You need a bit of experience to properly harvest the healthy ginger rhizome. We show when and how to harvest ginger correctly.
How tempting is autumn when the apples slowly turn red and the grape harvest begins in the vineyards. Also for that ginger (Zingiber officinale) The time has now come. As a tropical plant, it likes it hot and sunny, but with a bit of luck you can also reap a rich harvest at home.
Harvest ginger
The heart beats faster when the ginger is finally ready to be harvested. Now it remains to be seen whether the summer was also worth it for the ginger. In agricultural cultivation in Asia and Africa, ginger is harvested after about eight months of growth, depending on how it has been further processed. This is a lot of work because the harvest itself is mostly manual labor. Large harvesting machines are only used in a few growing areas in Australia.
Harvesting ginger: when is harvest time?
If the ginger was planted in February, the eight months would be over in October. The leaves will soon begin to turn yellow and slowly die off. If you want to dry the ginger or use it for tea, the best time for harvesting coincides with the start of the leaves turning yellow. For fresh ginger, however, you should harvest a little before this time, when the leaves of the plant are still green.
Unfortunately, the yield is usually much lower than in tropical and subtropical countries, as the conditions there are of course better than in the home garden or on the balcony. So if you are still not satisfied after eight months, you can overwinter the ginger in a dry, cool and frost-free place and harvest it for the next year. In theory, you can harvest ginger all year round, the only question is how much it is worth, because the rhizome takes time to grow. For a small piece of fresh ginger - as a pre-harvest, so to speak - there should be enough rhizome even in summer.
Harvesting ginger: instructions
Harvesting ginger is not that complicated. Once you've planted your ginger in a pot, carefully pull the plant out. It is best to carefully dig up exposed ginger plants with a spade. Prick in a circle around the plant at some distance, then dig out the inside of the circle. Now the most exciting moment of the harvest has come. When you shake the earth off, you can consider your first own ginger. Before this is ready for the kitchen, however, you have to remove the shoots and roots that are sprouting from the rhizome. After cleaning, it is ready to be processed.
How do you follow your Store ginger properly and preserve it find out here.
