quick question on growing ginger....is it possible?

[freemotion]

There is a sprout on a hunk of ginger I bought. Is it worth devoting garden space to it in New England, especially this late in the season? Will I increase the hunk I plant in just 2-3 hot months?

No, I won't pot it up. I kill potted plants. It is very sad, really.

 

[Lady Henevere]

In my (very limited) experience, it seems to grow quite slowly.

 

[Neko-chan]

I've heard that it's tough to grow, but I've never tried it.

This link thinks it's easy:

http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/growing-ginger.html

However, it appears that growing ginger in New England would be pretty tough, especially if it's just planted outside. It likes warmth, and doesn't like frost, and it seems this person just plants and forgets about it for most of a year. Another source said that it likes a lot of warmth and clean water to make good tubers, and that it probably wouldn't even do well in a pot anyway. It might grow in a green house though.

 

[Wifezilla]

I think I remember someone on the easy garden forum growing it in pots. I would try it just because I like experimenting, and I always have some extra dirt laying around

 

[patandchickens]

I don't think you're going to get a lot of root growth in the next 3 months, but if you just want to do it for what-the-heck, then sure.

Put it somewhere in dappled or most-of-the-day-including-afternoon shade, but a WARM spot if possible, in sandy or otherwise well-drained soil (can be just an amended pocket in the rest of your soil) and keep it constantly slightly damp i.e. never allow to go dry.

If you got a big self-watering pot though, you could bring it into the house into a sunnyish window in the fall. The self-watering pots make it much harder to kill houseplants

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[ORChick]

Ginger is a tropical plant, and won't tolerate frost. But it does quite well in pots. It does grow slowly, and, as houseplants go, its kind of uninteresting, sending up a skinny stalk, with slender leaves fairly high up. I've read that it makes a pretty flower, but that it rarely does when grown as a houseplant. I have noticed though that when it is potted up, and kept reasonably moist, that the rhizome itself stays plump and juicy for longer than it would if just left on the counter. So even without the plant you might find it useful to put it into a pot. I have a large-ish pot (15-18 inch wide) that I have planted lemon grass in (so that I can bring it inside when it gets cold). There was a bit of room in the pot so I put in a piece of ginger a month or so ago, and noticed just the other day that there are 2 little spikes poking up. I'm going to look for some fresh turmeric when next I visit an Asian market; it makes a more interesting plant IMO, and there is still a bit of room in my *SE Asian garden* (i.e. the pot).
Free, even a brown thumb shouldn't have too much trouble with potted ginger. Put a note on your calendar to keep it moist (don't drown it!), and keep it outside in summer, and on a sunny windowsill in winter, and you should be just fine. Maybe a bit of organic fertilizer occasionally. Then pull it up when you need a bit, and plant back the remainder. Lay the rhizome flat, with the growing points facing more or less upward, just under the surface of the soil.

 

[Wifezilla]

Pat is right. A self watering pot may help you not kill plants in a pot.

 

[freemotion]

Thanks! I think I'll just grind that little sprout up with the rest of the ginger and make my chai tea with it!

I have a cat who will eat any plant that comes in the house. This includes sage and oregano that I am drying, a rosemary that I potted up and tried to keep over the winter, and fake plants, either "silk" or plastic.

 

[Henrietta23]

Thanks! I think I'll just grind that little sprout up with the rest of the ginger and make my chai tea with it!

I have a cat who will eat any plant that comes in the house. This includes sage and oregano that I am drying, a rosemary that I potted up and tried to keep over the winter, and fake plants, either "silk" or plastic.

My parents' cat, Blueberry is like that. Not even a fake leaf is safe in their house.

 

[pinkfox]

willow likes to kill silk/fake plants too...doesnt seem to bother with the real ones though LOL.
shes odd!