I live in the pacific northwest and I would like to start growing ginger. I am very new to gardening, so I really don't know anything. These are my questions:
1) Does ginger grow in the pacific northwest?
2) When should I plant?
3) Can one just stick a piece of ginger from the grocery store into the ground and it will grow?
Thank you for helping!
Urs
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rainbowgardener
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Yes you can plant ginger root from the store, if it is fresh enough and not too dried out.
I haven't done it, but it should do fine in your climate. Ginger likes lots of moisture, humidity and not too much full sun. Sounds like Pacific northwest to me!
But it doesn't tolerate freezing, so you will need to be able to dig it up and bring it inside (or plant it in a container you can bring in) if you do get freezes where you are.
Here's a little article:
https://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/growing-ginger.html
otherwise, they say plant it like an iris, with part of the rhizome above the surface.
For outdoors, you would need to plant in spring, but you could probably start some indoors any time.
I haven't done it, but it should do fine in your climate. Ginger likes lots of moisture, humidity and not too much full sun. Sounds like Pacific northwest to me!
But it doesn't tolerate freezing, so you will need to be able to dig it up and bring it inside (or plant it in a container you can bring in) if you do get freezes where you are.Here's a little article:
https://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/growing-ginger.html
otherwise, they say plant it like an iris, with part of the rhizome above the surface.
For outdoors, you would need to plant in spring, but you could probably start some indoors any time.
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Sage Hermit
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1)Pacific North West - Yes, warm climate is its natural habitat. They are big in Japan and Malaysia so if you have weather similar you are in business.
3)Sprouting Ginger- Yes, when I repotted my echinacea I dug up these mysterious bulbs. After reading this thread remembered I planted my scrap ginger in those pots!!!!!!!!!
good luck with your ginger. I sprouted about 6 ginger with no effort in low quality soil.
Edit: actually I only got 2 out of that but none the less they grew these sick disgusting looking roots but this is natural. just wiki searched ginger and compaired the roots and its no doubt ginger. repot them bad boys after the roots develope into fingers. A single green shoot should eventually rise out of the roots right in the middle. YAY!
3)Sprouting Ginger- Yes, when I repotted my echinacea I dug up these mysterious bulbs. After reading this thread remembered I planted my scrap ginger in those pots!!!!!!!!!
good luck with your ginger. I sprouted about 6 ginger with no effort in low quality soil.Edit: actually I only got 2 out of that but none the less they grew these sick disgusting looking roots but this is natural. just wiki searched ginger and compaired the roots and its no doubt ginger. repot them bad boys after the roots develope into fingers. A single green shoot should eventually rise out of the roots right in the middle. YAY!
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Sage Hermit
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The ginger I started has made leaves almost like day lilly.
Last edited by Sage Hermit on Tue May 11, 2010 2:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Sage Hermit
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my Ginger is getting really big, no flowers yet but they have matured as long as this thread has been alive.
They like warm water I have been also adding biomass into the soil from my food scraps and also planted some clover in and around the ginger. I don't know how well clovers and marigolds work at helping ginger but they seem to be happy in close quarters.
They like warm water I have been also adding biomass into the soil from my food scraps and also planted some clover in and around the ginger. I don't know how well clovers and marigolds work at helping ginger but they seem to be happy in close quarters.
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GardenJester
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Sage Hermit
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thanrose
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Of course common names can be confusing, but I'm gonna say that the pics from sage hermit are actually Hemerocallis spp. or daylilies. The fat white tubers in that will eventually get sorta yellowish on the inside, with light brown exteriors. Daylilies are edible, all parts, but check your sources and the environment first. These are planted differently than Zingiber/ginger. For Hems, you spread out the fingers and plant over a small mound below the soil surface, then fill in. So your planting hole will have a little mound in the middle to allow the fingers space to spread out and down.
Gingers are not all edible. Zingiber officinale is the name of the culinary ginger. Other Zingiber spp may be edible, but not all as far as I know.
Ginger rhizomes are never translucent white. They may be pale yellow, almost white, pale pink, papery beige, but not translucent. These rhizomes are planted shallowly, and while you might refer to them as fingers or hands, they are substantially different than hem tubers. You wouldn't be able to figure a way to drape them over a mound in your planting hole for instance.
Ginger will also not grow a mound of strap like leaves from the base. It will send up shoots from the rhizome, pink/red/white at first, then dark green if it's the edible Zingiber officinale. The shoot will be so slender at first, you might think it was grass, but once it gets to six inches or so you can see that it will be a stem with many strappy alternate leaves with stem in between them.
I grow four kinds of ginger at last count, and the edible Zingiber officinale is just coming up, probably last week of April in Daytona area. Still not expanded from the initial slender shoot, just taller.
Hemerocallis spp came up two months ago. Also gingers will have an unmistakable gingery scent when you handle any part. Hems, not so much, not at all gingery.
Gingers are not all edible. Zingiber officinale is the name of the culinary ginger. Other Zingiber spp may be edible, but not all as far as I know.
Ginger rhizomes are never translucent white. They may be pale yellow, almost white, pale pink, papery beige, but not translucent. These rhizomes are planted shallowly, and while you might refer to them as fingers or hands, they are substantially different than hem tubers. You wouldn't be able to figure a way to drape them over a mound in your planting hole for instance.
Ginger will also not grow a mound of strap like leaves from the base. It will send up shoots from the rhizome, pink/red/white at first, then dark green if it's the edible Zingiber officinale. The shoot will be so slender at first, you might think it was grass, but once it gets to six inches or so you can see that it will be a stem with many strappy alternate leaves with stem in between them.
I grow four kinds of ginger at last count, and the edible Zingiber officinale is just coming up, probably last week of April in Daytona area. Still not expanded from the initial slender shoot, just taller.
Hemerocallis spp came up two months ago. Also gingers will have an unmistakable gingery scent when you handle any part. Hems, not so much, not at all gingery.
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rainbowgardener
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I saw that picture and thought wow, that looks just like day lily, but since I've never seen ginger growing, I just thought maybe they look alike.
But now that my curiosity was piqued, I looked up pictures of the zingiber officinale, and it does look quite different:
[url=https://www.stevenfoster.com/photography/imageviewsz/zingiber/officinale/zop2-033009/content/Zingiber_officinale_121908_110_large.html]zingiber picture[/url]
But now that my curiosity was piqued, I looked up pictures of the zingiber officinale, and it does look quite different:
[url=https://www.stevenfoster.com/photography/imageviewsz/zingiber/officinale/zop2-033009/content/Zingiber_officinale_121908_110_large.html]zingiber picture[/url]
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Sage Hermit
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I have been curious about ginger as well. A few questions:
1. Someone told me about putting a piece of cut ginger in a glass of water and letting it grow a root? Does that work? Or is it better to just put the cut piece in the dirt.
2. I've never grown a root vegetable before. Assuming you successfully plant it and the plant grows, since the part you're eating is a root, how do you know when the root is big enough to harvest?
Thanks.
1. Someone told me about putting a piece of cut ginger in a glass of water and letting it grow a root? Does that work? Or is it better to just put the cut piece in the dirt.
2. I've never grown a root vegetable before. Assuming you successfully plant it and the plant grows, since the part you're eating is a root, how do you know when the root is big enough to harvest?
Thanks.
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thanrose
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I am not a fan of rooting in water for anything, other than as a curiosity, or an aquatic plant. Hydroponics yeah, but not rooting something that you intend to replant in soil.
That said, you can do it that way. It might make it a bit slower to get growing well, which is a problem for edible ginger since it takes a long time to produce much harvestable rhizome.
Whichever way you start, you'll be growing it in soil soon enough. You will see some of the rhizome poking up out of the soil, but it doesn't have to do that to be mature enough to eat or use. Plus, ginger is fully edible at many stages.
You can cut off immature shoots and julienne or cut fine for "stem ginger" and use that in tea or as a condiment or garnish. You can nip off a pinkish bit of new rhizome for "new ginger" or wait until the stalks die down in late fall and pluck larger chunks of the mature beige rhizome. Either new or mature, it can be used in cooking, for drying or candying, in homebrew, for tea, or medicinally.
For most northerners, you will not likely get a sizable rhizome this fall if you are just starting now. I'm a lot closer to tropical than most of you, and I don't anticipate seeing more than a thumb and an index finger, let alone a full hand of ginger. My ginger took a hit with freezes this past winter, so I don't expect any blossoms either. What was three or four thumb length pieces left overwinter in the pot are now wimpy little lima bean sized chunks. With green sprouts, but still awfully small.
Good luck, and enjoy. I'd do it for the scent of it alone.
That said, you can do it that way. It might make it a bit slower to get growing well, which is a problem for edible ginger since it takes a long time to produce much harvestable rhizome.
Whichever way you start, you'll be growing it in soil soon enough. You will see some of the rhizome poking up out of the soil, but it doesn't have to do that to be mature enough to eat or use. Plus, ginger is fully edible at many stages.
You can cut off immature shoots and julienne or cut fine for "stem ginger" and use that in tea or as a condiment or garnish. You can nip off a pinkish bit of new rhizome for "new ginger" or wait until the stalks die down in late fall and pluck larger chunks of the mature beige rhizome. Either new or mature, it can be used in cooking, for drying or candying, in homebrew, for tea, or medicinally.
For most northerners, you will not likely get a sizable rhizome this fall if you are just starting now. I'm a lot closer to tropical than most of you, and I don't anticipate seeing more than a thumb and an index finger, let alone a full hand of ginger. My ginger took a hit with freezes this past winter, so I don't expect any blossoms either. What was three or four thumb length pieces left overwinter in the pot are now wimpy little lima bean sized chunks. With green sprouts, but still awfully small.
Good luck, and enjoy. I'd do it for the scent of it alone.