Questions for ginger and turmeric grower

Thank You, not grumpy pants, plants :slight_smile:

Also just a FYI… not exact measurements, but 1 teaspoon grated fresh yellow ginger, 1 teaspoon local honey, 12 oz spring water :yum:



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Anyone in SoCal growing ginger, turmeric, galangal, etc?

I tried growing ginger a few years ago and it was OK, but then rotted in an extremely cold/wet winter here. I haven’t tried since but reading this thread inspired me to try again. We use a LOT of ginger for our ginger tea so if I can get it going and it’s flavorful, that would be amazing.

I was wondering if there is a recommended temperature (for the low) that I need to reach before I plant it out? I have galangal growing outside right now and it seems fine so far. It’s my first year trying that so I’ll be harvesting it shortly to see what I got. Seems like someone in a thread above recommended a low of 60 as a min before putting ginger outside. If so, I guess I should start in Feb or March depending on the temperature here.

Also, does anyone have a good source of mango ginger starts (also known as ā€œamba haldarā€ in India)? There is an awesome and simple pickle both my grandmothers used to make with it that I’d love to make if I can grow it in some reasonable quantity.

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Yeah. The combo of really cold and wet is deadly for ginger and turmeric. Any extended temps under 60 will likely slow your ginger’s growth.

Southern Exposure Seed (link in an above comment) typically sells mango ginger.

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Ok good to know. I will put my ginger in a smaller pot so I can move it to the garage or just start it after it gets warm enough and then harvest.

Thanks! Yes found that link but they are out right now. I’ll keep an eye out.

Thank you!

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@SoCalBackyard would you be willing to share that pickle recipie, please? I just picked up some pickled ginger from the store and was repulsed! Tasted of mold and sickning, gross sweetener. Don’t remember what they used when I looked… I had forgot to check when I was in the store before I bought it. A mistake I won’t make again!

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ive never pickled ginger but if you got a ginger bug going you are half there. time and a little more salt added should do the trick. im sure there are plenty of online recipies on how to do it.

I used to grow Turmeric in the tropics it grew like a weed, pop a small unsprouted chunk in the soil, weed it a bit and a year or two later dig up 2 to 3 gallons worth of turmeric. I started to think, i think its one of those crops like noni fruits, first thing is find something healthy about it so people buy it cuy its just easy to grow.

Later i tried growing it in germany, lol i was like thats pointless based on how much effort and how little it produced… It def likes the warm and wet, but even warm and wet in a pot it didnt impress me in germany, like Bananas, a world of difference trying to keep a unhealthy plant alive compared to having it in its preferred climate and having to more so just deal with the excess of production.

In Germany apples, pears, plums, cherries grow and produce like weeds, so i forget about the uphill battle to grow what doesnt like the climate, unless i really want to.

Just wanted to say, if anyone is on the fence and trying to grow it and failing, maybe it isnt worth it, just buy bulk organic and focus on what love your climate.

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This is pretty reasonable:

You can use just turmeric or a mix of turmeric and mango turmeric.

Some folks slice it long and thin and some just chunk it up like in this recipe.

The key is to have it in a glass jar and have enough lemon juice that the pickle is always under the liquid.

You can mess with it a bit by adding a sliced chili if you like spicy stuff but we don’t do that and just do plain and simple pickle.

If you do it with mango turmeric, it gives it a bit of a special flavor IMO and is better than with just turmeric.

Supposedly it stays in the fridge for 2 months according to the recipe but we usually make a small batch and it never lasts that long :slight_smile:

Enjoy!

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