How to grow and care for ginger in the open field and when to harvest
Ginger is an exotic plant for our country, native to the tropics of South Asia. It is appreciated for its properties and chemical composition. It is a spice, a medicine, and an ornamental plant. Many amateur gardeners are interested in the question of how to grow ginger in the country in the open field, so as not to buy spicy roots in the store.
In Russia, it can be grown in different climatic zones, if you choose the right method. So, in the southern regions, where summer is long and warm enough, ginger can be grown in the country in the ground without any special tricks. Here, a plant that looks like bamboo and blooms with interesting buds is planted in the garden as an ornamental one.
In the middle lane, the valuable root is grown in greenhouses or greenhouses. In northern regions, where summers are too short, ginger is grown in home greenhouses or on window sills.
Features of growing ginger in the open field
Ginger is cultivated by many gardeners; outdoor cultivation in our region presents some difficulties due to its tropical origin.
Ginger is a perennial herb. Its rhizome, which in the East is called "horned root", branches horizontally, releasing from the buds strong stems 50-150 m high with narrow leaves up to 20 cm long. In order for the ginger root to grow sufficiently, it must be in the ground for 8-10 months. Such a root will have all the beneficial properties characteristic of a plant.
Because of its long growing season, ginger is easiest to grow from seedlings. For this, a substrate is prepared from a mixture of humus, humus, sand, soil in equal parts. The soil mixture is laid out in containers 25 cm high, moistened. Pieces of rhizome are deepened into it, buds upward by 3-4 cm and watered. Shoots for planting will appear within 2-3 weeks.
The main conditions necessary for growing ginger in sufficient quantities: long and warm summer, high air humidity, protection from drafts, shaded area.
All parts of the culture have a pleasant lemon scent. Useful properties of ginger roots are due to its chemical composition.The plant contains essential oils, macro- and microelements, amino acids (tryptophan, threonine, methionine, phenylalanine, valine and others), vitamins A, C and group B.
It contains cingiberen, camphene, bisabolene and other substances that cause anti-inflammatory, bactericidal, choleretic, anthelmintic, antispastic and other beneficial properties of ginger root.
Site selection for planting
Ginger in the country is grown on a site protected from drafts and wind. They choose a well-lit place, shaded during the hottest part of the day, since direct sunlight is detrimental to it. Shading of the planting area can be provided.
Another necessary condition that must be observed when choosing a site for planting a crop is soil moisture. The plant does not tolerate waterlogged, waterlogged soils. Growing under such conditions leads to decay of thick roots. Therefore, it is better to plant it on hills or dry areas, and drain or mulch the soil before planting to better remove excess moisture.
The easiest way to maintain the conditions necessary for breeding ginger is in greenhouses or greenhouses.
The choice of planting material and its subsequent preparation is of great importance. It begins to germinate from late February to early March, and in May it is transplanted into open ground.
What should be the soil for planting?
Planting and caring for ginger begins with proper soil preparation. First of all, to get a good harvest, the soil should be light, loose, well-drained. For this purpose, it is mixed with sand or mulch (compost from fallen leaves, sod or needles).
For planting ginger, the soil must be fertile with medium acidity. To do this, in the fall, organic fertilizers are introduced into it: humus, peat, compost. During the growing season, complex mineral fertilizers are additionally introduced.
How to plant ginger outdoors?
To plant ginger in the country, use a rhizome divided into pieces. If the air temperature at the beginning of the growing season is not high enough, the plant is covered with a film. If it is not possible to choose a suitable place and provide the necessary conditions, plant it in greenhouses or greenhouses.
Planting dates for ginger in the country
In its natural environment, ginger grows from 6 months to a year. In our latitude, he has an average of 9 months for this, most of which is spent on germinating seedlings.
To obtain seedlings, the roots are planted in pots in February-March or even January. The timing of planting in open ground depends on the region. It is customary to plant shoots in April-May, after the last frost, when the average daily temperature reaches + 18 ... + 25 ° С. If the temperature gets lower, plant development slows down. It will be difficult to re-stimulate its growth.
In the Moscow region, cultivation in the country begins with placing the seedlings in a greenhouse so that the plants have time to adapt to the environmental conditions. Provided that it is early spring and warm summer in the garden, ginger can be planted in the Urals, but it is safer to grow it in a greenhouse in this region.
The choice of planting material
To grow ginger in your garden, you first need to choose a suitable planting material. The culture is sprouting from a root that can be bought at a regular supermarket. Choose a healthy, dense in consistency, young root with a light, evenly colored, smooth and even glossy peel without defects, signs of wilting or frostbite.
The cut or scrap should be clean, white, with no signs of drying out or wilting. When choosing rhizomes for planting, you need to pay attention to the number of shoot buds-eyes. The more there are, the more likely you are to get seedlings.
Preparation of rhizomes for planting consists in cutting or breaking off small pieces, each of which should have 2-3 buds. It is best to divide the rhizome along the jumpers. The cut should be sprinkled with crushed activated carbon or wood ash.
Preparatory work for planting ginger
Ginger is best planted in pre-prepared grooves. Since the root branches out to the sides, and not down, the depth of the groove may not exceed 10 cm.At the bottom of the prepared drainage grooves, small stones are placed in a layer of 1 cm.
Gravel is sprinkled with a layer of substrate 5-6 cm thick. Before planting, prepared pieces of ginger should be put in warm water or a weak solution of potassium permanganate for several hours in order to stimulate bud germination.
How to plant ginger in your summer cottage?
There are some simple rules on how to plant ginger root correctly. For normal vegetation, the cuttings should be located close to the surface. They are buried no more than 3-4 cm.
Lay them buds up at a distance of 10-15 cm so that the roots do not interfere with each other. The soil must first be loosened and moistened. In addition, the delenki are watered abundantly after planting.
How to properly care for ginger in the country?
Until new roots are formed, the ginger root grows for about 7 months. During this period, the plant requires regular watering, spring feeding, loosening the soil and removing weeds.
If ginger is grown as an ornamental plant, it is left to winter in the ground. In order to achieve flowering, you need to maintain high humidity and the optimal temperature for the plant. The easiest way to maintain these conditions is in a greenhouse. Plants bloom only in the second year.
The cuttings planted in the open ground are covered with a perforated film to ensure germination and protection from a night drop in temperature. When a sprout appears in 2-3 weeks, the film is removed. At this stage, the sprouts need lighting for 12-14 hours a day and regular soil moisture.
In August, the active formation of root crops ends and the plants no longer need intensive care. In the fall, when the shoots die off, the roots can be dug up and used or left to winter. In this case, you need to cut off the shoots and cover the roots.
Plant watering rules
In order to grow ginger, you need to water it regularly. It is worth considering that this is a moisture-loving culture that prefers moist air. It will not be damaged by regular spraying and sprinkling, especially on hot summer days. This is done in the morning or evening so as not to burn the leaves.
Before the appearance of the first sprouts, the delenka should be watered regularly and abundantly so as not to let them dry out and stop developing. When sprouts appear, watering should be reduced.
The soil should not dry out, but waterlogging should not be allowed, as this can lead to decay of the roots. After watering, the soil is loosened to a depth of 1 cm.When the bushes begin to turn yellow and droop, watering is reduced, and spraying is stopped altogether.
When and how to feed ginger outdoors?
Top dressing is applied during the entire growing season. The first complex fertilizer, which contains nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, is applied before the leaves of the plant appear. Also at this stage, once every 1.5-2 weeks, ginger is fed with organic fertilizers.
The best organic fertilizer for him is compost. The plant is fed with humus from the leaves in its natural environment. In addition, you can use a solution of mullein diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. In August, the culture can be fed with potash fertilizers, which contribute to the formation and maturation of tubers.
If the ginger is preparing for flowering, phosphorus-potassium fertilizers are applied at the budding stage. When the leaves of the plant begin to turn yellow and droop, feeding is stopped.
How and when to harvest ginger?
Harvested in the fall, 9-10 months after planting. A sign of the readiness of root crops is yellowing and dying off of the shoots. At the same time, rhizomes can be dug up for food within six months after planting.
2 days before harvesting, the crop is no longer watered. Dig the roots with a shovel, clean them of soil, remove additional roots and dry them. The roots can be rinsed with cold water before drying.
Ginger: Tips for Proper Storage
Root vegetables are stored at a temperature of + 2 ... + 4 ° C, in the cellar or in the refrigerator in the vegetable compartment. Before bookmarking on storage ginger wrapped in paper. Another way of storage is dried. In this case, preparing the root for storage consists in cleaning it and cutting it into slices. But before use, it will have to be soaked for 5-6 hours. As a result, the spice will taste and aroma more pronounced.
You can store ginger in the freezer. But when defrosting, most of the nutrients are lost. It can only be used as a spice.
If the ginger was grown in a pot, it can be left in the ground near a warm radiator for the winter and dug out as needed.
