How To Grow Ginger in Pots : Care, Uses and Benefits
Are you looking for easy tips on how to grow ginger in pots? If so, you are lucky as today, we are about to show you how one can grow this amazing spice or herb indoors in pots. As is well known, ginger has pungent flavor which is used for reducing inflammation. It has many antibiotic properties that help in retention of good health.
Since ginger has so many wonderful benefits, its always handy to have a handful of this in ready supply. And this is possible only when you grow these at home. Ginger is easily cultivable in pots and doesn’t require you to be a horticulturist.
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How to grow ginger in pots – some simple steps:
Pots and containers can come handy when you are planning to grow ginger indoors. The ginger roots grow easily in pots and for this, you have to buy fresh ginger rhizomes of 3 to 5 inches. Choose such roots that have green buds in them. If you have bought the roots from stores, make sure to soak them in water for a few hours to wash off any chemicals.
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Please go through these easy breezy steps that will help you a lot in understanding the whole process of growing ginger indoors:
1. Planting the Ginger root
Its spring time when growing ginger is most favorable, but with little care and some knowledge, you can plant these herbs in pots and containers at any time of the year. The roots or rhizomes have to be planted at least 1 inch in depth. Place the buds of the roots in an upward position. Once you have planted the roots, it will take a few weeks time before you start seeing tiny green plants emerge from them.
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Important points for planting the ginger root
Before you start planting your ginger, lets show you a few vital points that must be kept in mind. These include selection of a healthy ginger root, suitable pot, well draining soil, and a few points for care and upkeep of ginger plants.
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1. The first step is to select a big and shallow pot or container. This is an important consideration as the roots of ginger grow horizontally as opposed to vertical growth of other herbs.
2. You can buy a 30/30 cm pot that has drainage holes for prevention of water logging.
3. Next, the selected pot has to be prepared. You can add potting soil that drains well so as to avoid water logging of the rhizomes.
4. Also, fill potting soil that is sandy as such sand will allow proper water drainage.
5. While mixing potting soil, make sure to add two important ingredients namely – vermiculite and perlite. These help in enabling drainage.
6. Next, pick a healthy looking ginger rhizome or root. For a ginger root to be planted in a pot, the root has to be living. You can get the root from your garden or from a store. The root, if bought from a store has to be soaked in water overnight.
7. Soaking of roots enables proper germination.
8. The ginger root selected must be firm and tight comprising of many eye buds.
9. When planting the roots, position these in an upward manner so that the buds face towards the sky. Once the filling of potting soil is done, its time for the planting of the roots.
10. Keep the space consideration in mind. In case two or more ginger roots are being planted, keep a gap of 6 to 8 inches between each.
11. Once root planting is done, you need to cover the roots with 2.5 to 5 cm of soil. Make sure to cover the whole root.
12. Watering of the roots is vital for proper germination. Once planted, the whole soil has to be watered thoroughly. While doing it, make sure you don’t create any lumpiness in the soil. The water must be absorbed fully.
Also Read: How To Grow Cucumbers Vertically to Maximize Space
2. Ginger plant care tips
Ginger grows easily but you do have to take proper care in order to ensure that you get the best yield. There are a few important points to be kept in mind while growing these. All of the steps of plant care are easy to follow and any first timer can try these.
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Important points to bear in mind when taking care of ginger plant
1. Over exposure to direct sunlight can cause the ginger to turn green. That’s why you must choose a spot in your home that is suitably warm and receives indirect sunlight.
2. The optimal temperature to be maintained is between 60 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Keep the soil always moist. For this, use a spray bottle to mist the soil daily. However, refrain from over watering as it may harm the ginger root.
4. After watering, comes the turn of adding compost to your ginger pot. Add multipurpose compost or organic as you deem fit. Compost is added to keep the roots warm and healthy. Compost must be added to the top of the soil once every month to keep it healthy. You can add 8 to 10 cm of compost for this purpose.
5. Look out for signs of ill health. A ginger plant may become sick due to many reasons, and that is why you need to keep a check on its growth. In case you have over watered the plant, it may change to yellow color and its a sure shot sign of ill growth.
6. If the tips of the leaves of the ginger plant turn brown, it usually means you have over fertilized the plant.
3. Harvesting the Ginger
It usually takes eight to ten months before you can see fully grown ginger roots, ready to be harvested. The first signs of full harvest arrive when you see your ginger plant leaves turning yellow.
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Some vital points to remember when your ginger roots reach harvest
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Patience is a sign of virtue and this truly holds true for growing ginger indoors. A ginger root generally reaches full harvest in 8 to 10 months time, and you need to wait for a few months after you have planted the roots in pots or containers. Some primary points to keep in mind are:
1. Ginger is known to grow slowly and you have to wait for a few months to see it reach full harvest. After planting the rhizomes, you will have to wait at least two to three weeks when you should expect to see tiny shoots coming through the soil bed.
2. Wait more for a couple of months thereafter.
3. The first signal of full harvest is when you see the ginger stems standing 8 to 13 cm tall.
4. Once you locate the stems that have reached their maximum height, cut off some of the rhizomes after you have located them buried under the soil. Use a small knife to clip off a piece of the ginger.
5. Once you have cut off some pieces of ginger, put back the rhizomes into the soil. This is done to enable them to grow further.
6. Water the soil daily as well as keep adding compost. This will help in continuous growth of your ginger plant.
Also Read: How To Grow Bell Peppers Indoors From Seeds
4. Some uses and benefits of ginger
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Ginger is a therapeutic spice or herb used in treating many common ailments that affect humans. Apart from adding a distinct taste to your food, it also helps in preventing many harmful diseases of the body. Ginger is a power house of essential bio active compounds and is used by people for curing several disorders of the throat, bones as well as for boosting immunity. Let’s point out some of the health benefits of ginger:
1. Ginger offers instant relief to people suffering from a sore throat and common cold. There are many ways to use ginger to treat these common problems, like, adding fresh or dried ginger to tea, or having it in juice, or mixing it with warm honey.
2. Ginger helps in digesting food and boosts metabolism.
3. It helps preventing nausea in pregnant women.
4. Since it has anti inflammatory properties, ginger helps in reducing muscle aches and pain.
5. Ginger helps in lowering blood sugar levels if diabetics consume 2 grams of ginger powder every day.
Final Thoughts
This super beneficial herb is slow to grow, but, anyone can grow these at home with these simple steps. There are only a few steps that are associated with growing ginger in pots, but, these must be followed as a daily ritual if you wish to see healthy ginger growth indoors. Please go through this post carefully and learn how to grow ginger in pots without any hitches.
