Growing Ginger Indoors During the Winter Months

Having a lot of ginger in the kitchen is one of my favorite things to do. Luckily, this tropical plant is easy to grow indoors all year, even in Vermont’s long, cold winters.

Life in the Vermont mountains is beautiful. But because I live in the north, many plants that do well in hot places don’t do well in my garden.

I didn’t want to give up on all of my favorites, so I did the next best thing: I brought them inside.

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All ginger needs is filtered sunlight, warm and humid weather, and rich and moist soil. If you can mimic these conditions inside your house, you can grow it in just about any climate!.

To begin, find a big, wide pot for planting that has good drainage holes and a tray or saucer to put under it. Although it has shallow roots, this plant requires significant space to grow and spread.

A shallow pot is fine as long as it is at least 12 inches wide. You should also look for a container that is easy to move around, since you might want to do that inside your home or outside when the weather gets warmer.

You’ll also need a few small stones to put in the tray or saucer that the container will sit on. This allows for good drainage and maintains humidity around the plant.

Next, source some ginger roots. You want to look for firm roots that look plump and juicy, not shriveled or withered. Try to find large, fat chunks, at least two inches long and two inches wide.

You may have luck sourcing the roots from nurseries, garden centers, or seed companies. Plants are available from Burpee.

Look for roots with multiple budding eyes. These should look like little nodes sticking out from the skin, similar to the eyes of potatoes.

Ask a friend who has ginger plants if they can cut you a few pieces of a rhizome. They will likely be happy to share. A supply will easily grow and spread once it is set up, and a few chunks of root won’t be missed.

While not ideal, it is also possible to grow from roots purchased at the grocery store. Getting a good crop might take a few tries with different roots because the results will be different each time.

If you do decide to use ginger from the store, make sure it is organic. Ginger that is grown in a conventional way is sometimes treated with an inhibitor to stop it from sprouting.

You’ll also need a well draining, nutrient rich potting soil. Alternatively, a coconut coir or peat moss soilless mix combined with organic compost or vermiculture would work well.

Start by soaking the roots in warm water overnight. Cut each root into pieces in the morning, making sure that each piece has at least one growing eye.

The size of each section will be dependent on the number of eyes on the root. As time goes on, these eyes will grow, so the more you cut, the more plants you will have.

Place the root sections about 5 inches apart on top of the soil in your pot, making sure the buds point up. Fill the pot most of the way up with potting mix.

Add another two inches of potting mix on top, and water the plant until the soil feels damp but not wet.

Put the pot somewhere warm that gets at least five hours of filtered, indirect sunlight every day. Ginger grows best in wet, rainy, and partly shaded places where it comes from, so it doesn’t need a lot of bright, direct sun.

This plant can be very slow to propagate. It may take from three to eight weeks for shoots to appear. Watch, wait, and keep the soil moist but not waterlogged.

Instead of planting in an open container, you might be able to speed up the sprouting process by making a mini greenhouse with a warm, humid environment that stays that way.

Choose a flat seed tray with a clear plastic lid or a clear plastic takeout container. Poke a few holes in the bottom to let water drain and in the top to let oxygen in.

Add a couple of inches of potting soil, then put your cuttings in. Cover with another 1/2 inch of soil. Water well and replace the plastic lid. Keep warm and moist until you begin to see green shoots.

Caring for Your Plants

The key to growing ginger in containers is to mimic natural conditions as much as possible. This means it needs to be kept warm, moist, and well fed.

The ideal temperature for this plant is around 75°F. Where in your house should you put the plant so it can get some sun? It should be away from drafty doors and fireplaces and maybe next to a well-insulated south-facing window.

Put your container on the tray you made with small stones and a little water in the bottom to keep the humidity up.

The water will continually evaporate, adding moisture to the air around the plant. Since the pot won’t be sitting in water, the stones will keep the soil from getting soggy and your plants from dying.

When watering, it is important to make sure make sure the soil is moist but draining well. Soil should be damp to the touch, but not soaking wet. When the soil feels dry to the touch, mist the top of it with water from a spray bottle.

This plant needs fresh compost every time more stems appear and the leaves get taller. This will keep it healthy and happy.

You can feed it once a month with a balanced all-purpose organic liquid fertilizer when it’s making a lot of leaves and growing quickly.

You can hope that your plant will grow to be two to three feet tall, with pretty tropical leaves and maybe even a flower or two.

However, the rhizomes won’t be fully grown for about eight months. You can start picking small pieces of the young roots three to four months after they start to grow.

To get small pieces as needed, take off some of the soil around the edges of the pot and feel around carefully for the rhizomes.

Once you find one, use a good pair of scissors to cut off the part you need from the outside. Then, carefully put the rest of the root back into the ground.

Leave at least a couple of inches of rhizome attached to the stalk to keep it alive. This will let the plant keep growing and make more roots. Make sure the rhizomes have a few weeks to heal before you harvest from the same plant again.

Because you are taking good care of your plants, you should be able to keep harvesting this way forever!

You can also pull up a whole plant and harvest the root as a whole if you need a bigger harvest. That’s best done in the fall or winter, when the leaves start to fall off.

You can start the process over as long as you cut off and save a few pieces of rhizome to plant again.

If the leaves start to fade and die over time, just take out the whole rhizome and replant a few pieces, making sure to add some fresh compost to the mix to give the plants the nutrients they need.

• You can use a heat mat set to 70–75°F to warm the soil if your house is cool when you plant. Remove the mat as soon as sprouts appear.

• When you first plant ginger, do not over water. To keep the soil from drying out, all that needs to be done is to lightly mist it. When the shoots poke through the ground, you can give them more water. If you want to make sure the soil drains well, give it some water.

• In the summer, you can move plants outside to give them some sun and air. Do this only when the temperature stays above 50°F at night and stays above 70°F during the day. Put the pot somewhere that will get some shade, like on a porch with a roof.

How to Grow Ginger in a cold climate Garden (Yes, You can!)

FAQ

Can you keep ginger as a houseplant?

What temperature is too cold for ginger?

How do you overwinter ginger in pots?

How to grow Ginger indoors?

INDOOR CLIMATE Growing ginger indoors allows you to mimic this plant ideal climate: filtered sunlight, warm weather, and humidity with rich moist soil. 2. SELECT A RHIZOME Start with the root – a rhizome – of an edible ginger plant. Look for a rhizome with growth bud eyes.

Can you grow ginger as a houseplant?

Although most flowering gingers are too large to grow as houseplants, you can keep them in your greenhouse or conservatory or grow them on a shaded deck or patio. In fact, most gingers have a longer bloom period if grown in large pots. Ginger blooms will last as cut flowers for as long as three weeks.

How do I grow my own ginger plant?

Growing your own ginger plant all starts by planting a ginger root. Ginger roots are rhizomes, which is nothing more than a fancy name for roots that continuously grow under the surface of the soil. While you can often find ginger root at grocery stores, it’s best to avoid using it for planting.