Ginger: how to plant it at home, harvest it and care for it

Spring, when the sun shines brighter again, it is the ideal time to plant ginger. If you have a place next to a bright and warm window without direct sun, you can even grow it in winter.

Plant ginger in the garden or on the balcony?

Since ginger is native to the tropics, it needs a stable climate with high humidity. Indoor ambient temperatures are ideal for plants, which is why ginger does best indoors or in the greenhouse.

In the summer months, when temperatures exceed 20ºC even at night, you can place the ginger perfectly on the balcony or terrace.

What ginger to plant

To grow your own ginger, You must buy organic ginger. Look for fresh, firm rhizomes. If you grow fresh, untreated ginger, it will work much better.

The ginger rhizome may have small green “eyes” or buds, they are the beginning of a new plant.

Planting ginger, step by step instructions

Soak a fresh rhizome with well-developed “eyes” in warm water overnight. The next day, cut the rhizome into pieces with three to four knots each.Fills two-thirds of one or more medium pots with soil rich in nutrients.Cplace the pieces of ginger in the earth with the cut side down.Cover the rhizomes with a layer of soil or humus approximately 3.5 cm thick.Wet the floor daily with sprayer.Also you can cover the pots with film transparent to ensure optimal humidity.After two to four weeks, the first shoots should be visible.

How to care for ginger plants

The right humidity

always keep slightly moist potting soil, but you should definitely avoid waterlogging, otherwise the roots could rot.

Be sure to water ginger plants with lime-free water. You can filter the tap water or use rainwater. While the plant has not developed, use a spray bottle to water and spray the leaves from time to time. When the seedlings are a bit bigger, you can water the plants normally.

In this video you will discover the finger trick to know if you are watering well:

You can place the pot on pebbles in a tray with water

ideal location

Plants like heat: they grow best at around 24ºC. That is why ginger thrives best on the windowsill.

When the first buds can be seen, you can place the ginger plants in a slightly sunny or partially shaded location.

Ginger can exceed a meter in height. In order for the roots to have enough space to thrive, you should transplant them into a larger pot after about two or three months. With the additional fresh soil, the plants also receive new nutrients.

When spring is over and temperatures are high enough towards the end of May, you can leave the ginger plants indoors or place them in a warm place, sheltered and slightly sunny or partially shaded in the garden or on the balcony. Towards the end of summer, when the leaves turn yellow, consider keeping the plants a bit drier.

Appearance and flowering of the ginger plant

The plant forms long, sessile leaves (without a petiole) on a single thick stem. This gives it a cane appearance. The flowers sprout as cones from the stem and reach a length of up to 25 cm. The flowers range from red to purple in color and exude a pleasant, sweet aroma.

When and how to harvest ginger?

The first green rhizomes of home cultivation can be harvested after about eight to ten months. Harvest usually occurs at the end of summer.

Later than, when the leaves have died in autumn It is time to harvest the rhizomes, as they will have developed their characteristic spicy flavor.

to harvest it, dry stems can be cut and the rhizomes dug up. It is also possible to cut only a piece of the rhizome if you want to continue growing the plant.

Store rhizomes correctly

You must Store the harvested rhizomes in a cool, dry place. A good place is the vegetable compartment or the refrigerator door.

Ginger plants “hibernate”

Ginger enters a rest phase during the winter, but it doesn’t hibernate itself. In areas where minimum temperatures do not drop below 10°C, ginger remains inactive during the winter months. During this resting phase, the plant can lose its leaves and go dormant.

If you want your ginger plant to overwinter, you can simply leave it in the pot as is. Place it in a cool, dark place, with temperatures around 10ºC. During this time you should not water the plant, as it is in hibernation. In spring, when the vegetation phase starts again, you can transplant the plant and water it again.