How to Plant and Grow Malabar Spinach

Basella alba

Spinach is a staple in my cool-weather veggie garden, but as the temperatures climb, it’s time for malabar spinach to take over.

Malabar spinach (Basella alba) is not even closely related to spinach (Spinacia oleracea), but it tastes similar and is able to thrive in the kind of heat that makes the conventional leafy greens wilt and die.

Native to the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and New Guinea, malabar spinach has naturalized in many tropical regions, including tropical Africa, Polynesia, South China, and South America.

We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.

On top of being delicious, the plants are also beautiful, providing value as an ornamental as well as an edible. 

If you’re ready to add this luscious vegetable to your garden, here’s what we’re going to discuss to help you make yours thrive:

Malabar spinach is so-called because it was thought that the species originated along the Malabar coast in India.

It’s a fast-growing vine that grows perennially in Zones 7 to 10 and as an annual elsewhere, with edible, succulent leaves that can be eaten raw or cooked.

Malabar spinach is very nutritious, containing carotenoids, bioflavonoids, β-sitosterol and lupeol, vitamin C, flavonoids, saponins, proanthocyanidins, and amino acids.

The young flower shoots taste a lot like baby corn. You can eat them raw, pickled, or cooked, but they become extremely slimy when cooked.

That’s because all parts of the plant are mucilaginous. The leaves aren’t extremely so, but the stems and flower buds are.

The leaves don’t taste exactly like spinach, they have a bit more acid in the flavor. You can eat these raw or cooked, as well.

That happens in the tropics most of the year, but only part of the year in northern or southern latitudes, so your malabar spinach plant might not flower at all in those climates.

Are you ready to get started growing your own malabar spinach? 

How to Sow

In the regions where malabar spinach can grow year-round, it’s easy to find transplants at local nurseries.

Since it isn’t wildly popular in North America (yet), it’s rare that you’ll find seedlings at a nursery. But you can commonly find seeds. Luckily, starting from seed is a breeze.

From Seed

It’s easiest to start the seeds indoors to give yourself a head-start on the growing season.

With indoor seedlings, you have more control over the environment so you can raise the heat or adjust the light as needed.

Here are the steps:

1. Fill a seed tray or small pots with a seed-starting or potting medium that is both water retentive and well draining.
2. Moisten the medium well.
3. File the seeds with some sandpaper to remove a bit of the hard red outer shell. This is known as scarification and it improves germination rates. You can soak the seeds for 24 hours before planting instead if you prefer.
4. Place seeds a quarter of an inch deep and a few inches apart or you can sprinkle them over the surface of the soil and plan to thin them after germination.
5. Place the trays or pots in an area with bright, indirect light and a temperature of about 65 to 75°F, using a heat mat if necessary. Don’t let the temperature drop below 65°F or the seeds won’t germinate.
6. Keep the potting medium moist at all times. It shouldn’t be wet or soggy, just moist, with a texture like a well-wrung-out sponge.
7. The seeds should germinate in two or three weeks. When they have their first set of true leaves, thin them so they are a few inches apart.

When the seedlings are about six inches tall, you can harden them off and plant them outside when the temperatures are warm enough. Make sure the soil temperature is above 65°F.

Transplanting

Don’t even think about transplanting outside until the soil temperature is over 65°F. Malabar spinach can’t handle cold temperatures and even a light frost will kill the plant.

Work some well-rotted compost into the soil or if you wish, you can grow in a container.

Choose a vessel that’s at least a gallon in size, and fill it with a moisture-retentive, well-draining potting medium.

How to Grow

Since the vines can grow 10 to 30 feet in a single growing season they will need something to climb up.

In theory, you can let it crawl along the ground, but maintenance and harvesting is much easier if you train the vines up some kind of trellis or support.

Light

You can grow malabar spinach in full sun or full sun in the morning with a bit of afternoon shade.

If you live somewhere with regularly hot temperatures, it’s best to grow in partial shade.

Soil

The ideal soil is organically-rich, loamy, with a good amount of sand for drainage. Just about any texture across the sandy to loamy range is fine, but heavy clay isn’t ideal.

If the soil in your garden is severely depleted or very sandy, you’ll need to fertilize regularly.

The pH should be between 5.5 and 7.0, but the plants will tolerate outside this range.

Temperature and Humidity

Malabar spinach does best when temperatures are in the 80s and low 90s.

When temperatures drop below 80°F, the growth will slow and it will stop altogether below about 70°F. The plants usually won’t be killed, though, until temperatures drop below 50°F.

Water

Fertilizing

Before you start feeding any plant, you should test your soil. That way you can amend according to the results.

If you opt to skip the soil test, grab an all-purpose food like Down to Earth’s All-Purpose fertilizer.

This product has an ideal NPK ratio (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) of 4-6-2, which is perfect for veggies.

Feed according to the manufacturer’s directions a month after planting and again if and when the flowers begin to develop.

Down to Earth All Purpose Fertilizer

You can find one-pound, five-pound, or 15-pound boxes at Arbico Organics.

Cultivars to Select

The two most common types are malabar (B. alba) and red malabar (B. alba var. rubra), the latter of which is more commonly grown as an ornamental than alba.

There are a few cultivated varieties that are also popular, including:

Green Vines Supreme

This cultivar is known for being extremely vigorous, growing more quickly than the species to provide heaps and heaps of leaves and stems for your cooking needs.

I’ve never had anything but good experiences with it, though I’ve only grown it as an annual.

‘Green Vines Supreme’

You can find seeds in a variety of packet sizes available at True Leaf Market.

Big Round Leaf

You pretty much don’t need to know anything else beyond the name of this cultivar, because it describes it perfectly.

‘Big Round Leaf’ has larger, rounder, thicker leaves than the species.

‘Big Round Leaf’

You can find seeds available at True Leaf Market in a variety of packet sizes.

Red Malabar

Sometimes listed as a B. alba cultivar, red malabar used to be considered a different species called B. rubra. It’s actually a naturally-occurring variety of the alba species.

Red malabar has gorgeous red stems created by antioxidants called betalains, which means not only is it pretty but it’s also more nutritious than the species when eaten raw.

Cooking will eliminate the red color and the betalains.

Red Malabar

Grab seeds in a variety of packet sizes from True Leaf Market.

Managing Pests and Disease

Part of what I love about this plant is that it doesn’t experience many problems with pests or diseases.

Birds will eat the berries and seeds, but that’s not usually a problem.

Deer and rabbits are another story, as both these herbivores absolutely love malabar spinach. Deer will devour the whole plant pretty quickly if given the chance!

Learn more about keeping rabbits out of the garden here.

Insects

I don’t worry too much about insects bothering my malabar spinach plants. But here are some to look out for, especially on young plants:

Aphids

Most of the veggies we grow in the garden are subject to aphid feeding.

Some plants seem to be more of a target than others. If I don’t find aphids on my rose buds in the spring, it’s a miracle. But I very rarely find them bothering my malabar spinach.

If the plants are young, spray the aphids off with a strong stream of water and when the foliage is dry, apply an insecticidal soap.

Learn more about aphids here.

Slugs and Snails

You know them, you love them. Wait, maybe not that last part.

Learn more about controlling slugs and snails here.

Disease

Diseases aren’t usually a problem. If you consistently overwater, you can drown the roots and kill the plant, but that applies to just about anything you’re growing in your veggie patch.

The main issue you might face is leaf spot.

Leaf Spot

Crops growing in warm, wet weather are often subject to Cercospora leaf spot. In the case of Basella species, it’s Cercospora beticola that causes the issue.

You’ll notice small, yellow, circular spots that can eventually cover the entire leaf, which turns yellow and dies.

The sooner you start treating this disease, the better the chance that the plant will recover.

Grab a broad-spectrum fungicide like copper and saturate the plant every few weeks until the new growth is symptom free and stays that way for a few weeks.

Bonide Copper Fungicide

If you need some copper fungicide, you can find Bonide’s product available at Arbico Organics.

Harvesting

You can generally start harvesting after about 70 days. Cut or pinch off the leaves as you need them, and feel free to take up to a third of the foliage at one time.

Avoid harvesting more than this as it can affect the health of the plant.

Try to eat the leaves right away or wrap them in cotton cloth and place them in a plastic bag.

Keep this in a cool spot, ideally between 45 and 55°F if you have somewhere like that in your home.

The Spinach That Loves Heat

I know that malabar spinach is often compared to regular spinach – I’ve even done it myself in this guide.

But the leaves have a flavor all of their own that I think is even better for some dishes.

Are you growing malabar spinach? How do you use your harvest? Fill us in on your recipe ideas and plans in the comments.

And for more information about growing other vegetables in your garden, check out these guides next: