I've got 4 varieties of gingers. I've had them for a year and a half and they won't bloom. I have them in my Arizona room that gets plenty of light. One or them has grown over 6 ft high. What am I doing wrong?
Help, my ginger's won't boom
What type of Ginger, how much light, what is an Arizona room, do you have pictures? Help us out and we will try to do the same.
An Arizona room is a sun room, basically a covered patio with a glass wall.
I've got a Costus Hedychuim- Dr Moy, and I don't remember the other names but here's a picture of the the one.
In that picture ..that ginger is a Costus of some kind.. Costus is a swirling growing type ginger..Dr. Moy would be a variegated Hedychium. here is a link http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/79909/
Soit looks like my alkali water is to blame. I guess I need to add some acid fertilizer.
The Costus in the picture looks healthy but they may get several feet tall before they bloom.
Costus generally bloom on 2nd year (old) canes, like Alpinia. There are exceptions, but its mostly the rule. So maybe you need to wait a bit longer.
Ack ... no wonder I haven't gotten a bloom out of mine .. do you know which costus species blooms on new canes?
Most of the ones I had did bloom every year, then again I lost every Costus that was planted in the ground last Winter. Most of the ones I had were rated for zone 8. I think it was the wet more than the cold, that got them. There is a lot of Costus that are rated zone 9 and higher. Costus pictus bloomed every year.
Thanks .. I'll be patient .. all my costus are from from you .. so I won't give up .. I usually end up sending old wood blooming gingers to my stepmother or stepsister.
Costus barbatus takes 2 cycles.
Costus curvibracteatus is variable, will sometimes bloom on new growth but usually takes 2 cycles
Costus spicatus blooms on one cycle
Costus subsessillis (which is not tha one you have) blooms on one cycle
Costus woodsonii usually takes 2 cycles but will sometimes bloom on one
Costus Maroon Chalice and Emerald Chalice take two.
Costus varzareum takes 2
Some of these are like bananas. Its not actually two years, its a bloom cycle thing. Most food bananas take 18 months to mature enough to produce a stalk of fruit. Some longer, some shorter. But 18 months is simply not in th ereach of most outdoor gardeners here in the USA to give bananas unless you live in a very few places. So many of us get large trees in spring-summer-fall but no bananas because cold weather comes too soon.
Its the same with these gingers. They may not need two complete cycles, but they would need the same warmth, same prolonged sunny summer days, as opposed to shorter winter days, etc to think about blooming
Thanks! Great info. Hopefully my Costus won't be travelling to Lauderdale.
I never thought of putting them in the ground. I'm zone 9 but we get over 100 for a month straight. I do have trouble with pots.
I lived in continual frustration before I discovered this fact. I waited and waited for blooms on some of my more unusual gingers...the Etlingeras, Costus stenophyllus, Costus longibracteatus, Alpinia purpurata Polynesian Princess etc...and I found that I just had to wait it out. It took a full 5 years in the ground for my Costus stenophyllus to start to bloom. It took about 3 or so for the Kiss of Death. After waiting an eternity with Polynesian Princess and enduring small cigar size blooms I was finally set to get some big ones when the entire plant went dormant and defoliated this winter in the cold. Not its starting over, from scratch, with the other 2.
wow! this is just the thread that i have been look for and it's even the right climate. i am on the other side of town from redheadclan. i have grown my gingers in the ground for a couple of years now. they survive the cold winters that we can get here in tucson. they get lots of sun. probably too much direct sun. i decided to put some in a bed that has better soil and gets watered constantly. still no blooms! just new shoots. i am having a problem where the upper most blade dies back for some reason. however, the stalk is still good further down. i have since dug up some starts and placed them in pots in hopes that they do better when crowded. i guess it looks like i just need to be patient and keep them moist and fed.
would it help if i started out with a larger clump that has already bloomed? i am growing the white butterfly and a couple of other varieties.
i was wondering if lack of humidity might be a factor for us in the arizona desert?
Gingers are not desert plants, they like good watering and high humidity. They like a few hours of good sun but too many hours of hot dry AZ sun is a bit too much to ask. I would think they would do better under a good shade tree and very rich soil. My White Butterfly are just now starting to bloom and it has been hot and dry here this year, not as dry as AZ but dry for east Texas.
thanks for the response kenboy. i dug them. now i have some in pots with sta-green all purpose potting mix. they are under this shade structure. hopefully, they will respond favorably. my friend is sending me some large clumps of kahili, giant moth and yellow moth from socal this week. even though they will be much larger than what i have now, i don't expect anything much will happen. i just need to get them established and wait. thx!
