carry-over.

Rotation

Rotate with crops that do not host spinach pests and diseases, such as cereals, peas or beans. Being short, it fits between longer crops in a rice and wheat or okra and bean system.

Sources

Where this comes from

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.

These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.

  1. 1Package of Practices for Vegetable Crops 2020 (Spinach; cropping systems; protected cultivation)Directorate of Extension, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu (SKUAST-Jammu)Read the source
  2. 2Package of Practices for Vegetable Crops 2016 (Spinach)Directorate of Extension, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu (SKUAST-Jammu)Read the source
  3. 3Production Technology of Vegetables and Flowers (VSF-231), Part I: Vegetable production (Leafy vegetables: beet leaf and spinach)CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur (Department of Vegetable Science and Floriculture)Read the source
  4. 4Pusa Vilayati Palak: a highly nutritious spinach variety (Indian Horticulture 65(4), July to August 2020), with its package of practicesICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi (Division of Vegetable Science), in Indian Horticulture, ICARRead the source
  5. 6AESA based IPM package: SpinachNational Institute of Plant Health Management and Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage, Government of IndiaRead the source

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