happ- I don't know about the white ginger but that's a recognized ornamental and I think you would find advice on it in a new thread, it may not be seen here.
I ended up buying two hunks of supermarket ginger last spring. I brought them in for winter but they were drying up a little, so I decided to let them go dormant. Interesting- the bulbs grow up and down in the pot, rather than laying flat as I planted them. Next spring, I'll plant them on edge and more in the pot and give more water. They got about 18 inches of stem on them. I don't know i they would have gotten taller--I started them too deep, but they look like they should be pretty shallow like the early responders said.
Supermarket Ginger
Happy,
I would put it where it only gets morning sun. Most gingers do better in part shade. I think the supermarket ginger is the white butterfly ginger. It would be a cheap way to get a second one started as they really do grow quite nicely.
Karen
Here is a picture of my supermarket ginger. I have grown it a few diff. times. This one took @ 1 1/2 yrs to bloom and didn't really go dormant in the winter. I grew it on my patio in Lake Havasu, AZ where it got up to 120 F in the summer and one of the driest hellholes on earth LOL! It froze that winter but it was in a pot up next to the house under a covered patio. It only got morning sun.
People said gingers wouldn't grow there but I was pleasantly suprised on some gingers that did well.
I started a new one here and it is growin much faster than the last one.
Closeup of the cone with little white flowers coming out. The bad thing about growing these is you become attatched to them and don't have the heart to dig them up and eat the tuber lol. Maybe if I had a larger 'bed' of them I would.
Angel,
Nice photo. When it bloomed was it the white butterfly one?
Karen
Angel - the bloom on your ginger has a purplish tinge to it - which is what the supermarket gingers (Zingiber officiale as 1cros pointed out at the top of the thread) blooms look like. The more common white butterfly ginger is Hedychium coronarium, with white blooms and a tinge of yellow, and those roots are not anything at all like the supermarket ginger roots.
Cool- thanks for the picture. I'm going to try harder this year to get a bloom.
No it isnt butterfly ginger (hedychium). The butterfly has large white fragrant flowers. This supermarket ginger I think it is Zingiber officiale. They were just roots I picked up from walmart. It has green cones that little tiny flowers come out of. They just smell like regular edible ginger and so do the leaves when you squeeze them.
People told me that the roots from the grocery wouldn't grow because they had something sprayed on them to prevent sprouting. They took a little while to come up but they did sprout. Just look for one with some 'eyes' on it and make sure the rhizome is plump and firm with no rot.
Here is a picture of my white butterfly ginger. They have much larger flowers and smell more like gardenias.
Angel,
Thank for the info on the grocery store ginger not being the white butterfly one. I had been told that it was. Always good to get the correct info. I grew some grocery store ginger many years ago, but I did not see it bloom.
Karen
I was looking at all of the ginger in the store today and do not see anything that I recognize as eyes. What am I looking for? Is it obvious or difficult to see?
I don't know if this'll help at all. When I grew them, I laid them flat, but when I pulled them out at the end of summer,they were growing 'on edge' like this. But I was looking at them in the store today too, and I can'ttell up from down.
Sally, just out of curiosity, how did you get the picture; it seems to be floating?
oops
This message was edited Jul 15, 2009 8:17 AM
would you believe magical flying ginger?
didn't think so. I held it up by stems with one hand and snapped pic with the other, trying to get out-of-focus background. All my in-focus backgrounds at my house are messy or dirty LOL
and oh, when I looked at ginger again, saw that you might find circular scars where the stem base came off, on one edge kind of.
It is end of winter. All of our in focus backgrounds inside are messy or dirty. We gave up trying to keep it clean a month ago!We would have understood. Have faith in us.
Oh, I do! It's just a little annoying to try and take a picture in the house only to find out that there's no single square foot of perfect paint with good light and an open surface of any kind !
Sallyg! Have you been peeking in my windows?
LOL, kathy! the ongoing battles with stuff and dirt...not the good kind of dirt that you can plant things in!
If spring does't come soon so I can drag all these containers outside and do some spring cleaning inside, I am afraid something may start growing in this mess and it won't be cool stuff that I can post pics at DG LOL.
Do you store the ginger over winter and replant in spring?
I live on the mid-atlantic coast in Virginia, USA....we have some days in the teens(F) in the winter...all of the foilage dies down to the ground, but I wait until spring before removing it...figure it affords some protection from the cold. The plants are up about 2 feet (20/6/09), they'll grow to approx 6 feet but will not bloom until September. hope this helps....don't know about your climate.
If you buy from the supermarket its kept cold leave it hang out a little were is warmer and like potatoes it will sprout the stores mark it down when it sprouts. A cool plant to grow herb it looks like curcuma but tumeric has a nice flower
I think DH has finally gotten tired of the clutter! lol I've only been trying to get him to throw out stuff for 19 years. Of course he hasn't started yet, says its July's project and its only the 2nd! lol
Darla
Breeindy I leave it in the ground and it just comes back next year we do get freezes here mulch it for the winter and were good to go
how long does the ginger take to root and sprout?
I planted mine 2 weeks ago.
Give it a few more week. Sometimes they are sprayed with something that retards rooting and sprouting.
I bought five turmeric roots and after months in a pot, just one finally sprouted and is now growing fast. I believe the retardant idea.
I pulled it up out of the dirt today and it does have a sprout, so we are on our way!!! Thanks everyone!!!
I planted my ginger(i don't think it had any eyes sprouting yet though) and it took ages (neally 6 mth-a yr) to sprout. I actually got sick of watering it so i sat the pot out in the veggy garden and hosed it with the veggy patch and it eventually came up.
sallyg were did you find the tumeric?
I think she found it in the supermarket, like the rest of us.
My turmeric was in a big 'Asian' supermarket. And they don't carry it all the time.. Looks sort of like very small ginger roots, about the size of your fingers.
I have it too but i had to send to thailand for some and I did some swapping to get some more always looking for sources to get it I have a few asian stores here will have to check it out thanks....Dana Theres a place not too far that has the shampoo ginger the pots are plants are breaking out of the pot and the man sells this for 5 bucks went over there and bought the last of them. Wish he had some of those beehive ginger don't have any of that
Heres tumeric I have just noticed today its blooming
Neat, thanks. Is it scented?
no looks neat though has pink on the tips
I planted store bought ginger and it took a while to sprout, in fact 3 pots still have not sprouted and it's been about 2 months. The ones that have sprouted look week and pale. What do I need to do to help them along and grow. Advise would be very much appreciated. Thank you. Dorothy
mine always looked like that maybe the others you planted upside down which case will take longer