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[Skink]

Yeah so I'll admit, I'm a total noob when it comes to growing gingers. I just tore mine up since it's finally gotten cold where I live and the plants were starting to wither. When I pulled up my culinary ginger rhizome and disconnected the stalk, the rhizome was much smaller than it was when I planted it. The turmeric was about the same. I'm sure that's just because it poses some mass from sending up shoots (it was in the process of sending up another one before it got too cold) but did i do the right thing? If I had more room I'd have just brought the whole pot inside and let them keep growing but its just not feasible right now. So instead I let the rhizome sit out to dry for a couple days and have stored them in my garage in some dry peat for the winter. They've already experienced one frost but they still seemed alive, so should I have left them in the ground until all the leaves and stalks died off or what? I've already tried to research this myself and I can't find anything but contradicting info on the subject so I'm trying to get some expert advice. XD

[Mangrove]

How to propagate ginger:

Pluck entire stem with root/rhizome stock intact

Take that cutting and put it in a pot of moist, nutrient rich soil akin to soil parent was found growing in

Water and wait a few weeks or months

BAM! Ginger===propagated

[Mangrove]

Certain gingers hibernate, others don't. Some can handle Siberian winters. Some drop dead when the first frosts roll around; may you please be more elaborate regarding formal names of your gingers?

[Skink]

It was just some ginger root that I bought from an Asian grocery so; I'm pretty sure it's zingiber officianale. I don't think it tolerates frost at all lol. And the turmeric is just plain old turmeric I got from the same grocery. They don't spray their stuff with growth inhibitors so I've had a good amount of success sprouting the rhizomes I've purchased from there. I'm just not sure what to do with them now that it's winter.

[bosqueberg]

maybe bring them inside for the winter

[SoulGrower]

I grow quite a bit of ginger.  All kinds.  Neither Z officianale (sp. found at grocery stores) nor Turmeric will survive in the ground if you get freezes.  They basically stop growing when temps go below 60F.  Temps below 50 for extended periods of time can cause both to loose above ground foliage. Frosts typically cause both to defoliate as well.

You did the right thing by digging them up and bringing them in for the winter.  This is something I don't have experience with.  The only thing I can suggest is to treat them like any other rhizomes that people overwinter inside.  I'd probably cut the leaf and put the rhizomes in peat and plastic bags with some ventilation (holes poked in bag).

When danger of frost has past next year, put em in the ground.  They don't put up shoots too early, so it may be about summer before you start seeing them (depending on where you are located).

3 Likes Mangrove, LIBERTYNY and Skink like this.

[FewTrueSeed]

I let mine go dormant after a couple frosts. Into the bas3m3nt until spring. 

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[Skink]

Hey thanks guys. I put mine in the garage but I think I will just bring them inside and see how they fare over the winter.