How to Grow Ginger

Days to germination: Not grown from seed
Days to harvest: 8 to 10 months
Light requirements: Light shade, or filtered sun
Water requirements: Regular and frequent watering
Soil: Rich and well-drained soil
Container: Suitable, and necessary for many climates

Introduction

Ginger is an herb grown for its roots, or more accurately the rhizomes that grow under the ground. Colder regions will have to grow their ginger indoors, but you can have it out in the garden between zones 7 and 10.

As a spice, its zesty flavor is used in many dishes, and is particularly common in Asian cuisine. You can also use ginger in sweeter things like baked foods or drinks.

There aren’t a lot of traditional nutrients in ginger, but it is a common natural remedy for nausea and upset stomach. Candied ginger is a tasty sweet, and can be eaten by pregnant women to help with morning sickness.

Starting from Seed

Ginger isn’t started from seeds, but from fresh pieces of rhizomes or tubers. In fact, you can just buy fresh ginger from the grocery store and plant that. Choose ones that are plump and not starting to dry out or shrivel.

You can soak it overnight in water, but don’t actually try to sprout it in water. Ginger roots needs to breathe, so after soaking it, bury the piece of root in rich potting soil. Plant it about 4 inches deep and keep it moist without soaking it until it sprouts. If your piece of ginger has any little buds or knobs on it, turn it so those are pointing upward when you plant it.

The best time to start your roots is in late winter, so they are ready to plant out in the garden in early spring. For ginger to be grown exclusively indoors, the timing is still important because growing plants need the summer sunlight.

For outdoor plants, you could plant your roots directly outside to sprout but they run the risk of being dug up by rodent pests. Let your plants get started inside and then transplant.

Transplanting

Keep your plants approximately 10 to 14 inches apart, in a location that will have your plants out of the direct sunlight for most of the day. A little shade is good especially if its during the hottest parts of the summer. Your plants can grow around 3 feet in height.

Ginger cannot stand to have soggy roots, so the place you do your planting must have good drainage. Avoid any low-lying areas where water accumulates if you are growing outdoors.

For heavier soils, add a little sand to keep the water from building up around the roots. Overly sandy soils will be low on nutrients, so you need to strike a balance with ginger.

Growing Instructions

To keep the soil moist, add a heavy layer of mulch around the base of the plant once it’s growing well. Not only will that help to add some humidity for your plant, but the weeds will have a harder time as well. Ginger roots grow close to the surface, so you want to keep cultivating and weeding to a minimum or you will disturb the rhizomes.

Water fairly often without drowning it. The soil should always be moist, so give your ginger a watering 2 or 3 times a week.

Don’t be surprised if your plants don’t flower. It takes ginger 2 years or more to flower, and you are going to be digging up your plant after less than a year.

Containers

Each ginger plant should have a pot around 8 inches across, or you can grow more than one if you have a larger container. They don’t suffer much if they are a bit crowded.

Use very light potting soil, and add extra gravel to the bottom to help with drainage. Your potted plants should be kept in a sunny place, but not necessarily right in a south-facing window. Filtered light, with a bit of shading later in the day is ideal.

Pests and Diseases

The infamous cutworms are sometimes a problem with ginger, particularly if you have other vegetables around to attract them. Unfortunately, they can cut through a young plant almost overnight. If you are growing your ginger outdoors, you may want to place a little cardboard collar around the base of the stem to keep the caterpillars off.

Overall, ginger is a very disease-resistant plant so you shouldn’t have any mysterious problems to deal with. If left in wet soil too often, your plant can develop root rot or various kinds of leaf fungus. When a plant starts to wilt for no visible reason, gently dig down and make sure the roots are healthy and firm. Once they start to rot, you may not be able to save the plant. Let the soil dry out somewhat and add a fungicide to the soil.

Harvest and Storage

Be patient with your ginger. You will have nearly a full year before its time to harvest a new crop of roots.

The easiest way to harvest ginger roots is to wait until the plant begins to die down after about 8 or even 10 months, and dig up the entire plant.

If you can’t wait that long, you can cut away some of the rhizomes with careful digging without actually uprooting the entire plant. It’s a bit awkward to do in a container, but works better outdoors.

This kind of early ginger is called “green ginger” and is much more tender than later ginger. It’s milder in flavor and won’t even need to be peeled.

Once you washed off the dirt, you can store your roots (without peeling them) in the fridge inside a plastic bag with a damp towel. It will store for up to 3 weeks without losing any flavor.

You can also freeze whole rhizomes, and just grate off what you need without having to thaw the entire piece. It will lose some of its texture this way, but your ginger will last a very long time.

Drying ginger is another option, though it works best if you slice the roots thinly rather than try to dry the entire rhizome. Use a commercial dehydrator or an aoven set on low. You can dry ginger in the sun but it will almost certainly attract insects.

23 Responses to “How to Grow Ginger”

Mary Dewey Says:
July 17th, 2012 at 7:35 pm
Good information. I have purchased a variety of ginger from a lady in Louisiana,and plan to have beautiful butterfly and coral ginger in the shaded areas of the yard. Thank you for sharing.
thomas Says:
December 12th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
great info
will start soon
James Harrison Says:
March 2nd, 2013 at 9:04 am
We have some ginger that has started to sprout. Can they tubers be divided as you do a potato?
Cat Says:
March 14th, 2013 at 6:44 pm
Thanks so much for this information on growing ginger. I had often wondered if I could grow this root. Now, I look very much forward to growing it. I would like to try a variety of types. I wasn’t aware of the variety. Good infer and thanks for the extra tips.
Reg Kempnich Says:
July 12th, 2013 at 9:53 pm
Great Information We were the first to grow Ginger in Maleny Qld for The Buderim Ginger Factory in the early 19 Seventies to offset the downturn in the cattle industry. It was very successful.
Reg Kempnich Says:
July 12th, 2013 at 10:18 pm
excellent information. we were the first to grow ginger in Maleny Qld for the Buderim Ginger Factory, in the early 19 seventies due to the downturn in the cattle industry.
It was very successful
Kim Says:
August 31st, 2013 at 10:41 am
This is great info! I’m from northern Minnesota.
After I start it in a pot can I just move the pot outside on my deck in the summer then back inside when it gets cold?

Kim
leo g king Says:
October 4th, 2013 at 7:25 am
i am a ginger fanatic +love to use it in as many of my cooking recipes as i can,but, the price of ginger in the stores limit my purchases to a minimum .i live in west virginia in zone 6 + would like to grow my own.is it possible to grow it in containers for most of it’s growth +then transplant in the garden for the warmest time o the year to finish it’s growth?
Samual Says:
February 18th, 2014 at 1:50 am
Thank you for info. I am in the South Island of New Zealand.
The ginger we are going to grow will be in a tunnel house all year. Really looking forward to first harvest.
Julie Says:
April 7th, 2014 at 11:02 pm
Hi. I was given some ginger from a friend back in late Oct, it appears to be doing very well [I’m in Brisbane Qld]. It is just starting to flower. Do I harvest some or all of it, leave it to flower or what? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
Akankwatsa Arnold Says:
January 27th, 2015 at 4:55 am
hallo.
that was nice information and if there is anyone who would want us to partnership and grow it on a large scale because i have grown it but we need on a large scale and i have a lot of land but little capital(funds) and am in Uganda or call +256777388112.
Thanks
Ann Moore Says:
May 22nd, 2015 at 11:20 am
very good information from questions as well as site. thanks for both.
Ann
Ann Moore Says:
May 22nd, 2015 at 11:27 am
This site answered many of my questions about growing giner. However I read the information after planting five roots in pots. Now I’ll go pull them up and replant them right way! Thanks.
Ann
Kiran Says:
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:40 am
Wonderfull information
Trisha Baumann Says:
August 27th, 2015 at 5:05 am
These instructions will hopefully allow me to grow some ginger, living in South Aus, can I grow ginger in our full summer, or do I need it to be in partial sun/shade, or one or the other??
Many thanks,
Trisha
Helen Says:
September 7th, 2015 at 1:02 pm
Great information! Thank you!
What do ginger blossoms look like?
Helen Says:
September 7th, 2015 at 1:20 pm
Our condo building has a mass of 4 – 5 foot ginger
plants that have small, slightly fragrant white bells with dark pink rims. The large leaves are variegated. I can’t find any informaton on them. Does anyone know the name, and whether they are edible? Thanks
becky thomas Says:
July 9th, 2016 at 10:15 am
Im trying to find out about a plant in my flower bed that looks like ginger.I want to if there are other plants that look like it that could be toxic if eaten. and if its ok to put my shell ginger close to it to grow. also is it eatable.Tks
Macho Man Says:
November 9th, 2016 at 6:33 pm
Very informative!!!
Macho Man Says:
November 9th, 2016 at 6:35 pm
You’re a NERD!!! Don’t study too much. :))
Hellen Says:
February 1st, 2017 at 2:11 am
very helpful information. will try over the weekend. Am a daily user of ginger and is expensive to buy. Again I realize it takes so long to mature but will be patient enough.
Enos Mutowela Makunga siwakwi Says:
October 4th, 2017 at 7:12 am
Thank you for this very important information about ginger. I must say that it is very useful information. However, I have a question to ask: Is it ideal to grow ginger using compost manure? I a piece of land – 30mtr x 30mtrs which I want to use to grow ginger. What is your advise?

Regards
Enos

Zambia
Thommi Says:
February 22nd, 2018 at 3:49 am
I have a question about ginger. I invested money in a ginger grow and was told that it takes only (as much as) 10 months for it to be ready to harvest. I can see from this great article that is correct as the article says 8-10 months.
The ginger was planted November 2016 so I reckon it’s been (at least 13 (up to 15) months since planting. The planter told me that the market is not good to sell right now so they will leave it in the soil until the market value is higher, then harvest and sell. As far as I know it is in pots which are sitting directly on the soil. Planter says it will be ok and can stay in the ground even longer. The crop is being grown in a sub-tropical environment in Southeast Asia. Is this scenario plausible, can ginger be in soil that long and still be fine. Thank-you so very much for any information you could provide about it.