Good thing I'm growing Ginger in a container this year

[applestar]

Oh, I didn't know ginger liked more sun. I always put it in tree dappled shade all summer. So these are light starved-looking?

[imafan26]

Yours looks fine. Ginger can grow in the shade with good light, but will grow taller. Mine are in full sun and that will always keep the gingers short. If they are used to it, the leaves don't burn. The main thing is that they don't dry out.

I also have curcurma longa or turmeric (it is what gives curry its' yellow color). Hawaiians call it Olena, in the past the Hawaiians used it as a source of yellow dye for tapa. Turmeric also has has also been used in traditional medicine for 4000 years and there has been some research done on its antioxidant, and anti cancer properties. I have had turmeric tea. It is very earthy and not to my liking without some Earl Grey to go with it.

I am trying to grow galangal. I used to have it, but it pushed my garden wall, so I got rid of it. I have to find some good seed pieces.

https://www.agroforestry.net/scps/Ginger ... y_crop.pdf
https://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/turmeric

[PunkRotten]

I got a decent plant of Ginger now. I got lucky I found a small piece in a 5lb sack of Turmeric. It has lots of shoots right now and I can see that it has spread pretty good. It is growing in a pot right now, but if it grows well I will try it in the ground next season. My Turmeric didn't come up until late June/early July. Hoping I get a good haul of Turmeric as well. I keep my Ginger in partial shade. When it was small I had it in full sun and it looked like it was getting burned. I moved it and it is growing well. Shoots are short though, maybe like 1 1/2 to 2 feet tall. I was thinking of putting it back in full sun.

[imafan26]

My ginger in full sun typically gets about 3 to 3 1/2 ft tall. If the rhizomes are planted in the ground or the pot and left in the sun to start with, they rarely burn. Most of the time brown leaves are from not getting enough water. They don't like to dry out.

If you do grow turmeric, separate it from the ginger. It typically comes up before the ginger and the roots take over the space, so they need some distance from each other.

The turmeric and ginger are both blooming now.

[applestar]

Super! I wonder if I could find fresh turmeric to try to grow.... When is the peak harvest? Shortly after that is probably my best chance to find them at the Asian market.

My tub of ginger had three flower stalks

[imafan26]

Turmeric and ginger can be harvested pretty much anytime as long as the root is large enough. The leaves will go dormant on turmeric around November-December and the edible ginger usually goes down a little later in January. The rhizomes will stay dormant and start to grow again around March and April.

We usually see young ginger in Chinatown in January but turmeric is not that common. Occasionally the plants are for sale.

[PunkRotten]

My plant has gotten taller and wider. I can't wait to see how much ginger root is growing. I haven't attempted to try and "steal" any knobs. I am wondering if it will have enough time to have mature ginger by harvest. When it goes dormant in Dec/Jan it will only have had about 6-7 months growing time. Same with the Turmeric.

[imafan26]

Ginger can be harvested younger but the best yields are when they get the full 10 months of growth. Ginger should be planted around March and harvested after flowering and the tops have completely died down.

My ginger has flowered and the bracts re turning red. some of the tops are drying but haven't fallen over yet.

The farms hill their ginger to get them to grow vertically, otherwise ginger naturally grows laterally.

They like a clean soil, no nematodes, high in organic matter, they like a pH 5.5-6.5 and need a lot of calcium for good growth. They also like lots of sunshine and water but need good drainage.

[applestar]

Here's an update -- slowly yellowing foliage, but still green for the most part in an upstairs bedroom where it doesn't get a very bright location and the supplemental lights are turned on last and turned off first. (This room is relegated to my day length sensitive/warmer winter temp tropicals -- ginger, pineapple, poinsettia, thanksgiving cactus, and lemongrass which doesn't care but needs to be placed in a cat-free room -- they eat them and puke ). The flower stalks shriveled and fell over a couple of weeks ago.

Ginger tub

I think I WILL dump them out this winter after all the leaf stalks dry up. You can see how they are deforming this container on one side. I'll harvest and then re-plant later in fresh soil mix with better distribution in the container for future growth.

[imafan26]

The tops of mine are yellowing too, and I will probably harvest some of them for use soon. Since they won't do much sprouting and this is the rainy season, I will wait until the tops completely dry out. It might not make it to January. Part of the turmeric is already falling down, but it does go faster than the ginger. I actually have some ginger pieces that have decided to start growing now, so I potted them up and will transfer them to the larger container once the current occupants are gone.

[applestar]

Imafan, if it's rainy season now, should I be watering the ginger more right now? The stalks are slowly drying one by one right now. When do they get dried out?

[imafan26]

If you are going to harvest the ginger you just have to keep the container from going completely dry. They are not taking up much water when they are dormant but will dessicate if they are too dry and rot if they are water logged. After I harvest the rhyzomes, I put them in a shallow tray on the bench. They will get hit by the sprinkler and stay moist and that keeps them from dessicating until I can plant them again.

My tops are almost completely dry now so I am planning to harvest them probably by Christmas.

The ones I harvest I have

frozen- ok for a couple of months but it will dessicate in the freezer too.
Moist sand- works great. They keep for eating and planting later
Preserved in sake or sherry. Since I don't do much preserving, this is a simple way to store ginger. Peel the ginger with a spoon. Cut into thumb sized pieces and pack them into a clean jar with a tight fitting lid. Fill the jar with sake or sherry (somebody said they used Vodka, I haven't tried that), make sure that all of the ginger is submerged. It will keep in the refrigerator for months. In Asian recipes that call for sherry, you can use some of the gingered sherry.

[PunkRotten]

I harvested my plant like 2 weeks ago. I got a nice size rhizome too. At first there was really no brown skin. But over time the brown skin has been forming. I am going to be planting more Ginger the coming season. I plan on presprouting too so they have more time in the ground.

[Ornery_Pony]

Here is one of my several bins of ginger. Yes, I had lots of trouble getting mine started until it was really warm outside and then ZING! I intend to plant some of mine outside in the ground this year and mulch them heavily over the winter, but I will bring in a couple of bins for overwintering as well, just in case. A friend of mine is also in zone 7 and hers does fine outside in winters, right up against a sunny side of her house that stays warmer. Mine flowered the first year and go gang busters in a mix that includes my local acidic red clay mud. I shift them into dappled shade in the high heat of our summers.

I like to start five or so fans in a medium to large plastic storage bin that is 10 gallon or more. Seems to work pretty well - much better than in pots, and they reside on my deck most of the year. Don't forget to poke holes in the bottom of the bins for drainage. Mulch helps retain moisture.

[webmaster]

Thanks Ornery_Pony and welcome!

[applestar]

Ginger is back in the house. I had it under a floating cover on the brick patio for the past week or so.
It's sending up flowerstalks again.

[imafan26]

My ginger is starting to bloom as well. It will be time to harvest soon.

[applestar]

All of my tropicals are being so neglected this year. I had the ginger in the house for so long without taking the container outside to good light that it grew way too tall -- over 5 feet!

[thanrose]

My ginger is way behind because of the ongoing war of the squirrels. I had to keep it in a tiny pot on a very shady screened porch so it was only last week that I transplanted it to a larger pot outside in better light. Stuck plastic forks and knives (pointy ends up) in all the available surface areas without damaging any tubers. It seems to work to discourage digging.

[imafan26]

My ginger came up late this year, but so far it is doing fine. The harvest pieces were small last year so this time I am dividing the ginger into 4 pots and see if that will help.

[thanrose]

I guess it depends on the species. Z. officinale seems to need a little room to spread those fingers, while awa puhi, Z. zerumbet, multiplied in a bucket to fill the entire depth. It didn't come out the holes I'd drilled in the bottom, but was getting close. My Hedychium coronarium, aka Hawaiian White Ginger (smells just like the Avon cologne of the same name), also double and triple depthed in their pots. I still managed to kill them for this year. I hadn't the heart to give the extra away, and also couldn't bring myself to paintball the squirrels who dug them out of the box to desiccate under the workbench.

Anyhow, I depend on the Z. officinale to make my annual attempt at ginger beer for Christmas.

[imafan26]

I just break off pieces when I need it. I was looking at one of the pots today ad I think I may have to find a wider pot for it the side is being deformed by the root pushing against it.

I preserve the ginger by peeling and putting thumb sized pieces in a clean jar and cover the pieces with dry Sherry. It lasts all year as long as the ginger is submerged. If the pieces come out of the sherry, they will get moldy. I have also kept them in the freezer, but you end up with ginger juice when they are thawed and they desiccate in the freezer as well. Ginger can be dried and candied. Sometimes I just keep them in a bucket with a little sand or peat moss outside on the lanai and keep them moist. Eventually they will grow in the bucket and I have to plant them out again or use them.

[thanrose]

Sherry's a good idea for preserving ginger. I usually use vodka and a generous amount of salt. The alcohol should be enough, but what the heck... I do peel the pieces. Some are knuckle sized, some even smaller.

I should have kept the rhizomes in sand. Normally, I'd let them go dormant in the same pots, but everything was overgrown and I knew I'd be moving within a year, so I just knocked the soil off them and let them airdry in a paper bag in a cardboard box. Awa puhi survived that way, mostly, and had a few good sprouts, but not the Hedychium. I had edible ginger and a bit of tarragon left over from last year, but added small market purchased pieces.

I have to stop trying to grow any more stuff at least until after I move. That's all up in the air.

[digitS']

I skimmed the responses and didn't see anyone growing ginger from near the 49th north parallel

Okay, I've cheated a bit. About as soon as the heat was turned on in the March greenhouse, some ginger root from the store went in the pots. Only about 10 days ago, this plant came outdoors. I tried to protect it from our blazing, summer sun but it seems that the leaf tips were burned a little.

Last year, some ginger was started but not quite so early. It stayed in the open greenhouse right through the summer. There were a couple of little rhizomes beside the original root by the fall. That was the harvest - they were nice, fresh and fragrant!

That original, store-bought root looked about the same as months earlier. We were curious. No, we didn't make it into candied ginger, or such . However, cut up and later discarded -- it added a nice flavor to stir-fry!

How's that for economics? No need to toss the original root after months in the pot and producing a couple of new rhizomes. Anyway, it worked last year.

Steve

[rainbowgardener]

This year is my first time succeeding in getting grocery store ginger root to sprout. It has been growing VERY slowly but now has a couple leaf pairs and a new little sprout starting. It is in a pretty shady spot. Would it do better with more sun? It's there because it is in a pot with a house plant, since both of them will have to come in for the winter.

[applestar]

I put mine in full shade at first, then morning sun only. Once acclimated, I move it to about 4 hours noon day sun.

...but it might be different where the sun is hotter?

[digitS']

The second potted ginger was harvested.

The original root from the first looked good enough to use in the kitchen. The original that produced these didn't. Still, I'm pleased how it performed .

Steve

[rainbowgardener]

I have ginger in a couple containers. It was slow getting started, as noted above, but now is doing well.

How low can the temps go before I have to bring it in?

The leaves have very nice ginger scent. Is there some way I can preserve them (drying, freezing?)?

[applestar]

I've dried and chopped up to use for herbal teas. Stems can be cooked for stock if you want. Also not quite good enough for eating could be put in the bath or steeped in unscented shampoo, and worst ones can be tucked under the welcome mat -- I do that with the coir and coiled spring backdoor mat.

I'm bringing mine in before multiple/consecutive 40s' nights and definitely before frost. They seem OK with 50's -- they turn yellow and die off anyway some time in the winter.

Mine are currently sending up flowerbuds, but need to be brought in before Monday night (possible frost/freeze).

[digitS']

Stock .... I was wondering what the leaves could be used for.

Googling: Martha Stewart has a chicken stock with scallions, ginger, and fish sauce. That looks rather like our stir-fries often do. However, I am not too much interested in fish sauce and generally go for a simple soy sauce. Here is what Ming Tsai calls a Master Chicken Broth (link) with lots of ginger root in it.

A bath! I'd rather planned on a bath, tonight. It was something of a difficult day ... and, there is some Dr Teal's epsom salts with Eucalyptus & Spearmint ... . Ginger leaves, huh?!

Steve

[imafan26]

My ginger is blooming now. It will be time to harvest soon. It is blooming a little earlier than normal for me.

Ginger is sensitive to day length for me. It will always bloom at this time of year and the tops will die down a couple of months later.

I have to harvest ginger after the tops die down or they will be all over each other. I put the pieces in a bucket or tray with some sand or peat moss and I water it only to keep it damp. I was watering my orchids earlier this year on the table and forgot the bucket was under the table and it got filled with water and drowned my leftover pieces.

I was told that it was possible to get two harvests from ginger here. They actually only need 5 months to grow. The first harvest would be mid year when the pieces are big enough, the top won't die down. It only blooms once a year.

Seed pieces should have good eyes and I made the mistake of putting too many pieces in the container. I spread them out in 4 container this year and I oriented them vertically to see if they will grow down. When I plant them with the hand flat, it just grows sideways until it hits the side of the pot and the space in the bottom of the pot is not used. I need to get a wider but shallower pot so it has room to spread out. One 7 gallon pot already is having the side being pushed by the root.

[thanrose]

Interesting observations, imafan. I always thought it was something I was doing wrong to get blossoms on edible ginger so late in the year. I know the alpinia genus gingers bloom a couple times of year. Zingiber zerumbet (awa puhi) blooms mid summer with the red cones starting in September.

[rainbowgardener]

So somewhere after the last post, my ginger plants died back and I spaced out and forgot about them. One of them, as you would expect, died and is rotten. The other one over-wintered and is now growing and leafing out!

It was a colder than usual winter, with a number of nights in the 20's. I didn't know it could do that.

[applestar]

So somewhere after the last post, my ginger plants died back and I spaced out and forgot about them. One of them, as you would expect, died and is rotten. The other one over-wintered and is now growing and leafing out!

It was a colder than usual winter, with a number of nights in the 20's. I didn't know it could do that.

...late in responding but... I didn’t know they were that hardy either. Good to know.

Here are my Ginger and Turmeric (in the clay pot) among the other tropical container plants clustered in the shade of the neighbor’s overhanging pine tree branches. Ginger is sending up flower stalks. Can you eat them or use them for something, I wonder?


The ginger roots in the big pot is pushing at the side again. I will need to harvest more and repot.

[webmaster]

I had some ginger sprouting the other day. Should have planted it!

[rainbowgardener]

My ginger that over wintered has put up a flower stalk and bulb. I assume that means it will be flowering soon.

[imafan26]

Turmeric puts up a flower stalk and usually has a green and white flower.
Ginger flowers bloom at the base just above the rhizome. I usually smell them before I see them.

[applestar]

I’m going to cross-post this here

Subject: Myoga - Zingiber mioga (Japanese Ginger)

I started clearing the weeds around the myoga (Japanese ginger) patch and discovered they have already started to bloom from the sunniest side of the patch. You only eat the flower buds (preferably not yet blooming) of Japanese ginger, although the delicate flowers are great garnish that can be enjoyed if you grow them. The fragrant and antiseptic leaves can be parboiled and used to wrap and cook foods or to serve them. I just found a recipe for making myoga leaf wrapped, steamed sweet rice flour dumplings filled with white bean jam filling.


...it’s interesting that the true ginger (left) is also blooming at this time...

[HoneyBerry]

I didn't think that ginger could be grown in a pot. I thought that ginger root needed lots of room to spread out. I would love to grow ginger for the root but didn't think that I could without a big greenhouse. I like to make fresh apple ginger juice with my juicer when people give me free apples from their trees.

[rainbowgardener]

Mine is growing quite well in a pot. I will bring it in this winter.

It has a flower bud like this:



at the top of a six inch or so tall stalk.

I don't know specifically what kind of ginger it is, but it is from a ginger root that I got at the grocery store, spring of 2017. Definitely not turmeric. Besides the flower stalk, it has four tall leaf stems.