I have some cuttings off the costus speciosus variegata, can that be rooted in soil or water? Like the blue ginger can?
what about other ginger cuttings?
Can you root all ginger cuttings?
Kathy Ann,
Blue ginger isn't a true ginger, it is actually Dichorisandra thyrsiflora and is related to Wandering Jew and Spiderwort. Your Cheilocostus specious variegata does get a true stem like the Dichorisandra (unlike other gingers who get a pseudo-stem), it will root; best if layed on it's side and best if in the spring and summer months, as it the ones in the trade in this country are deciduous and therefore go semi-dormant in the winter months and will not root well (if at all) during the winter months. When the weather is warm enough they will root, especially if the entire stem is layed on it's side instead of being stuck by short vertical cuttings. When you do root it lay it on it's side in a light propagation mix.
Thanks Liz for that info.
No prob.... ma'am. With your zone even colder than mine I know how difficult it is to root certain things; even with a heated greenhouse and mist bed.
You might just cut off your stems after the leaves have fallen off and bury the stems about an inch below the soil and cover with leaves or another mulch and see what pops up next spring, you really don't have anything to lose :)
Liz :)
Can you grow ginger indoors?
Karrie....sort of.....
one that I know you can grow indoors fairly easily is stromanthe ...maybe alpinia zerumbet variegata..probably kaempferias, too...the rest you could grow indoors, but they won't be likely to ever bloom. Mine have looked pretty ratty when I winter them indoors.
Hedychium coronarium (white butterfly ginger) would be hardy for your zone with some thick leaf mulch....
Karrie, I have a greenhouse and don't grow anything hardly inside, I don't know about growing them in the house.
But the peacock gingers go dormant in the greenhouse every winter, and I have several of the hydychiums that do too. Or they look ratty as tropicana said. so I end up cutting them off.
You could let them go dormant in the cool part of the house, they would come back in the spring time, Mine always do. I also have a few tropical gingers that look really ratty in the greenhouse.