Expert Guide And Tips For Planting Ginger

Ginger is very healthy and especially popular as a tea. Find out here how you can plant ginger yourself and care for your ginger plant.

Ginger ( Zingiber officinale ) is becoming more and more popular as a spice from year to year. In the past, ginger was mostly consumed unconsciously through gingerbread spices and curry mixes, but now more and more fans of healthy eating are enjoying freshly used ginger. The forms of preparation are extremely diverse: whether as lemonade, ginger tea, or as a spice in Asian dishes – ginger always tastes good. In addition to its interesting taste, ginger also has many health-promoting properties. Planting ginger isn’t particularly difficult either. Below is a detailed guide on how to plant fresh ginger.

Planting ginger

Planting ginger is not much rocket science. With a little dedication (and above all a lot of warmth) you don’t even need a green thumb to soon be able to call a ginger plant your own. Incidentally, the harvested ginger part is not a tuber. Botanically correct, the object of desire is actually called a rhizome. It is precisely from this rhizome that you can grow your own ginger plants relatively easily. At this point, we would like to reveal to you that ginger is a beautiful ornamental plant and, with its reed-like leaves and large flowers, conjures up a tropical flair in every apartment.

Planting ginger: step 1

To get started, you need a piece of ginger first, of course. It is not so important whether the piece is a bit older and dried out. It is also irrelevant whether the rhizome is whole or whether only parts are used. Remember, however, that a large rhizome will develop into a large plant faster, and the fresher the piece, the better it will grow. It can also be an advantage if you catch a piece that is easy to drive out. If fresh pieces of a rhizome are cut for propagation, they should air dry for a few days before going underground. Otherwise, the fresh interfaces can easily rot. We have put together for you below how to proceed with planting.

Planting ginger: step 2

For the next step, you need a pot and high-quality, well-drained potting soil. You can choose the pot size depending on the size of the piece of ginger used – you can always repot later. Then dig a pit about 5 cm deep and put the ginger in it and cover it with soil. It doesn’t matter which way around the rhizome lies. Plants always know where “up” is. After that, the earth is lightly watered so that it is moist but not wet. The pot is placed in a warm place (optimal: 20 – 28 ° C). After a few weeks, depending on how warm it is, the first shoots should appear. Then the light-hungry plant needs as much sun as possible.

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Planting ginger: step 3

Depending on the light and heat supply, the plant now quickly develops stately green leaves. In the warm summer months and after getting used to the direct sun, ginger can even be put outside, but the temperatures at night should not fall below 12 ° C. With a bit of luck, you may also witness the beautiful ginger blossoms growing straight out of the rhizome. When the days get shorter, the green shoots often say goodbye to ginger. But that’s not a problem. The rhizomes are overwintered in the pot at 10 ° C, whereby the soil must be dry. In the spring, new and fresh shoots sprout from the rhizomes. However, you have to be patient with the harvest. In its homeland under perfect conditions, ginger needs around eight months to be harvested. But even if the harvest is not gigantic, you have still won a great ornamental plant.

Planting ginger in the pot: summary

We have summarized how you can easily plant ginger in pots in key points:

• Place the ginger rhizome in a pot with well-drained soil
• Fill the pot with soil so that the ginger is about 5 cm covered
• Moisten the soil well; Avoid waterlogging
• Place the pot in a warm place (approx. 20 – 28 ° C)
• A shoot should be visible after about eight weeks

Origin and history of ginger

The ginger bush is a very old herb and medicinal plant. Its exact origin is unknown, but the ginger was certainly cultivated before our era. As early as 2,800 BC. the Chinese Emperor Shennong mentioned ginger in a book about medicinal herbs. Long known in Asia as a valuable medicinal plant, Arab traders brought yellow gold to Europe in ancient times. Nowadays, ginger is valued almost all over the world and is grown in Australia, Asia, and South America in subtropical to tropical climates.