Last edited by shiny on November 08, 2026. View history
Arrowroot
Arrowroot
How to sow arrowroot: Plant rhizome with bud
Sun requirement for arrowroot: Plant in Full Sun
Arrowroot is a large, perennial herb that grows in rainforest habitats where temperatures are between 23-29 °C and the average rainfall is 150-200cm. It was one of the first plants to be domesticated for food in northern South America - as far back as 8200 BCE. Arrowroot is grown for it's edible rhizome, or root. The cylindrical, starchy rhizome is ground and used an alternative to flour and cornstarch.
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Arrowroot facts
Lifespan
Height
45cmCrop 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 arrowroot, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 17°C and a shortest growing cycle of 300 days at its best temperature, about 2700 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 arrowroot 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
Photos
Arrowroot crops
Arrowroot plantings
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Video
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 300 to 365 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 Maranta arundinacea
| Family / Taxonomy | Liliopsida Zingiberidae Zingiberales Marantaceae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 5 °C, rest: 5 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours) |
Learn more about arrowroot
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