Someone gave me a bit of rhizome and we're not sure if it's Alpinia or Curcuma, but we're almost certain it's one or the other.
The root is dormant and the roots are darkish and only partially there, some are a little mushy. I think that's just from being in cool storage.
Will both these gingers start up now and grow indoors in winter or should I try to hold it over til spring?
Robert.
Starting a dormant ginger?
Bump!
Inquiring minds want to know!
Well. I shouldn't have tried to start it!
Although I received it during the summer, I guess it had been in cool storage or something, because it just rotted away. Sad but true.
Robert.
Robert, It was going to rot whether you potted it now or waited till spring. Once they
start rotting, it's hard to save them. I've tried cutting off the rotted portion and dusting them with rooting powder which has antiseptic qualities or something similiar.
That didn't work either. You should have seen the bulb. It was a tacca and it
was huge. The comp sent me a new one but it was also rotting. I believe it came
from T and M and I told them what I thought about it. I also said don't you know
what happens when you place a damp or wet bulb in cold storage. They acted like
the only bad bulb that was sent out was the one (2) I received. Yea right.
Sorry, I get mad every time I think about it.
Maybe you can order a new one from Stokes Tropicals in the spring.
Jackie
Thanks Jackie. :-)
I had intended to get some gingers form Stoke's in the spring. Love their selection.
Robert.
I didn't see this thread earlier. When I have had new dormant tubers of gingers lately I start them off in a heated propogator. The kaempferias respond well to this method, but both I have had looked healthy.
A Hedychium forestii I got early in spring I put in a pot in a loose compost mix and only just kept it moist, with the rhizome barely covered. I kept it under a window in a spare bedroom until the weather improved then put it in the greenhouse where it gets some sun and shade. This one is supposed to be quite hardy, as is H ellipticum, it grew in a cold wet spring in a greenhouse but I lost another Zingiber zerumbet.
The lesson I have learnt is to be very careful with temperature and water for a start, the hardier ones will cope a little better but it's probably better to be safe than sorry and not expose it to a lot of cold and wet until growing.
I tried a second time to grow Zingiber zerumbet, I bought 2 from an ebay seller in Germany. They were very dried looking, it didn't matter what I did I think they were going to rot eventually, which they both did. The first one I had did look freshly lifted and strong, I just didn't expect the cold spring of 2005 to go on for so long, actually this spring cold went on for longer so I was prepared. I'm sure the first one would have grown if I had kept it inside and gently prompted it to grow.
The lesson here is, get a rhizome that looks fresh and not dried.
wallaby1~
I received my rhizome while it was still quite warm here, so ambient temps would have been in a good warm range. I kept it just lightly moist, just enough to keep what roots it had from drying out.
The rhizome itself looked rather dark and waterlogged from the start. There weren't any nodes or growing points showing and there was no above-ground growth at all. It wasn't firm the way it should have been. What few roots there were were soft and mushy-looking as well. I think it just wasn't healthy.
Do most Alpinias and Curcumas prefer to be kept bone dry in soil when dormant?
Robert.
That dark waterlogged look is a non starter in my experience, I had some canna tubers that looked like that and even if there is part of the rhizome that looks alive it will rot, the rot has already set in.
I haven't had experience of Alpinias or Curcumas dormancy. I do have 2 young plants of A. zerumbet variegata that I grew from seed but they have never been dormant as such, I had kept them in the propogator until this summer when they started to get bigger. I have potted them on and they are now multiplying well, the leaves are getting taller but are still juveniles, about 15" tall. Some sign of variegation starting on one, I just hope it gets more. They are still in a greenhouse, the frost of -3C at least didn't bother them in there. I will probably bring them inside for this winter and try them in the ground next year.
Wallaby, I still haven't planted the R. auriculatas you gave me.... the only days I had time to do it, temps got down to the low 20s F at night, and either didn't go above 40 F during the day or barely got above it... Based on your experience, should I (a) wait for a warm spell (like what's happening right now with a warm front moving through) and plant them, or (b) leave them in their slightly damp peat moss in my room until spring, then set them out?
Hikaro, I would plant them, they have never spent a warm winter in their 6 years. Last year I sold a couple on ebay once dormant and transplanted the rest into pots, we had some quite cold weather then from mid October, many frosts to -5C which is 23F and they all grew again. Cool to cold weather is what they need.
Get 'em in, they will grow.
I'm getting my Zingiber mixed up with my Curcumas, where I said Zingiber zerumbet above just think Curcuma zedoaria.
I do have a Zingiber zerumbet, pine cone ginger, which is growing well and in the greenhouse still.
Right, then they should be good at least up until Late December or January.... That's when we usually have our gigadrops in temp down to about 0 or -5 (that's -18 to -20 on the metric scale) or in cold years, even lower... That was what I was mainly worried about. Of course, if I amend the planting site well, and they aren't wet, they should be good (at least according to some sources which list them hardy down to -10) if I mulch the area really good.
If you get them in now and deep they should be OK, considering they have survived easily in pots or a tray to -9C. That's only 16F or so I know, but they were not in a deep bed and I don't think holding them over inside would suit them.
If you feel worried perhaps you could try keeping the smaller offsets in a warmer place as an insurance and just plant the bigger ones. I think those temps would worry me too, I was worried last year when I repotted them and it came cold early and stayed cold.
A really good soil ammendment and mulch I feel will do the trick. With some plants you have to worry because they have been grown under softer conditions, these are grown hard with no added fertiliser, just lots of good compost, and I think that makes them hardier.
Yeah, I noticed that... In Yokosuka, Japan, it would get down below freezing for about 2-3 weeks straight in January (with nighttime temps in the 20's), and the Musa basjoo I saw growing in people's gardens there didn't even get leaf burn.... My Musa basjoo, which was greenhouse propogated, got severe leaf burn at just below freezing, and last week, got killed back to the ground, despite the fact that it didn't get much lower than it did in Japan overnight, and it got above freezing during the day (which it often did not do during those especially cold weeks in Japan)....
I also got some soil amendments consisting of expanded slate to (a) improve drainage and (b) repell voles (the sharp edges on the slate pieces discorage the burrowing pests from eating your bulbs). I'll also be mixing in some perlite and other assorted organic material....
My Musa basjoo has kept it's stem in the garage, it's leaves die back slowly over winter but has had -9C under cover. It's in a fairly large pot but really needs a spot in the ground, the base is rising from the ground with a thick root stock and it's wobbly now. It's hasn't growing a lot in the last 2 years, I was half tempted to put it in the ground now while it's mild and bury it deep but changed my mind, I don't want to loose the stem, bu t I could wrap it. I don't think that would work unless I made a large cage stuffed with leaves, I feel it's unstabe as it is anyway. I got 2 pups from it this year so have backup!
I'll be getting a basjoo in the spring and I'm going to put it in the ground. It is reportedly hardier than Musella lasiocarpa, and those return here in 7b without protection .
So far, the leaves of my lasios are frosted down to brown withered husks, but the stems are fresh and green and undamaged. I'll be putting on some mulch to help protect the pups, but will leave the 4-foot stems of the motherplant mostly unprotected.
Robert.
That's one good stem, they do look woody. One I haven't got yet but with your 'encouragement' I must get it.........
I was reading some discussion on a site for "devotees of the banana", and it was said that the entire length of the stem need not be preserved to get maximum growth the following season. Just a couple feet or so. It was noticed that the ultimate height on those observed (with longer stems) wasn't significantly higher, if at all, from those that were shorter.
But preserving at least some of the "pseudostem" added to the growth achieved.
Robert.
Ah but! That may depend on which Musa it is.
Musa sikkimensis is prone to stem rot, but it is hailed as being root hardier than basjoo.
I experimented with two of mine last winter, kept one in the garage with the basjoo, one in a cold greenhouse. With a much longer and colder winter they both suffered, the garage one lost half of it's stem. The greenhouse one lost all of it's stem, but was left with a solid root corm on the surface. They were in fairly good size pots, around 30" of stem, but not mulched on top.
Here's where the strange part comes in. I planted both in the ground in early June, the one with no stem made 2 new growths, one from the cente and a side pup. With the hot, dry summer it didn't grow a lot but put a bit more on in the autumn, the recent frost has scorched it but stems remain.
The half stem one just sat there, started to put out a leaf but couldn't make it. It eventually rotted right back. At one stage in late summer I had a feel around and some of the corm felt soft, but one side felt harder. I needed a space for another plant so made the decision to dig it up. I had half lifted it with some resistance, and there were a few really nice white roots that had ventured further afield. Gasp horror! it might have established and grown next year! I shoved it back! I will let you know next year.