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Gary350
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Who is growing Turmeric?

After reading the growing conditions of turmeric, I am not sure I can grow it. I'm not sure I even want to grow it after reading about it. I have the perfect spot for it on the south side of my house, full sun all day every day, very hot 115 degrees in the summer, sandy well drained soil, irrigation every day about 1 pint to 1 quart of water per day. 70 degrees and full sun all winter during the day but at night it gets cold. Some years we have no frost but some years we get frost and 25 degrees weather for maybe 2 weeks. The south side of the house feels like an oven, sun heats it up and with the summer temperature at 110 to 115 Deg F it feels like 130 deg near the house.

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Turmeric grows in the tropics and is native to India. It is in the ginger family and likes the same conditions.

Turmeric can take temps into the low 100's but prefers 60-90 degree range. It can tolerate the higher temps because normally the humidity keeps temperatures down. They need a lot of water.

They do like well drained soil amended with a lot of organic matter and a complete fertilizer. It likes additional Calcium as well so something like Sustane (essentially fish based fertilizer) and bone meal will work if you want to be organic. A complete fertilizer and with some added gypsum for calcium will also work. It does well in a large pot where the roots will have space to grow. A five gallon bucket works.

Instead of full sun, I would probably put it in morning sun or partial shade because your sun is different and you have dry air. The turmeric will benefit from misting several times during the day to keep the humidity up.

Like a lot of gingers, turmeric is seasonal. It comes out of the ground in Spring and around September it may start to flower. It has a pretty green and pinkish bract that comes from the base. The tops will dry and die down after that. That is the time it is harvested. The rhizomes will remain dormant over the winter months with just enough water to keep them from drying out. It takes about 8 months for the turmeric to grow and increase in rhyzomes. It is not frost hardy, but can be grown indoors with good light.

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Gary350
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I think this is one of those plants that is not worth growing. I just came from Sprouts Grocery Store, 4 ounces of Turmeric powder was $1.39 :).
Last edited by applestar on Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Image links were deleted because they were broken and no longer working.

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applestar
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I am SO excited! :-()

I had mentioned I would love to grow turmeric and someone shipped me some that she picked up at her organic co-op. I received them on Monday.

She said she picked out the plumpest rhizomes that looked like they will want to sprout, and it was true!

Funny story here. When I messaged her that I received them and am going to try to get them to sprout by starting them in a shallow container of barely damp potting mix, she answered back asking if I knew how to use fresh turmeric because she was thinking of going back and getting some for herself.

I immediately wrote back that I was so excited to get them growing that I never even thought about eating them and "stuck ALL of them in 'dirt'" but now that she mentioned it, I'm going to dig a couple up, wash and dry them and start by finding out how to use the fresh turmeric.

I FULLY intended to dig up two of the roots, but even in the space of a couple of hours, the barely dampness had been soaked up by the roots, and some of them actually look like they have fresh sprout-like knobs that might grow on them! Seeing all that, I could only retrieve one rhizome that had no immediate signs of potential growth. :roll: :lol:

So, I'm hoping I did OK just surface "planting" -- a lot like bearded iris rhizomes -- in a smallish container for now. I'm afraid of planting them deeper and having them rot without growing. (I intend to plant them deeper 2-3@ In individual much larger containers once they stir into life)

The container at the moment has no drainage but I can easily cut off the bottom corners and nip off pieces along the bottom edge. I layered thoroughly moistened DE on the bottom, mostly dry potting mix in the middle layer, and dehydrated coir on top. Then nestled the roots in the coir and barely moistened the coir.

Also, if anyone knows how to use fresh turmeric roots for cooking, please post. All I can think of is to cut into shave thin slices and dry to make ground spice like I do with fresh ginger.

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You can add a small piece about the size of your thumb in curries. It is what makes curry yellow. You have to add the cumin, fenugreek, coriander, pepper and other things for the flavor.

Curry has medicinal uses as well

It can be made into a medicinal tea.

Curry will stain your fingers, board and clothing so be aware of that

Hawaiians used turmeric (olena) as a dye for kapa.

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applestar
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Wow imafan instant response! Thank you so much :D

Based on what you posted earlier, it sounds like I should be able to treat turmeric almost like ginger which as you know I have been growing for several years... But maybe paying a bit more attention to keeping it warmer and making sure to provide more humidity.

Haha, it sounds like the ginger has been ousted from the VIP spot. :>

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I grow ginger and turmeric next to each other. Don't make the same mistake I did. After a harvest, I had some extra pieces of turmeric and I put it in the same pot as the ginger. Turmeric comes up before the ginger and so it ended up taking over most of the pot. The ginger had a small space at the top and the turmeric had filled the bottom and sides of the pot.

BTW, turmeric is very prolific, you have to use it, give it away or throw it away.

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applestar
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BTW, turmeric is very prolific, you have to use it, give it away or throw it away.
:shock: :lol: Thanks for the heads-up. This is actually very reassuring, and it sounds like a I won't have to coddle them after all.... :wink:

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applestar
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image.jpg
I kept the rhizomes barely damp to mostly dry. One sprout shot up so I potted them all up but didn't bury them very deep -- maybe 1/2 inch -- and am planning to fill the container to the top with potting mix once the other rhizomes' sprouts grow taller.

Not surprisingly, the rhizome with tall shoot already had a substantial root system. One rhizome with green sprouts didn't have any roots at all yet.

(BTW I took your advice @imafan -- I gave away a couple of the sprouted rhizomes :lol: )

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applestar
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Update : This container is DEFINITELY going to be too small.... We're having an extended warm autumn and they are not showing signs of slowing down yet. :roll:
image.jpg

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Right now the turmeric is blooming. After it blooms the tops will start drying and that is the time I will dig up the patch; put more compost and slow release fertilizer in and put a few of the rhizomes back. Then I will cover it with mulch. It might come up sooner this year because it is warmer than usual. Usually the rhizomes will stay dormant until January.

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applestar
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Thanks imafan. It really helps to hear how they grow in their natural climate.

...hopefully my new rhizomes will synchronize to the overall natural growth rhythm once it has stabilized. I'm excited to see how different turmeric looks vis a vis ginger. Nice addition to the various "houseplant" foliage and fall/winter indoor garden :()

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Is it possible to buy turmeric in the grocery store and plant is as some do ginger?

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rainbowgardener
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probably, if you can find a store that carries whole raw turmeric root like this:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/215893028/ ... gQodedAD4Q

Image

It would have to be a specialty store; I've never seen it in regular grocery stores.

pepperhead212
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Here is an online source for turmeric, and other fresh Asian produce. The prices are higher than a local store, of course, but the shipping is included in the prices.

https://importfood.com/fresh_turmeric.html

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Tumeric is in the ginger family but unlike the Jamaican ginger the leaves are a paler green and broader. In the garden it gets about 2-3 ft tall. The flower is green and white. In the sun it can be tinged with pink. The flower bracts are pretty and are often used as a cut flower because it lasts a long time. Tumeric and edible ginger are dependent on day length to complete their cycle. Shorter days will cause them to bloom and then go dormant. When the days start to get longer they sprout again. Turmeric usually comes up before ginger does.

Jamaican ginger has small leaves and a very small flower that you will smell before you will ever see.

Ginger roots are larger.

I have ginger planted next to the turmeric in the herb garden. We actually harvest pieces anytime after it has grown large enough. Usually about 5 months is enough time for the roots to get large enough to harvest. We just break off pieces as we need it. The turmeric will be orange inside.

All ginger is very susceptible to nematodes so the soil and equipment must be very clean. Ginger farms here plant alternate rows with marigolds to keep the nematodes at bay and have strict sanitation procedures for washing and changing boots and coveralls going in and out of a field. If a ginger farm becomes contaminated with nematodes there is no good option except to move the farm.

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I'll check these sources out.
Thanks

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applestar
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Growing quickly :o These leaves remind me of Peace Lily. I looked up turmeric flowers and they look great! Imafan has mentioned that hers is blooming now, so hopefully this time next year, I will see some flowers on mine, too. Looks like this will become another good "Edible Houseplant" for the Winter Indoor Garden :-()
image.jpg
Turmeric on Cool Gang high-rise table with cutting-grown Kaffir Lime and Jasmine 'Maid of Orleans'

-- it's been so unusually warm we haven't even turned the heat on yet, though we did bring out the quilt for the beds, (then took them off again :roll: ). But we had another heavy frost yesterday, and forecasted temps will be 50's/30's so house temp will be coming down (and probably needing heat to be turned on).

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I've grown turmeric for a few years. I've grown it in many different conditions. I have it growing amazing in poor soil, 2 hours of sun, and even occasional periods of dried soil. The plant obviously has some adaptability. The few plants growing in the conditions mentioned above have been growing for about 3 seasons and have huge leaves and stalks. I think I am going to harvest it in December. This is in southern California by the way. I have some also growing in Monterey, CA in poor soil but with more sun and more water. However, the temps are like 70-80s and get down to 40s. The temps now have days at 50s and 60s.

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I bought some at our local Meijer store. If you know of an area where there are big grocery stores that carry a lot of exotic items they might have turmeric in the produce section.

I dug mine and brought it in last week. The tubers are dormant but still alive. I need to get them repotted soon.

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Nice! Good to know they are not going to need extra coddling -- would you say they do well in the ground or do you think they might prefer warmer root zone conditions in containers?

The reason I ask is I'm finding peppers and eggplants do seem to grow better in (large) containers here. I'm thinking of trying to grow some sweet potatoes in a 1/2 barrel next year, too.

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Hmmm...I assume that I should get a new pot, plant my tubers, and place it near a sunny window until spring.
Would that be best?
Or will it do well to plant and let it overwinter, since I'm in zone 8b?

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Turmeric update photo.
image.jpg
...not sure if yellowing and spotting on the leaves are just because it's winter and coolish (upper 50's to low 60's).

My two containers of ginger both slowly browned and dried up their leaves until the leaf stalks broke off of the rhizomes on their own (like the way tulip leaves do when they are done and go dormant for the summer). I know with ginger, ths is normal and they will start to regrow around Spring Equinox.

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It is January. Usually turmeric and then Zingeber will bloom anytime between September and November. In 2015 they actually bloomed early. Around the end of December and January the tops will die down. The rhyzomes are going dormant. This is usually when I dig them up, add more compost and fertilizer and replant. Keep them damp but not overwatered. They usually will sprout by April. The turmeric comes up before the ginger.

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applestar
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Guess what? I had given up on the turmeric. The leaves dried up and died in spring, and they never grew back all summer although I had left the pot outside next to the flourishing ginger container.

With frost/freeze in the forecast for Wed morning, I was trying to decide whether to bring the apparently empty pot inside or not, then decided I might as well make use of the potting mix and dumped it out, and these are what I found! :-()

Image

I pulled off the parts that seem to have spoiled, and re-planted them... this time in a well draining clay pot. Hopefully they will come back feeling much better. Some of them had tiny little offset tubers or maybe start of flowerbuds at the end of the healthy roots.

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I usually dig out the tumeric and ginger beds. I add compost and some fertilizer, manure, or meat meal. I don't really plant turmeric or arrowroot as some of the tubers will be missed digging out the beds. I throw in a few of the larger pieces I dig out and barely burry it. It is recommended to be deeper, but I always let the buds sit close to the surface. Heavy mulching with pine needles keeps the weeds down. I like pine needles because it does the best job controlling weeds but is still fluffy enough to let a lot of air and water down. When I use other mulches, I feel like I have to water the mulch before anything gets to the plants and the weeds have no problem growing in leaf or bark mulch.

Turmeric grows in layers like a horizontal fan. That is different from ginger which I found out grows in one direction flat accross.
My friend told me to plant the ginger piece vertically instead of horizonatally and only put 4 inches of soil on the bottom and barely cover. As the ginger grows I should slowly fill in the pot. I am going to try that next time and see if I get the ginger to fill the bottom of the pot instead of just growing out horizontally to the sides of the pot and stopping.

I still have last years' ginger preserved in sherry in the refrigerator. I only used about half of it.

4Cats&1lady
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I have 4 large pots growing here in Missouri. I just brought them in for the winter along with my ginger and lemongrass. They spend the winter in front of floor to ceiling windows on the south side of the house and the summer on my south deck in full sun.

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applestar
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Nice! I cant give the ginger and turmeric my best spots because they can "survive" with less light and warmth. But mine do go dormant. Do yours stay green all winter?

Glad you reminded me about the lemongrass -- mine is still out there. Another one that is often neglected because it's so tough.

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applestar
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It turns out that turmeric is a bit of a drama queen. I thought they might have died, then the one shoot grew, and I was thinking, oh well at least I have one left... then these started growing, too. :lol:

Image

...Ginger foliage had been lush and green all winter, but finally started to die off about a month ago and these are all that are left. Not worried about the ginger since I've been growing these for a few years now. :wink:

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applestar
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Turmeric are growing well in their nook although I'm a bit put out by how pale/chartreuse the foliage are -- is this normal?

Image
Ginger pots are sleeping now. The main ginger tub looks a bit dug up because I cut off a nubbin to make curry today. :D

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thanrose
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I have a very tiny pot of it. Well actually, just pulled it out of an old bonsai shallow dish and put in a more voluminous pot with my ginger. It's not that either needs such a large pot, but rather that a larger pot is slower to heat up down here. Small pots equal certain death.

Funny thing. I had one shriveled piece of turmeric that I tossed on top of a houseplant's soil, then a few weeks later I broke down and bought a bit more to use, and to grow. The old shriveled one was the first stem to grow.

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applestar
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I'm still trying to figure out turmeric. It started growing in early spring WAY before ginger. Now it is starting to Yellow and it seems WAY early for it to be doing that.... :| But otherwise, I think these are growing well.

Image

...maybe I should uppot before winter? Or could it wait until it is dormant.... or :!: I just noticed this pot can be filled up with more mix -- now should I just put compost on top? Or compost and sand mix?

imafan26
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Turmeric should be blooming around now. Yellowing is a sign of it getting ready to go dormant or too much water in the pot. The roots can block the drain and make a pool in the pot.

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Oh wow, I love seeing the pictures and the progress! This is really inspiring, I might have to give turmeric a go! I've heard people use it for tea along with cooking, which is exactly what I'm after right now, glad I found this thread! :)

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applestar
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I *meant* to uppot the turmeric because the pot had cracked, but I forgot. Well, look what they have been doing this summer :roll:

Image

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I've just bought some fresh Turmeric root in my local Asian supermarket labelled Curcuma domestica which I believe is the same as Curcuma longa. Perhaps it's a little late to plant now but I couldn't resist.

This French site that sells the plant - for 24 Euros a pop! Ouch! - claims they can resist down to -10°C during the winter: https://www.graines-baumaux.fr/224444-c ... longa.html

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applestar
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I am SO THRILLED!!!

Tonight’s forecasted low is 40°F and I was going through my annual, last minute frenzy to bring cold sensitive container plants inside or move them at least to the somewhat more moderate brick patio from their various summer vacation spots.

I had left the turmeric until the last possible minute as the sun went down, because the roots had cracked the pot — in Three as it turned out. After NOT finding a suitable pot to transplant them in, I gave up and just plopped the very solid broken pot-shaped rootball/mass in an available plastic pot to bring inside the house, and when I put it down by the porch light, I realized — it HAD BLOOMED!


Here, imafan has been posting that HER turmeric are blooming, and I was wishing mine would bloom ...someday... and, unbeknownst to me, it had quietly bloomed and the flowers are already past their prime.

Image

— so striking yet dainty - pure white with blushes of pink and magenta and maroon throats.

imafan26
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xTurmeric leaves are a paler green than ginger. That is normal. The leaves are wider and the plant can get taller. I have mine planted in the sun. Although, while the gingers like a lot of water, they do not like to sit in water so they are usually commercially planted in hills. Hilling lets the rhizomes grow bigger. Ginger and turmeric are harvested in the rainy season here and I usually keep the rhizomes in a bucket with a little bit of sand or sphagnum moss just to keep them damp in the lanai so they are out of the rain. If the ground gets flooded, the roots can rot. Turmeric can usually be planted out by January if the the soil is hilled and well drained. I keep the ginger in the pots longer since they don't sprout until about April. Sometimes I wait until the leaves start growing before I put them back in the buckets. Only 1 or 2 pieces per bucket. I put ginger in a tree pot to give them more room but they still only grow laterally. I was told to put less soil int the pot and plant the rhizomes on their side and fill the pot as the root grows or use a shallow wide pot instead. Gingers don't need a lot of fertilizer. They do like compost, but since it holds a lot of water, and I have clay soil which also holds a lot of water, I have to make sure the pot drains and dries well.

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applestar
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I felt like adding a little turmeric to my evening tea — :D
...I sliced a few slivers for the tea, then wrapped the rest in nearly dry paper towel and put in the butter compartment to used up in next few days. This usually works for ginger.

Image

...ginger rhizomes look like the lower photo right now, and I can also harvest pieces from these as needed



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