Growing Ginger

Discussion in 'Crops & Gardens' started by Diane Lane, Jul 14, 2015.

  1. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    Since I mentioned here the other day that my neighbor is growing ginger, I have been thinking about it, so I decided to do a little reading, to see how difficult it would be for me to grow some.

    It doesn't seem to be that difficult, as long as you have a good location in the garden, or some nice pots with good soil. I'll have to get some decent soil, since I don't think what I have here would work very well, but I do have a few extra pots, so won't have to purchase any of those.

    Here's a link to what I'm reading. http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/growing-ginger.html

    And, a YouTube video about planting ginger indoors:

    I would be growing it outdoors, because otherwise, the cats would eat it, but the first link talks about the outdoor requirements.
     
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  2. Michelle Stevens

    Michelle Stevens Veteran Member
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    I planted a piece of ginger in a small pot towards the end of the (Southern hemisphere) summer and now have a plant with one stem of leaves growing from it. However its growth hasn't been very vigorous, probably because the pot I used is too small, so bear that in mind when you plant yours. I'd like to move mine to a bigger pot, but don't have the space to spare in my greenhouse during the winter months, so I'm just hoping that it will survive until spring when I can move some of my plants outside, meaning that space becomes less of an issue.
     
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  3. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    Yes, I was thinking of using a small pot, then saw in the video or article, 15" pots are recommended. I think I do have one of two of those, so should be o.k., and thankfully, I can plant pretty much anything outdoors here, or I'd be in trouble. I think when I do try it, I'll put the pots on the back porch to start, since that doesn't get too much sun. Up here on the balcony, and out in the yards get a lot more sun, and I think the ginger would fry.
     
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  4. Michelle Stevens

    Michelle Stevens Veteran Member
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    I actually live in quite a warm climate, so a lot of my plants are outdoors all year round, but we usually get frost in winter, so I have to be careful with some of my more sensitive trees (bonsai and young trees that I'm training to be bonsai in future). This winter has been particularly mild, so a lot of the precautions I've been taking have probably been unnecessary. However I feel that it's better to play it safe than lose a good tree if the weather suddenly takes a turn for the worse. In a few weeks' time I'll probably move my ginger to a bigger pot and put it outside. My bonsai area, which is where it will remain, only gets morning sun, so hopefully it will be able to handle that.
     
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  5. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    I cover mine with beach towels or blankets on the colder nights, but there's no room inside for them. I don't have that many anymore, and they're all in containers, other than my palm in the backyard, but the ginger would probably be small enough to sneak in, as long as I could hide it from the cats.
     
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  6. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    We have ginger here almost in every planter box. There's also one grove in a plastic pot. My husband does not want to buy ginger in the market not for economic reasons but for the joy of harvesting.

    Fresh ginger is very good for chicken and fish dishes although it is the primary flavoring of the beef porridge that we had the other day. What's best is the fresh young shoots of ginger that can be eaten with the dish. We slice it in thin strips and when mixed with the porridge, it gives a distinct flavor that tames the beef.

    Here's that freshly harvested young ginger... IMG_4500 ginger.JPG
     
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  7. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    @Corie Henson It's not something I ever really thought about growing, until I saw the neighbor with it. I'm surprised my Dad didn't grow it, but perhaps it was because the climate is much cooler up there than here. So, when you say shoots, do you mean the green parts? You slice and eat them? Do you cook them, or eat them raw? Love the picture, thanks for sharing!
     
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  8. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    @Diane Lane the ginger in the photo is a young ginger with shoots - actually the big roots that is also called rhizome (not sure of the spelling). The roots are taken off and only the small gingers are used. The green part is the plant itself and we don't use that or maybe it is edible but I don't know. That young ginger you see is very expensive in Chinese stores because farmers here harvest their ginger when fully grown to avail of the weight. Young ginger is difficult to buy so we planted our own.

    With the climate, we notice that ginger loves cool and even wet weather. During summer, our gingers lose their leaves as if dying so we harvest them and replant some of it. That one in the plastic pot is under the small trees in our yard so it is always alive and productive.
     
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  9. Michelle Stevens

    Michelle Stevens Veteran Member
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    When I went into my greenhouse this morning I noticed that all the leaves on my ginger plant are turning yellow. I hope it's not dying. I'm concerned that the small pot is a problem, but I really didn't want to repot it until spring arrives. Now I'm not sure what to do.
     
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  10. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    Yes, the rhizomes are what are planted. I've heard of the shoots being used in recipes. When your gingers lose their leaves, do the leaves turn yellow? @Michelle Stevens is having that issue with hers. Michelle, I would probably re-pot it, but maybe @Corie Henson can give us some tips, since they grow them.

    Here's a link I found that talks about using the leaves and shoots for teas and soups: http://www.oldfriendsfarm.com/our-fresh-ginger.html
     
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  11. Carlota Clemens

    Carlota Clemens Veteran Member
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    Unless dried, the ginger roots that we can buy at mall centers, supermarkets or grocery stores here look truly aged and dry that make unappealing buy them if you can already found it pulverized or shredded as dried product.

    Based on the recipes, they say to use fresh ginger, and I don't know who tell them that fresh are those dry roots for sale, nothing to do with the looking of your ginger, really.
     
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  12. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    I really don't know what you mean by dry. Our main use for ginger here, that is generally speaking, is to crush the ginger for flavoring. So if the ginger they sell there is dry, how would it give a flavor? Gingers here are not dry in a sense that some are even sprouting a bud and that you can plant it because it looks alive. And with the shredded or pulverized ginger, we don't have that here.

    For our young ginger, neighbors have learned from us that it is much better than using the ordinary ginger (that is matured). They say that it is flavorful and nice to eat when mixed with porridge.
     
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  13. Joyce Mcgregor

    Joyce Mcgregor Veteran Member
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    When I was younger,,, much younger,,,,, and in high school I loved trying to grow different things. We used to be able to purchase something called Ti plant in stores,,, it was just a piece of a branch coated in wax. You carefull scraped some of the wax from the ends, laid it on it's side and buried it about halfway in potting soil. It made a lovely little tree. Anyway, back to ginger. I grew a lot of ginger because I loved to cook and found that the fresh dug ginger tasted so much better. I simply buried a rhizome I bought,, and back then ginger rhizomes were hard to find in my area unless you went to a chinese food store, watered it well, placed it in a shady place outside and waited. With time and patience I would have enough ginger sprouts to harvest small amounts of fresh ginger to use in chicken dishes which where I liked to use it.
     
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  14. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    @Joyce Mcgregor, that's what I noticed in our ginger plants. Those planted under the shade grow leaves much faster and those under the direct sunlight are slow growers. Gingers are easy to grow as long as the soil is not clay because the rhizome wants soft soil for it to propagate itself.

    We use ginger in almost all types of food - beef, pork, chicken, fish and even in vegetable soup. But our best dish with ginger is the porridge where the ginger is sliced thinly and eaten together with the porridge.
     
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  15. Michelle Stevens

    Michelle Stevens Veteran Member
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    I haven't had time to repot it and all the top growth seems to be dead but the part of the rhizome that's pushed above the soil still looks firm. I'm not sure what to do next, but if I can find time I'll probably dig it up and see what I find under the soil. Maybe if it looks good I'll keep some for the kitchen and replant a piece. Otherwise I'll wait until the winter's over and start again with a new piece.

    What's worrying me is that I moved the plant's position inside my greenhouse just before the leaves turned yellow because I needed space to fit more plants inside. The new position probably gets more wind and possibly some direct sun whereas before the sun was filtered through the polycarbonate greenhouse walls. Somehow I doubt the timing of it's decline was just coincidence.
     
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