How to Grow Lots of Ginger in Containers

Ginger is a superfood. We all love ginger and use it in most of our dishes. We also make different kinds of tea using ginger. The most popular tea of ginger is weight loss tea and headache tea.

Growing ginger at home is not that hard. Sure we have to wait and be patient to get our first harvest of ginger. We can grow ginger in the ground in a raised bed and in containers. In this article, I will try to cover the topic of growing ginger in containers.

Watch Tutorial To Grow Ginger

Also Read: 20 Easy Vegetables To Grow In Grow Tent

When To Grow Ginger?

To be successful in growing ginger in containers, the season is a very important factor. Ginger grows best in the summer and the best time to plant ginger is in mid-spring.

You can also plant ginger in May or June, but at the time of harvest, your ginger will not mature enough. But you can still use that harvest in your dishes.

What To Plant In Containers?

Get a fat piece of ginger of at least 2 inches long and 2 inches wide. You don’t have to worry about finding eyes on ginger as you do on potatoes.

You can plant ginger in any way and it will grow.
Break the fat piece of ginger into pieces for optimal planting. Do not break the piece into pieces if it is already small.
Do not plant the ginger piece immediately after breaking into pieces. The wound of ginger can get infected and will die in the soil. Plant after 1 to 2 days, so the wound can heal.

If you are buying ginger from a nursery or any plant store, you are good to go. But if you are buying from a supermarket or grocery store, you have to keep the ginger in water for a few hours.
Because some stores use inhibitor sprays to stop the growth in ginger to increase the shelf life.
If your ginger from the store is wrinkly and looks old, you can keep it in water and then plant it. But if a piece looks too wrinkly or old, don’t plant that piece, cook it and eat it.

How To Prepare The Soil To Grow Ginger In Containers?

Ginger loves loose soil. You cannot use the topsoil of the garden, which is compact and have less drainage. You can either buy potting soil to grow in a container or can make your own DIY potting soil.

Potting soil is very loose soil, has more drainage, more water holding capacity and also contains tons of nutrients for plants.

Most people use the mixture of 70% compost (DIY homemade or ready-made), 10% coconut coir and 20 percent dirt or soil. You can use the mixture to grow ginger in pots or learn these guides to make your compost and potting soil.

Also Read:

How To Make Compost At Home Using Kitchen And Garden Wastes

How To Make Potting Soil At Home For Container Gardening

How To Select Container To Grow Ginger?

The selection of a container is also very important. Small containers are not good to grow ginger. Select slightly bigger pots for growing ginger in them.

A 5 bucket gallon or a pot of 12 inches deep and 10 inches in diameter can do the trick. You can also use grow bags for growing ginger. Grow bags are a great choice. They are easily available and cheap.

How To Plant Ginger In Containers?

After the selection of good and fat pieces of ginger (wounds of ginger should heal), a good-sized container, bucket, pot or grow bag and potting soil, its time to plant ginger.

Fill your container with potting soil.

Plant your piece of ginger about one inch deep. Do not keep your piece ginger right at the surface of potting soil, it can cause dryness (because of too much sun) and death at the end.
Also do not bury the pieces too much in the soil. Pieces will not germinate if you bury too deep. Because they receive no sunlight and water.
You can plant 2 to 3 pieces of ginger in one good-sized container.

After planting the ginger, give them water in the right manner and make sure the ginger does not sit in the pool of water and rot at the end.

How Much Sun Does A Ginger Plant Need?

The location of your container is the next important thing. Ginger is a sun-loving crop. 5 to 6 hours of sunlight is great for ginger plants. If your location is receiving a ton of sunlight, the leaves will face sunburn.

If you saw the symptoms of sunburn on leaves, its time to change the location from full sun to half shady location. Ginger will grow best at half shady location.

How To Water Ginger Plants?

Ginger plants are water-loving plants. You should always keep an eye on the moisture level of the soil. The soil should not be dry at any point. Keep watering the plants.

You should use a shower to give a bath to plants in extreme summer. Remember to give them a shower early in the morning. If you give them a shower after daytime, the water on leaves can cause fungal infections.

How Long Does It Take To Grow Ginger?

After 2 weeks the shoot of ginger pops out of the soil and start to grow. After a month the ginger plant should grow up to 6 inches and have thick stick leaves.

Ginger can take 8 to 10 months in getting fully mature. So you should kee that time period on your mind before planting the ginger. If the growing season is short in your area, it can cause a problem for your plants.

So you may have to keep your plants in a greenhouse or indoor (using grow light) to keep them safe from frost. Even cold nights can stop the growth of your plants and start killing the leaves. Remember ginger plants love the hot and humid climate.

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How To Harvest Ginger?

As I mentioned above, ginger will be ready to harvest in 8 to 10 months. But you can harvest them after 6 months. At this time, ginger will not be fully matured with thick brown skin. 6-month-old ginger is called as young ginger.

If you want fully mature ginger with thick and hard skin, you should wait 8 to 10 months. Before harvesting, make sure the soil is dry in the container. Just remove the dry soil and harvest your crop.