I have several zingibers and curcumas which were greenhoused and left pretty much bone dry over the winter. Do I need to leave them dry until they show signs of growth, or should I water a little bit now? The rhysomes appear to be solid. In some of the pots they soil has pulled away from the sides of the pots they are so dry.
Our temps have been in the 70s and 80s lately, and I'm beginning to be a little concerned that I don't see any growth yet.
How should I handle this?
Kay
Zingiber & Curcuma Dormancy
Kay none of mine have shown any signs growth yet and they are in the ground. All the Hedys and Spirals and up and going strong except for the red stemed one. I see 1 little speck of green in the tuber but has done nothing for 2 months now
If you're warm during the day and your night are consistently 50 degrees or higher go ahead and give a good watering the first time and a light sprinkl about once a week until you see signs of growth. If you want you mgiht even check the rhizomes to make sure they're okay, I do it to also check to see if over the previous year the rhizomes got deeper in the pot, if they have I take them out put in a little fresh potting soil and replant the rhizomes just under the surface of the top inch or so of soil.
Liz
None of mine have stirred yet either, and like Kay's all of the others are going strong.
Even my plumbea heat loving EE's are growing.
Rj
Liz, should they be kept bone dry during the winter? I had mine in the greenhouse in an area that I thought would stay dry. I took your advice and dug. Sure enough I had lost zingiber chiang mai princess and a couple of others. Do they rot just from the humidity and cold? I don't keep my greenhouses warm. I keep them just above freezing due to the heating costs.
I have an outside closet that is heated by the house heating system (due to an error made by our builder). Should I keep them in there next winter?
Thanks for your help.
Kay
I had curcuma and crinums in raised beds in the GH at 58F. They all rotted. I had planned on keeping the new ones in pots and bone dry next winter, much like my Calla Lilies.
Definite;y keep them bone dry over the winter, NO watering until it's time for them to sprout in late spring.
Liz
Mine are up and some of them are blooming!!...99% of my gingers are in the ground..
I have Curcumas in ground and none have shown any sign of coming up yet.
Hedy's are way tall already.
Deb
One of my curcumas (zedoaria) is up. I just spotted it today, 3 little sprouts up about 2". Oddly, my C. elata is showing nothing at all, and it's in a sunnier spot, - and - I thought elata was supposed to come up before zedoaria.
So now I'm worried that elata has rotted. Can't see how, as it wasn't very wet over winter.
Deb
Deb,
Just dig around with your fingers and see if you can fell any viable rhizome. Since zedoaria and elata are both spring bloomers and many things can factor in as to which one will come up first. We had a weird winter here and many things are as much as 4-6 weeks behinf on returning from dormancy.
Liz
Here is a picture of one of my curcuma 'Raspberry' spring blooming, later in the summer it will send inflorescence up from the center of each plant, kewl... it does both.
Deb my Elata are just coming up in the pots. The ones in the ground are already up. Guess it makes a difference
My Purple and Yellow Dancing Ladies are still a no show in their pots
Well, I dug around a little and the rhizome seems ok. But there is zilch coming up. I'll just give it some time. (As if I have a choice. ;-> )
Thanks guys-
Deb
That's why I bought myself this little 'sign' for the garden "Grow Damnit, Grow"
They know better, it's grow or moma gets upset, and since momma does the feeding & the watering....lol
For us, everything in pots come up before things in the ground, pots warm up faster, most have some amount of sun on them, the ground soil takes longer to warm up, here anyway. All of the nursery plants are up ;omg before my plants in any of the gardens.
Liz
Hi guys...I was surfing Dave's...I usually am in the daylily forum only, but I bought a curcuma last summer from Nina Morgan in MS and thought I'd check out the ginger forum.
I had no idea how to take care of these. I did know enough to dig them up and pot them to overwinter in the garage. I did occasionally water them and the rest of the tropicals in the garage, but not but every 3-4 weeks. I planted two big clumps in the ground in late March, when we had that warm spell. Nothing came up...for a while that is. Now I have leaves about 6-12" tall. The ones that were still in pots that I put outside and have continuously watered with all the other plants waiting to be planted, have also sprouted leaves.
I did just plant two pots of them and discovered that some of the tubers had rotted...turned a nasty bright yellow and stunk! But it was still sprouting! I'm surprised to now read that I should have kept them totally dry thru the winter.
Mine is the purpleish-pink variety as shown in the picture above. These things sure multiply don't they? I have lots of them now.
Karen
Curcuma 'Raspberry' in summer..picture, one of the few we have that bloom from ground in the spring and then from the plant in the summer.
One of the things I love about gingers, aside from their beauty, fragrance, how they attract butterflies & hummingbirds, etc... is the fact that they multiply, not all as quickly as others, but eventually they all multiply. With gingers you never get just one :-)
This message was edited Jun 13, 2007 3:08 AM
Oh I like that one!!! I just started plants my new curcumas and Cannas blubs - seems like the squirrels like to jump on em and chew em! I didnt realize they liked them that much!
Squirrels like the rhizomes and even new growth on some gingers, this is wht squirrels are not welcome at our place. They seem to dig up stuff in pots even more than rhizomes in the ground. To me they are nothing more than a tree rat and if they didn't have that fuzzy tail no one would feed them and say 'oh, how cute'
Liz :-)
agreed!!!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My neighbor just recently put electric wires on top of his wood fence. I say thanks because now that like my yard better. I have a plumeria cutting that I put in my misc potting bowl that has been dug up over 20 times in the last 3 months. Also im testing rooting a green stictocardia leaf - that gets dug up every day!
Buggers!!!!
Yahoo! Just a follow-up. My curcuma elata finally came out of dormancy yesterday. I was sure it was a goner...but..there was the little miracle, 2" tall. :) Just a tad late. I doubt it will get very tall this year. So relieved, though.
Deb
Deb,
Congratulations on your elata. It will probably surprise you again and be 5' tall in a few weeks.
Liz
Liz: Hope so. At least we're getting more normal rainfall now. It had better do some pretty fast growin'. But I'll be happy if it gets half that tall. :)
Deb
I'm sure you're just happy that it came back, and your ginger knows that and because it is soo grateful it will do it's very best for you :) They just know when someone loves them :-)
Liz