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

[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.

[applestar]

Oooh HoneyBerry, please post the recipe for the apple ginger juice. Yours is looking good @rainbowgardener

This thread goes back to 2010, so mine has been growing for at least that long. I can see from the photos that I did uppot once after starting in a black ‘3 gallon” pot. I think it’s currently in a wide squat “5 gallon” nursery pot with handles. This is a good size for me, still able to lug around without help. I harvest throughout the year when I want some (about 1/2 Inch at a time) and refuse to buy any, but I probably don’t use ginger as often as some.

For us in the northern cooler summer (night temp in the 60’s) gardens, I suspect they do grow better in the black pot for warmer roots. (I need to uppot my “baby” clump in the grey 2 gallon pot)

I still keep my main clump in the dappled shade on the ground among grass and weeds (keeps them from drying out during the summer drought), I water them with sprinklers or hand held hose as needed, about once a week with UCG soaked water (plus a rotation of vermicomposter leacheate every so often) ...and they grow with benign neglect. I suspect in more rainy areas, you need to acclimate them to somewhat more sunnier location for the summer, and elevate for good drainage.

[applestar]

...replied to ginger question in my garden thread. Will copy them here for coherence —

Subject: Applestar’s 2018 Garden

I have tried keeping/saving harvested roots before, but either they dry out or they get green mold on them whether in the pantry or in the refrigerator. Imafan has mentioned she keeps them in sand outside where they are in regular rain/humid Hawaii winter environment.

For me, it’s easier to just leave them potted and harvest as needed. I have found that if I don’t bring them in before the night temperatures fall below mid-50’s, sooner or later they go dormant — leaves yellow then dry up, then they pull/fall off from the roots. I harvest some of the green leaves to use as herbs (culinary/tea) but allow most of them to remain, assuming the nutrients/energy is reabsorbed. The dry leaf smell terrific and I use them to extract fragrance for personal products like shampoo and soap.

They don’t need light while dormant and can be allowed to be barely damp/nearly dry, left in the back corner of the room — upstairs or downstairs. I have been told the roots are hardy to zone 9 and can take frost and some light freeze, but I don’t dare put them in the unheated garage where it can stay in low 20’s in the depth of winter when it’s in single digits and negative single digits outside.

^^^
This information was from a Florida gardener who lives in Zone 8/9 border. She said she has them in the ground in a sheltered bed with a building to the north, and mulches heavily when winter is overly cold. She said the roots did die one year when it got too cold.

Her replies led me to this link when I asked about eating ginger blossoms:
https://wimastergardener.org/files/2018/02/Zingiber_officinale.pdf


...in the winter...

Subject: Applestar’s 2018 Garden

I haven’t been bringing them in until the last minute lately. It looks like 2013 was the last year I brought the ginger in early enough Subject: Good thing I'm growing Ginger in a container this year
Later posts indicate I wait until well into October. I’m not as concerned since I have learned the green leaves turn yellow and die off no matter what I do.

I have a cavalier attitude about bringing in bugs into the house. The soil bugs mostly stay in their individual pots/microcosm and don’t bother anybody. Sowbugs/Rolliepollies, millipedes, occasional centipedes and spiders (welcome predators) are common as are slugs (eliminated as discovered) and earthworms (intentional). So I don’t repot the dormant ginger until I’m getting ready for spring, and sometimes not even then.

I let the well-draining potting mix dry on the surface, but water before completely dried out, keeping it on the dry side after leaves start to yellow and even drier after they have come off of the roots (They are like tulips after leaves start to dry, if you know what I mean). I harvest from the stem on/younger fingers for tender roots to be minced in, and from the older fingers for fibrous ones for juicing.

[imafan26]

Ginger grows laterally and not much vertically unless you turn the rhizome so the fingers are vertical and plant it with the buds facing up. Plant them in hills and hill them up. Otherwise the rhizome almost always goes sideways in the ground it keeps going without going very deep. In a pot, it will deform the sides of the pot when the roots push it.

After the flowers bloom and the top starts to dry at the end of the year, it is important to harvest all off the roots. If you leave them in the soil and it rains too much they will rot. If the pot or ground is already packed with roots the new roots will add to the old and it will be hard to get the ginger hands to come apart nicely. You only need a few pieces to start with. 2-3 pieces will be enough in a ot. Turmeric on the other hand will spread out in tiers of roots, Turmeric comes up a couple of months after they bloom around Sept-Nov. Turmeric and ginger bloom in response to the shorter days and cooler weather. But in reality while you must harvest after gingers flower, you can optionally harvest ginger anytime once the roots are large enough. For me it is about 5 months after the new leaves come out. I store my roots in a bucket with some moist sand or peat moss. I water only enough to keep the media damp but not so damp that the roots rot. I peel the ginger with a spoon and cut the pieces into 1-2 inch chunks and put the pieces in a clean jar with a tight lid. I cover the pieces with sherry until they are submerged and keep it in the refrigerator until needed.

[HoneyBerry]

applestar wrote: Oooh HoneyBerry, please post the recipe for the apple ginger juice.
Actually, I don't use a recipe. But you can find lots of recipe variations online. It is certainly my favorite healthy drink. I don't make it very often because juicing is expensive if you buy the ingredients. I like to do it when so many apples are falling off of the trees that people just give them away. There are a variety of different juicing recipes with a ginger kick. My favorite is Apple-Ginger-Lemon. (I prefer Myer Lemons). It is also good without the lemon. Carrot-Apple-Ginger is very good too. I have a hard time throwing away the pulp when I use my juicer, there is so much of it. But that's how juicing goes. It is a nice healthy treat.

[applestar]

Thanks! I’ll look around.


@imafan, that’s a good point. Definitely something to keep in mind. I guess mine grows much slower because it’s only growing actively for about 5-6 months of the year — folks with longer growing season should pay more attention — and I don’t fertilize conscientiously. I find it an “easy” plant to keep growing, but do repot (or divide and repot/pot up) when the actively growing end of the rhizomes start pushing the side of the pot (although I can slow down the process by harvesting the new fingers from that end). I suspect there isn’t much disease issues (that might blow in through the air) here either?

I should mention I typically just cut a piece off with a sharp knife, avoiding harvesting if I watered immediately before and not watering immediately after to allow the cut end to dry and callus over.

I’ve kept extras — sometimes a whole finger breaks off from undue force while cutting or simply weak link — soaked in sherry in the fridge after you posted about it before — saves the trouble of having to go dig some up when I need some immediately.

...oh, for comparison’s sake, how long do you think yours stay dormant? Since you re-plant from rhizomes, does it depend on when you start them? Do they go dormant around same time of the year?