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How to Grow Endless supply of Ginger using Containers
You must be surprised to know how ginger in your home benefits your health. Planting ginger in your home has many advantages that also includes medicine, cooking and in beauty. Young gingers are juicy flesh with mild taste and often used as ingredient in cooking many dishes. It is originated in the tropical regions of Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, India, Indonesia, Europe and Thailand.
Ginger is a perennial plant with narrow green leaves and yellow flowers in the family of zingiberaceae. It produces white or pink flower bud that blooms in warm climatic conditions and leafy bud stems are about 3-4 feet tall.
Companion Plants: To achieve the ginger plant success make sure the companions share the same growing needs. Ginger plants love to grow with kaffir lime, chili peppers, cilantro and lemon grass. These plants help ginger to increase the crop productivity by utilizing maximum space.
Ginger Nutrition Facts: Raw ginger contains 79% of water, 18% carbohydrates and 3% of proteins and fats. 100 grams of ginger supplies 80 calories. It also contains Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Calcium, Magnesium and Iron to cure several health issues.
How can I Grow Ginger Indoors?
Growing ginger in your home is easy as it requires minimum care. Here are the factors that are responsible for the growth of gingers…
Choosing Ginger Variety: Ginger is a tropical plant that does not survive in frost conditions. Plant it in late spring in indoors. There are many ginger varieties depending upon growing conditions. Choose a desired variety i.e. ornamental ginger plant with vibrant flowers to grow in your home. You can buy them from a nursery or online store.
Pot & Soil: Pickup a pot of size 6-12 inches both depth and width. Makes sure the pot has enough holes at the bottom for air circulation and proper drainage. Ginger thrives on high quality well-drain soil. You can also mix garden soil with an equal amount of well-rotted compost.
Water & Sunlight: Water slightly after planting. Check the soil and water just before it dries completely. Soggy soil makes the plants to rot, so it’s better to reduce water supply or improve the drainage. Place the setup in sunlight for a minimum of 6 hours. Optimum temperature to grow ginger is in between 65-75 F even when you transplant it to outdoors.
Pests & Diseases:
Pests | Diseases |
Cut worms | Bacterial wilt |
Africa black beetle | Leaf spot |
Rhizomes flies | Fusarium wilt |
Scales | Soft rot |
Symphilids | Root knot nematodes |
Nutrient Deficiency:
Element | Deficiency Symptom |
Nitrogen | Pale or yellow green leaves, reddish tints at leaf margins |
Potassium | Reduced growth, shortened internodes, necrotic spots in leaf |
Iron | Interveinal chlorosis, leaves turn complete white |
Fertilizers: To overcome pests & diseases, nutrient deficiency issues use organic methods like adding Epsom salt, baking soda or egg shells to the plants. You can also use liquid N-P-K fertilizers or organic compost manure to ginger plants in the ratio of 16-16-10 to overcome nutrient deficiency issues and deter pets & diseases. It is mainly due to lack nutrients to the plants in the form of water, sunlight and other organic methods.
Harvesting: Ginger produces strong flavor when allowed to develop in the ground. While harvesting gingers do not kill the plant. You can harvest baby ginger about 4-6 months after sprouting. Young ginger can be harvested sometimes 3-4 months after planting due to its thin and bruised skin. Bring it to the indoors and store in a warm dry location. If you wish to leave ginger outdoors then cover it with a thick layer of mulch when temperature drops below 50F.
How to Propagate Ginger from Cuttings?
Ginger is easy and inexpensive to propagate from cuttings. For this take ginger stem of certain height and place it in a rich fertile soil about 2-3 inches deep. Cutting should be done in such a way that each root section contains healthy nodes. Now place the entire setup in sunlight to thrive faster. As soon as the root develops it is ready to transplant outdoors. Water the freshly planted ginger root to prevent it from rotting. Also provide nutrients rich fertilizers if necessary to boost the plant growth.
Instead of placing the cutting in soil you can suspend the ginger root in a glass of water. Do not submerge it in water. Change the water for every 2-3 days and watch out for the roots to sprout. Once the root develops it can be planted in your garden. Though it needs little care to grow, produces vibrant flavor gingers at the time of harvest.
Tips | Precautions
- Water at the time of planting to keep the soil moist but not wet.
- Harvest ginger only when the plant leaves matures and turns yellow.
- Within few weeks the seed germinates and is ready to transplant outdoors.
- Prune top of leaf bud plants in winter or spring before it establishes a new growth.
- Wear gardening tools like masks, gloves, goggles and shoes when you fertilize the plants.
- Make sure the container has holes at the bottom for air circulation in plants and proper drainage.
- Keep children and pets like dogs, cats & rabbits away from plants when you use fertilizers for better plant growth.
Ginger Health Benefits
Skin & Hair: Put a slice of fresh ginger on the areas of skin that are dry and lacks color. Do it once or twice a day throughout the week. Within 2 months it completely eliminates the dead skin and looks refreshing. It also increases the circulation in scalp that stimulates the hair growth when applied as a hair mask.
Cancer: Cancer is a very serious disease that is characterized by uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells. The antioxidant properties of ginger help to cure cancer cells in lung, brain, pancreatic, colon, breast, prostate and ovarian cancers in humans.
The effect of ginger on osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis has high rates of reduction in knee pains by 63%.
Asthma: Asthma is a commonly known lung disease. It may cause difficulty in breathing and is due to the blockage in the airway of lungs.It can also be due to pollution, dust, hereditary and excessive smoking.Ginger is the natural ingredient that can be used alone to treat asthma problem. You can also use ginger along with salt, honey to cure asthma.
Diabetes: Studies shows that 2 grams of ginger a day lowers fasting blood sugar levels by 2%. It naturally improves diabetic conditions and enhances the insulin sensitivity. It also helps to suppress sorbitol accumulation in blood cells and improves complications like diabetic retinopathy.
Cough & Cold: As the day gets colder your immune system gets down. So as to boost your metabolic activities, prepare a solution using lemon, ginger and honey. Add warm water to the solution and enjoy the delicious soothing tea that cures cough and cold.
Weight loss: Ginger root is used as a slimming formula for its weight loss properties. It not only promotes digestive functions but has thermogenic effect that helps to activate metabolic functions. Also helps to detoxify the body and contributes to the reduction in abdominal swelling.
Side Effects: Eating too much of ginger root can cause Diarrhea, Bloating, Heartburn, Stomach upset and Mouth irritation. You need to consult doctor and take medicines to overcome these side effects.
Start growing ginger in a pot or large container that monitors your health. If you have amazing ideas about growing ginger in your home, please share your experience with us.
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