Planting ginger: Instructions & tips for cultivation

Ginger is very healthy and is becoming increasingly popular as a tea. You can find out here how you can plant ginger yourself and how to care for your ginger plant.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is becoming more well-known and popular as a spice from year to year. In the past, ginger was mostly consumed unconsciously through gingerbread spices and curry mixtures, meanwhile, however, more and more friends of healthy eating are enjoying freshly used food 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 the interesting taste, ginger also offers many health-promoting properties. Planting ginger is also not particularly complicated. Below are detailed instructions on how to plant fresh ginger.

plant ginger

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

Planting ginger: Step 1

Of course, to get started, you first need a piece of ginger. It is not so important whether the piece is a bit older and dried up. It also makes no difference whether the rhizome is whole or only parts are used. However, keep in mind that a large rhizome will develop into a large plant more quickly and the fresher the piece, the better it will grow. It can also be an advantage if you catch a piece that is already easily expelled. When cutting fresh propagation pieces from a rhizome, allow them to 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 is. Plants always know where "up" is. After that, the soil is watered lightly 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.

Planting ginger: Step 3

Depending on the light and heat supply, the plant now develops stately green leaves very quickly. In the warm summer months and after getting used to the direct sun, ginger can even be placed outside, but the temperatures at night should not fall below 12 °C. If you're lucky, you might also witness the beautiful ginger flowers growing straight from the rhizome. When the days get shorter, the green shoots often say goodbye to the ginger. But that's not a problem. The rhizomes are overwintered in the pot at 10 °C, whereby the soil must be dry. In spring, new and fresh shoots sprout from the rhizomes. However, you have to be patient with the harvest. In its homeland with perfect conditions, ginger takes about eight months to harvest. But even if the harvest is not huge, you still have a great ornamental plant.

Planting ginger in a pot: summary

We have summarized how you can easily plant ginger in a pot in bullet points:

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

Origin and history of ginger

The ginger plant is a very old spice and medicinal plant. Although its exact origin is unknown, it is certain that ginger was cultivated before our era. Already 2,800 BC Chr. Chinese Emperor Shennong mentioned ginger in a book on medicinal herbs. Known in Asia for a long time as a valuable medicinal plant, Arabian traders also brought the 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.