Author Topic: Ginger  (Read 4463 times)

BajaJohn

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Ginger
« on: June 08, 2017, 03:37:32 PM »
I've had success getting store-bought ginger to sprout and grow but I don't seem to have hit upon good growing conditions. The leaves seem to turn brown and dry up regardless of the amount of water I provide. Many rhizomes just dissolve in the dirt. The best I have done is in dappled shade where I got small new rhizomes that seem to be sprouting for the second year. The bigger plants in the photo are from bigger rhizomes that have produced bigger plants but the shoots still look sickly. The soil is sandy with lots of compost and irrigated from a drip system. Any suggestions to improve my plants?




Zafra

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Re: Ginger
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2017, 10:28:44 AM »
Ginger is an understory plant that likes shade, moisture, and a lot of organic material. Tough, but not impossible, to do in the desert.

LivingParadise

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Re: Ginger
« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2017, 02:58:43 PM »
Wow, they look unhappy. Are you using municipal tap water? Could be that they don't like that - most of my plants hate mine, which has a high PH. They're so much happier with natural rain. The other possibility is the air is not humid enough for them?

BajaJohn

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Re: Ginger
« Reply #3 on: June 09, 2017, 04:52:10 PM »
Thanks for the feedback. I suspect the humidity may be the big issue - only 30% today. Maybe mist irrigation rather than drip would help. I can also try them in a very shady corner that gets no direct sun and seems to retain moisture more than the rest of the garden.
Would pure compost be a good growing medium for them? That would help my worm project too.
Yes, I use municipal water and no other plants seem to have an issue. The pH is neutral. Rain isn't really an option here since it only appears on one or two days per year at most. I could try purified (RO) water that I can get for about a dime a gallon.
Once again, thanks for the help. This is a new and very different environment from the English gardens I grew up in. I suspect shady spots here get more light than full sun locations in cloudy England.

DimplesLee

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Re: Ginger
« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2017, 09:43:12 AM »
Please mix in a lot of wood ash to the compost - also they like a thorough watering once in a while - when the leaves start wilting - otherwise as long as they are in deep shade (grow mine in containers under trees) they stay quite happy. if they rot or grow mushy they are probably getting too much water actually. People in the Philippines plant them in hillsides as intercrops in orchards and leave them alone for six to eight months (no supplemental irrigation or anything) and they do just fine.
Diggin in dirt and shifting compost - gardeners crossfit regime :)

DimplesLee

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Re: Ginger
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2017, 09:46:17 AM »
Cover with leaf mulch as well - just rake up fallen leaves and stomp on them for awhile to break em up a bit, water well then use as mulch - the ginger family seems to have this interdependence thing going on with all bugs that like to live in rotting leaves.
Diggin in dirt and shifting compost - gardeners crossfit regime :)

ericalynne

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Re: Ginger
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2017, 08:05:00 PM »
I had a lot of trouble getting ginger to grow at first. Finally, I started them in pots in the house where I could keep a close eye on them. I also planted them right at the top of the soil, again so I could eye-ball them. When I buried them in soil, they just rotted away. I finally got a good bunch and put them outside, but they do have to be in the shade and kept moist, but not wet. I have very sandy soil and the Florida sun will parch even sun-loving plants. I am having more success using permaculture practices and planting out with "nurse" plants to maintain shade and moisture in an area. Gaia's Garden has been my inspiration. The title sounds new agey, but the information and writing are excellent especially for desert areas.

LivingParadise

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Re: Ginger
« Reply #7 on: June 10, 2017, 11:01:58 PM »
30% is really low humidity for this type of plant! That's probably what your problem is. There are a lot of ways to try to increase humidity in the area. If you can cluster other wet plants around them, like banana, or grow them around a small pond, that might be helpful. I find that using coconut husks /coir as mulch really helps keep the ground moist for longer, and increase humidity around the plant, if you have access to coconuts. Misting might also be good, but I would say you're going to be fighting an uphill battle with this per your location. I think protecting them from wind and sun will help, again with other plants is probably the best way. I mean, they're not dead, just a little cranky and wilty, so some adjustment might help just fine.

If your home is close enough to the sea you can also devise methods of desalination irrigation, old-school using the sun, a container, and some hoses, to help increase water amount and lessen the cost of using tap water. I don't know but I'm guessing you get really good drainage, like I do, so probably rot from overwatering isn't a concern. I know for me that's impossible to ever do unless we have actual standing water from a flood, because the ground here is mostly coral rock, and I think you said the desert there is also mostly rock...

But just eyeballing the photos, it doesn't look like the planting is dense enough to protect the plants from sun and wind so their leaves can hold moisture in. If you also have excellent drainage, that means that the plants' humidity level is probably just very low for such a tropical plant. Surrounding it with some other plants that like moisture as a wind buffer and for additional shade, and using good mulching like coconut to hold in deep waterings for several days at a time, might help them a ton.

Erich

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Re: Ginger
« Reply #8 on: June 13, 2017, 02:55:05 AM »
Ginger here in Thailand flourish in rainy season as long as they are not sitting in water. The rest of the year just leave them alone or dig up some roots when you need them. Rotting rhizomes is def too much water or not enough drainage. Consider types of soil in regard to drainage, etc...clay vs. sand, etc...

Sayan128

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Re: Ginger
« Reply #9 on: July 05, 2017, 11:22:03 PM »
I had the same problem too. Got a ginger from sprouts and it finally sprouted and grew about 3 inches and then it died. I'm in SoCal and it's always super dry and windy here...do you guys think I could try my luck indoors with it?

fyliu

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Re: Ginger
« Reply #10 on: July 07, 2017, 04:11:47 PM »
You can try growing it between other plants. Our winds dry everything out. I just started putting on some straw from my barley for humidity.

Mine are alive but very slow. Only a foot tall and they stop. Right now only at the 2nd sprout on each plant.