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Growing Ginger Is Super Fun, Easy And Rewarding!

Growing ginger at home is easy and fun. It makes a great house plant if you're in the North. Or grow it in your Garden in the South! And, take note that you can follow these same instructions for growing turmeric as well.
Keyword: growing ginger, growing ginger in pots, growing ginger in the garden, how to grow ginger, how to harvest ginger, how to store ginger, how to use ginger
Author: Food For Life Garden

Equipment

  • 1 Bowl for soaking the ginger
  • 1 pot or shallow tray for sprouting the ginger
  • 1 large pot to transplant the ginger
  • A humidity dome use a plastic bag or cling wrap to lay over the sprouting pot or tray

Materials

  • 1 piece ginger rhizome
  • 1 spray bottle with water
  • 1 heat mat (optional)
  • grow light (optional)

Instructions

How To Sprout Ginger

  • If your ginger is a large hand, you'll want to separate some fingers for planting. They should be a good size finger, several inches long with several buds. Larger pieces grow faster and yield more. Let the cut heal for a day or two before planting.
  • If you have plump and juicy ginger, you can skip this step. However if your ginger is a bit older, dry, non-organic, or otherwise not prime, soak it in clean filtered, non-chlorinated water for about 24 hours. This will help get it primed for sprouting.

Planting Ginger

  • Fill a shallow dish or pot with some lightly moist peat moss or seed starter mix.
  • Plant it in the soil with the buds pointing up. Cover with a little soil or peat. Keep this lightly moist, but not soaking wet.
  • Place this on a heating mat or in a warm location over 70 degrees until the ginger starts to sprout. Cover with plastic wrap or a humidity dome.
  • After a month or so, you'll see a green spike emerging from a bud. At this point, place your ginger under grow lights.

Choosing Your Location For Growing Ginger

  • Ginger loves it hot, but, especially if you're growing ginger in the south, you will want to give it dappled shade or partial shade at least during the hottest part of the day, which is normally in the afternoon. 
  • If growing it indoors, a window, that gets an hour or two of direct sun during the early part of the day is ideal. 

Transplanting The Ginger Into Pots

  • Once your ginger has grown a shoot that's a few inches tall, take it out of your sprouting tray and transplant it.
  • Fill your pot with potting soil and homemade compost, peat moss and compost, or fine natural pine bark with compost. Go heavy on the compost.
  • Bury your ginger a couple of inches deep. Keep the soil moist but not wet. Mist it with a spray bottle every few days. 
  • Now let it grow until you need to transplant it again.
  • This can be out into your garden, a greenhouse in the ground, or into a large 12"-18" wide and shallow pot or growbag, which you can keep inside your greenhouse or place outside.

Transplanting Outside Into Your Garden

  • Harden off your ginger plant for a week by placing it outside for a short time on day one and increasing outside time each day.
  • Wait till the soil and night temperatures have warmed to 55 degrees before you transplant the ginger into your garden beds.
  • Add compost to your planting site and loosen the soil. 
  • Space the ginger roots 8-12 inches apart and plant 2-3 inches deep.
  • After the ginger grows a few inches tall, you can hill the soil up a little around the plant and mulch the area to retain soil moisture and keep the weeds down.
  • Hilling around your ginger as you see pink parts of the rhizome surface, will help encourage more rhizomes to form, just like with potatoes. 
  • Ginger can grow 3-4 feet tall and spread about 1-2 feet wide.

Irrigation

  • Be sure to keep the soil moist throughout the growing season with regular, daily watering. And it helps to retain moisture when you mulch with a layer of pine bark, grass clippings, chopped leaves or wood chips.

Fertilizing

  • Use organic fertilizer. Watering with a diluted fish or kelp emulsion is a great organic fertilizer option about once a month. If growing it in the ground, you can side-dress with compost throughout the season.

Harvesting Ginger

  • Ginger takes 8-10 months to mature. You can start harvesting part of the rhizome after about 6 months. For bigger rhizomes, wait till the leaves stop growing. Just reach into the soil and cut or break off a piece and use it. Let the rest continue to grow. Or pull the plant out of the ground, take what you need and replant the rest.
  • When you're ready to harvest the whole plant, loosen the soil a little, careful not to nick the ginger, then gently pull it out of the soil. Take as much as you want and replant one or two stalks with the rhizome attached to keep it growing.
  • In hot tropical frost-free zones 9-11, you can keep growing it outside in your garden. Otherwise, just replant in a pot and take it inside for the winter before the first frost, or when temperatures start to approach 40 degrees.

Repotting and Dividing When Growing Ginger In Pots

  • Ginger should be repotted and divided regularly if you're growing it in pots. Which is easy to do when you want to harvest a portion of it anyways.
  • Break off a portion to keep in your kitchen. Then give the rest some fresh rich soil, replant it and it will happily keep growing. If your pot is on the small side, the ginger can become root bound and stunted. To avoid this, consider a bigger pot or divide and plant it into two or three pots. 

Overwintering

  • If you're growing ginger in the North, a sunny location helps to keep it warm enough, and don't mulch too deeply so the soil can warm up.
  • If you're planning to plant the ginger outdoors once it gets hot outside, then you can just plant it in a smaller one or two gallon pot for now and later transplant it outside or into a bigger pot or a grow bag.
  • Ginger can grow 3-4 feet tall and spread about 1-2 feet wide.

Transplanting The Ginger

  • Most ginger plants become dormant in the fall, usually from October till March. After harvesting the ginger you need, repot the rest. Then keep it in a warm and humid place if possible. 
  • To keep the humidity high, you can place the pots on a tray that is filled with marbles, clay pebbles, or gravel. Fill with water to just below the bottom of the pots and the evaporation will keep the area humid.
  • Keep it warm, but avoid placing the ginger near a heat source.

Troubleshooting

  • If your leaves are yellowing, it means the plant needs more nutrients. Feed it some diluted Fish or Kelp emulsion or another organic fertilizer that you may have on hand
  • When ginger's leaves are looking dry at the edges or are browning, it isn't getting enough water. Increase your watering frequency or the amount.
  • If the soil is too wet, the rhizome can rot. Keep it moist, but not wet and mulch to better retain the moisture. 
  • Your ginger may start to flower, and that is ok. Enjoy its beauty, and taste the flowers, they are edible as well!

Pests And Diseases

  • I have no experience with pests on ginger so far, and hope it stays this way, but I listed some below that could possibly become an issue:
  • Fungal Diseases such as rhizome rot and leaf spot blight, as well as ginger blight and anthracnose.
    Bacterial Diseases include bacterial wilt and bacterial streak leaf blight.
    Insect Pests include thrips, root-knot nematodes, rhizome scale, aphids, ants, chinese rose beetles, and mealybugs:
  • I found a page that lists pictures and details on pests and diseases as well as tips for dealing with them at Plantvillage.

My Recommendations For Dealing With Pests And Disease:

  • Remember that any sprays or treatments, organic or not, will also have the potential to harm desirable organisms, not just the ones you want dead. So use care and don't overuse treatments. Avoid treating during the day when bees visit flowers and spot-treat rather than using broad applications.
  • I'd use a spray of plain water with a few drops of dishsoap for aphids. However, do not spray soap water during the day, as it can harm the plants if the sun shines on the wet soapy leaves. And take care to spray only when no other beneficial insects are around.
  • For prevention practice crop rotation and regular daily watering, while providing good drainage.
  • Plant on a hill or in a raised bed if necessary and avoid low spots where the water could pool.
  • Keep good airflow to avoid fungus.
  • Lots of organic matter in the soil will help keep the plants healthier and more resistant.
  • Planting companions such as nasturtiums, marigolds, garlic etc. is a great way to keeping pests and diseases away or at a minimum.

Top Companion Plants For Ginger

  • Plants that ginger loves are: Garlic, Basil, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Turmeric, and Green Onions.
  • Plants to avoid are: brassicas and plants of the mint family since they compete for space or nutrients.

Storing And Preserving Ginger

  • If you keep ginger growing in a pot, you might not need to store it, just take what you need from your plant, replant the rest, and do that again as needed.
  • Storing it in the refrigerator
    When you want to store ginger in the refrigerator, do not cut or peel it. If it's left whole with the peel on, it can store for several weeks in a paper bag. 
    I also read that people store it in a ziplock plastic freezer bag with all the air pressed out. I'm not sure how well this works, as I haven't tried it. But I thought I'd mention it.
  • Freezing ginger
    Just place the grated or chopped ginger into the segments of an ice cube tray and pour a bit of water over it to cover. Freeze and then store the ginger ice cubes in a freezer bag up to 6 months.
    You can also freeze ginger whole. When you need it, just grate what you need while frozen and place the rest back into the freezer for later. In fact, it's easier to grate it frozen than when it's fresh.
  • Storing It In Alcohol
    Another option for storing cut or grated ginger for several weeks is by covering it with vodka or brandy and storing it in the refrigerator. I have not tried this. Let me know in the comments if you have and how it worked for you!
  • Drying ginger
    Slice thinly and dry in a warm location with good airflow, or in the sun. I like to dry my herbs in a non-electric hanging drying rack such as this. It can be hung outside under a tree during the day and then I can bring it in at night. Or you can use a dehydrator.
    Once dry, you can store the chips in a jar and use them as is to make a warming ginger tea in the winter. Ginger should be made by simmering the roots for about 15 minutes and then letting it steep for another 10-15 minutes. It's super tasty just on its own, or sweeten with honey. I often add dried turmeric as well. with some fresh ground black pepper.
    You can also take those ginger chips and grind them in a coffee or spice grinder as needed to make your own ginger powder for cooking and baking. It's much more flavorful when you grind it fresh.
  • Fermenting Ginger
    Fermenting ginger is one of my favorite ways to preserve ginger. I like to finely grate or chop it, add salt and ferment it for a few weeks. Then it can be stored in the refrigerator or a cool cellar for a very long time. The best thing about it is that fermenting adds probiotics, increases the benefits and nutrients of ginger and makes ginger easier to absorb in your body. Lacto-fermenting ginger and other vegetables is great for your gut and your immune system. Lots of wins!

Ideas To Use Ginger

  • Ginger is an amazing medicinal plant and you can learn about its benefits and how to make a cough syrup on my fermented ginger honey page. 
  • In the heat of summer, make some quick and easy refreshing ginger ale.
  • If you want a super delicious probiotic drink, brew yourself some ginger beer, using a ginger bug. It's super easy and tastes awesome!
  • Make a ginger switchel for summer hydration and as an effective sports drink.
  • Add ginger to fire cider for cold and flu season.
  • And it's so good in spice breads such as sweet potato bread.
  • Make a ginger tea.

Notes

Have Fun Growing Ginger!

As you can see, it's super easy to grow ginger and it's so rewarding. I love growing ginger and I love to use it in cooking, baking, teas and preparations for healing. Give it a try and I am certain you will love growing ginger too!