Is anyone growing ginger?

[ChanellG]

My father had some ginger plants in the back yard that produced beautiful white flowers that smelled similar to honeysuckle. He potted some for me one year when he was thinning them out and his were killed in a freeze, but I still have mine. The rhizomes look just like the ginger you get in the store, but we couldn't figure out a way to tell if the ones in his yard were edible. Recently I got some ginger from Whole Foods and it started to sprout so I decided to see if I could grow it. I had it sitting on the counter for a while and then put it in dirt a few weeks ago. The first green shoot just poke up through the soil and now it is forming leaves! I'm so excited about this.

Have any of you ever grown ginger before? Any tips? I will probably keep it indoors until it needs to be repotted and then have some inside and outside in containers.

 

[lovinglife]

No, but NOW I WANT TO!!! Just what I need... something else to grow!

 

[ChanellG]

LOL, I know! I am working very hard to exercise restraint before I end up with more than I can manage. I am very excited about the ginger though, it now has a second leaf!

 

[maddie]

I have grown ginger ( different kinds ) in my parents home. These are hardy plants and don't need much care. I wouldn't know about how they do in harsh winters though. They need well drained soil. With a little mulch you could easily get a kilogram of ginger without lifting a finger. These grow well in warm sunny places. These bamboo like plants are quiet elegant and can be kept as indoor plants with good lighting of course.

 

[ChanellG]

Right now I just have the one very young plant in a container on the window sill. I know that eventually it will need a lot more room to spread out in, but I have a little while I think before I have to worry about that. I have some other ginger outside, but I don't think it is the edible kind.

 

[iluvmario]

I have never grown ginger but I would love too. Ginger is very healthy and somehow I always forget to buy it at the store. It add an extra something to a lot of chinese dishes. Can you grow ginger from a seed?

 

[ChanellG]

You grow it from itself. The ginger "root" that you get at the store is actually a rhizome that will sprout and grow a new plant. There are a lof of different flowering plants that are known as ginger. The last time I got some at Whole Food, it started to sprout before I could use it all so I let it. Now I'm experimenting to see how easy or difficult it will be to grow my own.

 

[alreenaw]

I have never grown ginger, or even thought about it. I use ginger a lot and now you have me interested in trying to grow my own. Does it need to be grown indoors or outside? How do you know if the ginger is the edible kind or not?

 

[ChanellG]

The only way to know if the ginger is edible is to start with the rhizome (AKA ginger root) and grow it yourself. As I mentioned above, I happened to have a piece and noticed it was starting to develop sprouts so I just let it go.

I had it sitting on the window sill for a while and then I planted it in some soil. It's now growing beautifully and has sent up a new shoot. It'll be ready for transplanting soon and then in a few months I'll dig it up, separate it and start over.

 

[Victor Leigh]

Yes, I have grown quite a few gingers before. And I am not counting red-heads.

When I was a kid, I did it a very simple way. All I had was just a small pot with some sand. Put a cutting of ginger just below the surface. Then I watered it lightly now and then. Too much water drowned the ginger. It grew very well.

Later when I was living in the countryside, I grew different varieties of ginger. Most of them I grew for the flowers. There was one species which had flowers in many different colors. I made it a point to get every color I could find. Sometimes I would be passing by some place and spot a new color which I don't have yet. Then I checked to see whether it was on land owned by someone. If so, I would ask for permission to get a small cutting. If it's on public land, I would just take a cutting.

I still remember one species that was very fast growing and very hardy. At one time, it overgrew my entire fence at the back. I dug it all up and threw it on a heap to be burned. A few weeks later after the burning, I found new shoots sprouting from the few pieces that survived the burning.

 

[ChanellG]

That was one tenacious ginger plant you had.Do you happen to know if the roots of all varieties are edible? I have a lovely flowering ginger, but haven't been able to find out if I can use the rhizome for anything. The one I have growing on the windowsill will take months to mature to the point where I can harvest any root for kitchen use.

 

[Lanie]

I think that the ginger takes up to ten months before you can dig it up and eat it ChanellG. It's funny that you brought this one up because I'm planning on growing ginger this spring. I'm going to use a container for this one because I'm moving and the soil in my new yard hasn't been amended yet. I'm going to get the rhizome from my grocery store and like you, just go for it. Once the foliage dies back you can go ahead and enjoy it on your next stir fry or stew. I love the taste of ginger, and to me it's like garlic and onions - it goes in every meal.

 

[ChanellG]

I've seen different info on the length of time. One online article says that the texture changes after a certain point, but I found a link just now that seems to have the best information I have read so far: http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/growing-ginger.html#

I think a container is best for ginger unless you are going to grow enough to sell. Based on what I just read I think I will let this plant mature until it becomes perennial and just keep buying ginger for a while. Or maybe I'll save and root another piece for that purpose.

I use garlic a lot also, and I use onion daily if I am cooking. I even use them at breakfast, and since I almost never cook with salt, they retain their sweetness.

 

[ACSAPA]

I've been growing ginger for a while. I started with a fist-sized knob of ginger that I bought at the supermarket and planted. After a while it sprouted and eventually grew into a tall bamboo-like plant. Even when I trim off the dead leaves, or trim a broken stem, I've noticed that every part of the plant smells amazing. I cut off pieces off ginger now and then for cooking but always leave most of the root in the pot so it can keep growing. I've had the same ginger plant since 2008. I grow it in a container because I've been planning for a while to move to another apartment and I don't expect to have a yard. I made an entire Pinterest board of container garden ideas I found online for apartment gardeners.

 

[ChanellG]

Pinterest was a recent obsession so there's a good chance I may have seen your container garden board. My plant is still very young, so I haven't needed to trim anything away from it. I have been debating about whether to keep it indoors or try it outside.