As promised, some time ago, my growing ginger experiment update.
On January 17, 2012, I purchased a piece of ginger with eyes (the lighter color bumps in the above photo) from the healthfood store and placed it in a pot to root.
It not only rooted but grew, made me a happy person.
Left photo: this is what it looked like on March 24, 2012, after 2+ months
Center photo: this is what it looked like on April, 14, 2012
Right photo: decided to bump it up to a larger pot
This is what it looked like on July 31, 2012
Wondering if the ginger rhizome grew? Tempted to dig and see, but am afraid to disturb it. Also must decide whether I want to keep it through the winter as a houseplant to see if it survives. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
This is what it looked like on October 27, 2012
Should have brought it indoor early September while the leaves were still all green
Since the leaves started to die, decided to leave it outdoor until first frost, then brought it into the garage where it remained until yesterday.
This is what it looked like on January 6, 2013
This is what I harvested yesterday, 1/6/13, weighed slightly under 4 ounces
(the original starting piece, it broke off, weighed under 1 ounce)
The plant was growing in an 8-inch diameter container, the ginger rhizome probably would have grown bigger if the container was larger.
Am going to replant a small section to see if it will grow (may not, as the rhizome does not appear fully mature), will see. Using the remainder for cooking.
Conclusion to this year long experiment is: Yes, even with our short growing season, ginger, a very slow growing tropical plant, can be grown successfully in the Hudson Valley both in the garden and in a container.
I will start rooting the ginger rhizomes for growing in the garden mid-February/early- March for transplanting early June when the soil is warm.
Must remember to bring the one in the container indoor early September to see if it will continue to grow through the winter.
Despite the frigid weather, my heath is blooming through the snow
(wish I had removed the brown leaves and twigs before taking the photo)
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Ginger update
Garden to Wok 
I also planted a ginger rhizome this past spring in a pot. It took it forever to surface and develop top growth, but it eventually did. It is still in my greenhouse and has recently died back. I am going to just leave it in the pot, remove the dead vegetation and give it a feed in the spring and see if I do better with it in a second year of growing.
Hello Laura,
Is your greenhouse heated during the winter? Yes, the ginger rhizome takes forever to surface and develop top growth, from your experiment it appears the plant will die back. Did you check to see if the rhizome developed new growth?
Beautiful flowers! I love the ginger update. Glad it grew for you.
Hello Barbie,
Thanks, I was excited when I saw the new growth.
Oh how fun! Don’t you love it when something is successful like this. And this looks like something I could even grow. We use a lot of ginger, so this might be a fun one for us. 🙂
Hello Kristy,
I am sure you can grow ginger successfully. Tried for a few years but could not get the ginger rhizome from the food market to grow, decided to give the health food store ones a try and imagine my excitement when I saw top growth, now why did I not think of the health food store before?
Norma! I’m so encouraged to read your post today on your ginger experiment. I’ve done this in UK in the past, and I failed miserably:( but you showed me that I could try it once again, this time in Bulgaria! …Coudn’t wait for spring to arrive!!
Hello Annie,
Don’t know the length of your growing season, but ginger requires a very long growing season and takes forever to develop top growth, reason I start indoors in January/February.
I would love to try to grow ginger. What I really want is the young ginger for pickling. I can’t find anywhere that sells young ginger even the huge Hmart that sells everything under the sun.
Hello Daphne,
Harvest while the leaves are still green to get young ginger. I did get a few young ginger from the pieces I planted in the garden, but I misplaced my notes and was unable to write a post. Will be trying again this year.
Young ginger is very seasonal, may be if you try Hmart in the spring or early summer. Are you near Quincy? I understand there is a huge Asian market there.
I would love to grow ginger too!
Hello Angie,
It is really easy to grow, just needs a long growing season, reason I start rooting indoor in the winter.
How interesting your experiment was, Norma. I guess the old saying “the deeper the pot the stronger the crop” holds true for ginger, too. It is much more slow growing than I had imagined. No wonder it is expensive in the stores.
Hello Betsy,
Oh yes, took forever for a tiny shoot to break through the soil surface, I thought the rhizome had rotted. Other than the long growing season, it is really easys to grow. I am going to grow quite a bit this year as I also want to harvest pink (young) ginger.
That is awesome Norma! I love that you are able to garden year-round.
Hello Alyssa,
I am sure you could grow ginger in one of your containers.
I was waiting to hear how your ginger experiment went. Thank you for sharing with us Norma
I may attempt to plant one myself this year. Thank you for the inspiration
Hello Sawsan,
You are welcome. Sorry you had to wait a whole year, but one cannot hurry a plant. Do grow some, really easy just remember it takes a long time to mature.
Gingerlicious success! I am so happy that ginger bulb grew for you. A year seems like a huge investment but so cool that you actually grew ginger. Does it taste any different than the store bought kind? It looks very fresh, and not nearly as woody as the kind we can buy here.
The heath is gorgeous, is it some relative to heather?
Hello Eva,
I was so excited when I found that clump of ginger. Requires a long growing season but really easy to grow. Going to plant quite a bit this year as I want to also harvest pink (young) ginger.
The piece I harvested taste fresh and sharp, not at all woody because it did not have sufficient time to mature.
Yes, heath and heather are in the same family, actually heath are sometimes mislabelled as heather.
I tried growing heather in all my gardens throughout the years (Stouffville, the Upper Beach in Toronto and Bloor West Village) and I have not had much success, but then perhaps I’m choosing the wrong variety. And the plants are so expensive (in BWV they sell a small pot for around $10 in the fall). I’ll have to Google the varieties and see if one if more appropriate to my garden then the one’s I’ve been trying.
Hello Eva,
I find the white flower variety is hardier than the pink. There is a pink next to the white, same age, same location but it is doing poorly, thought of getting rid of it but keep thinking it will do better next year.
Your local nursery should be selling variety that is suitable for your enviroment.
Thanks
It’s always cool to see things growing through the snow!
Hello YC,
Yes, it is cool, really brightens the winter landscape.
So cool Norma. You are an amazingly patient person to wait all this time for ginger to grow. It looks great. I am afraid I just go to Adams and buy their ginger!
Hello Phyllis,
The inquiring mind needed to know if it was possible to grow ginger in this part of the world.
Its fun to experiment plants that you think won’t do well in the climate that we are gardening in.
Hello Diana,
Yes, it is fun and very satisfying, knowledge is gained whether the experiment was a success or not.
Your ginger looks healthy and very well grown 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Hello Uru,
Thanks, it was a fun experiment.
Oh, look at that lovely, fresh ginger!!
Hello Celia,
It is a beautiful clump of fresh ginger. I was really pleased to find it.
I’m so surprised you were able to grow ginger with your climate! What a great experiment xx
Hello Charlie,
Thanks, I really enjoy the experiment and pleased with the results. I will be planting many more plants this year.
Congratulations! I live in a climate where ginger grows in the ground – tropical north Australia. I don’t harvest all of the ginger when the leaves start to die back, and you can harvest bits off the side without destroying the entire plant. Maybe if you kept some dormant in the pot it would be quicker to get started the following summer?
Hello Africanaussie,
I didn’t know if anything had form, so I dumped out the entire pot’s contents. This year I am going to use a larger pot and follow your suggestions, thanks.
Oh Norma, I am so jealous of your ginger…I tried to plant a while ago, but the squirrels kelp digging my rhizome out and exposing it…at the end I gave up and just collected a small young piece of ginger.
Happy 2013 and have a great week ahead!
Hello Juliana,
May be you can try again but put some chicken wire or some other protective covering over the pot so the squirrels cannot get to the rhizome. Happy 2013 to you too.
What a great lesson, both from you and so many of your readers who have had experience! Now I really have to try. Since the ginger plant is hardly the only thing growing in one’s garden, I don’t really mind patiently waiting for it to do its own thing 😉 ! Hmm, may try and grow out of season: once our wretched ‘catastrophic’ heatwave is over and one can think of other things than bushfires, methinks we’ll do a little experiment 😀 !
Hello Eha,
Glad you learn something from my post and my readers, I too learned from my readers, they are not only knowledgable but also generous with sharing their knowledge, bloggers sure a great bunch.
It is interesting to learn that ginger is so slow growing Norma. Thanks for sharing the results of your experiment!
Hello Barb,
Happy to share. The pieces I tried to root 2 months later never made any new rhyzome.
Success at last, Norma! I doubt that I would have kept trying after the initial setbacks you encountered. Good to see that your perseverance paid off.
Hello John,
It was exciting to find the clump of ginger rhizome. Definitely growing a lot this year, thinking 12 plants.
From what I remember of your cheese posts you are not one to give up, you will continue to try and try until you succeed.
I love ginger in my tea and I always have a fresh one in my place. I buy it and I must say that I was never thinking about a growing process of this small fellow. Thank you for sharing Norma.
Hello Marta,
You are welcome. I do visit your blog but still unable to post comment.
very cool! never thought to try growing it – thanks!
Hello Red Berries,
It was a interesting and easy experiment just needed to be patient.
Waw! Your ginger plant did well! That is lovely fresh looking ginger! I am going to to that next spring or Summer too! 🙂 Yeah!!! Lovely pics too!
Hello Sophie,
You have to start rooting about now, if you wait until spring or summer to root your ginger there will not be sufficient time for it form new growth. I was going to wait until next month to root mine but I think I am going to do so some time this week. I want some of my ginger to mature.
thanks for the great indo, Norma! x
Hello Sophie,
You are welcome.
An interesting experiment. Our short growing season is a challenge. I tried growing lemon grass in the garden in Maine. I dug it up when we closed the cottage for the season and have it in my potting shed but I can’t imagine how long it would take to get thick stalks for cooking.
Hello Karen,
My lemongrass did not grow thick stalks either, then frost came and took care of the whole plant before I had a chance to harvest any.
Yes, our short growing season is a challenge.
Oh wow! I love seeing the progression of your ginger, and am so impressed with what you ended up with. Now I really want to try this too! Love!!
Hello WV,
Do give it a try, it is a very slooooow growing process but I think you will enjoy the process.
I never seen a whole planted ginger before. Lots of love went into that. Looking forward to loving warming dishes from your kitchen using ginger. Take Care, BAM
Hello Bam,
I just planted the ginger rhizome, watered regularly and fertilize, was easy to grow.
Great experiment, I have been eating/drinking ginger milk curd every night, soooooooo good! It warms the body and I sleep very well without waking up in the middle of the night.
Hello Mac,
Thanks. Must go to your blog to check out your ginger milk curd.
I am hoping to get pink (young) ginger like you. How long does it take for you to get ginger to that stage?
Think I will try to root some ginger next week – thanks for sharing your methods. I’ll just hope that the local resident deer herd will leave it alone and it has a chance to mature outside come summertime.
Hello Ginny,
I think I will plant a piece in the deer’s path to see if they like it or not.