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My quest for ginger
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I intended to post this already a week ago, but after I had exported the accompanying photos from Picasa, to reduce their size to something manageable, I could locate the exported version with Firefox and with WordPerfect, but not with the browser facility of this website, no matter, what I tried short of biting the carpet in frustration. Add to that, that the editing feature had disappeared from my Picasa, lots of things to catch up on, it was only today, that I finally managed to first restore the editing feature and secondly had the bright idea to copy the attached photos from the Vietnam folder into another one in Picasa, that I could suddenly locate the picture with the banana.org browser. Actually when I set out for Vietnam I had no intention to bring home any bananas (I have reported on that in the Main Banana Forum). My stated objective was to bring home a rhizome of flowering ginger. Although a long two months trip through Vietnam is no help in obtaining plants, unless you stay in one spot and have time to build up a relationship with local gardeners, finding a flowering ginger proofed not much of a challenge. I mentioned, what I wanted to the staff of the hotel, where we stayed last before heading for Saigon and home, and the next day I had one. Knowing ginger only from the produce section of the grocery stores, I was taken aback by the fact, that my new acquisition had nothing resembling the rhizome of the edible ginger, but a rather scrawny one. Forced by luggage restriction I sliced off the stems anyway, in the hope, that there was enough oomph left in the rhizome to produce a viable plant. This photo shows the type of ginger I acquired, but not the actual plant This photo shows my plant prior to my mutilating it. Believe me it hurt! Sorry about the bad quality of the photos, but they are the only ones I have. Unfortunately due to jet lag fatigue and scores of items to catch up on, I did not take any pictures of those sad stumps and, once potted, they do not exactly look sensational either, but here they are anyway: Now a week later, they do still look exactly the same. The white dust is left over bone meal Here's to the hope, that they are viable! http://www.bananas.org/images/icons/..._brindando.gif Olaf |
Re: My quest for ginger
Red ginger is really slow for me. I got some from Hawaii (they were all over the place there and really beautiful). They had no life for at least a week and that was in the middle of the summer (temperatures in the 90s every single day with nights no lower than 70F!). I managed to keep them alive inside all winter, but they are only about 2 inches tall (they were small starts from a store in the airport). I bought some white butterfly ginger at the same size and its already 1-2 feet tall (and if I'm lucky, it might bloom this fall)!
The cool thing about red ginger is that once it blooms, it will make new plants from the flower head. The babies get pretty large too before even hitting the soil (I've seen some already 1 foot tall or more). Good luck! Hope it sprouts for you! |
Re: My quest for ginger
Red ginger, Alpinia Purpurata, is a very difficult ginger to grow outside of zone 10. Very cold sensitive. Will croak at temperatures below 50. Needs constant high humidity. I have tried it off and on for 7 years in a container over wintering in my greenhouse. I got blooms but they were very small. This plant is prone to spider mites in a greenhouse environment. I finally gave it up. The second picture is of a Costus. Maybe Spicatus. No longer considered a ginger but still commonly referred to as spiral ginger. Easy to grow. Hardy in zone 9, maybe zone 8. Goes dormant in the fall. Comes back very reliably in the spring.
Steve |
Re: My quest for ginger
If you are growing ginger for the root, try Alpinia galanga "Galangal" aka "Thai Ginger". It works in the short-winter USDA zone 9b areas of north San Diego County.
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Re: My quest for ginger
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Re: My quest for ginger
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I think what you are telling me is, that I got lucky and hauled home plants, that are very similar to ginger in appearance, but much easier to raise, providing, of course, that I can get them to grow at all. When I was in Vietnam I pointed at the bunch of cut flowers in the first picture and told the hotel staff, that this was what I wanted a live plant of. In the second picture you see what they got for me. We have to keep in mind, that they were very helpful hotel staff, not gardeners, let alone botanists. All I saw in my ignorance about gingers and Costi, was that they had similar leaves and a red blossom about to open. If you are correct about your ID, and my search in the net seems to confirm, that you are, then the combined ignorance of myself and the hotel staff actually got me a much preferable deal. Now I am tapping my toes waiting for some sign of life from my Costi. Quote: Hardy in zone 9, maybe zone 8. Goes dormant in the fall. Comes back very reliably in the spring. Unquote Do you have any idea, what it will do if I bring it inside in a pot in fall? I live in Zone 6 and leaving them out to shiver through the winter seems a lousy idea. :) Thanks for your help, Olaf |
Re: My quest for ginger
I agree, the second picture you have is not a red ginger, which is good. Although, I like red ginger better, they are very difficult to grow outside of the tropics. Costus are not difficult to grow outside of the tropics. Actually my costus (spiral ginger) grows very quickly for me indoors. I got it as a root this december and it had no sign of life for about 2 weeks. I thought it was dead, but I saw a sprout come out and it grew very quickly for me by a warm and sunny window (now over a foot tall and making pups). They are suppose to be pretty cold tolerant (probably will come back with no problems at all in a zone 8b, and maybe zone 8a). Im hoping for blooms from mine this summer, but Im not expecting blooms from my red ginger ever.
Good luck! |
Re: My quest for ginger
Olaf,
The hotel staff did you a big favor. You could never grow Alpinia Purpurata in your zone except in a conservatory in the ground. What they gave you is what is know in the US as Costus Spicatus but is misnamed and is really Costus Scaber. Nevertheless, it is easy to grow in a container and although it goes dormant here in my zone 9 along the Louisiana Gulf Coast, I don't think it has a natural dormancy period. So you should be able to bring it inside during your winter, cut way back on watering, and eliminate any fertilizing. It should continue to grow slowly. Spicatus and/or Scaber can grow in some shade. I would place the container near a window that gets some sun during the day. Your main goal is not to water too much as this will rot the corm. Good luck. Steve |
Re: My quest for ginger
Thank you, Steve, for another informative post. I don't know, how I missed it earlier, because I make a point to open up all 'Replies', if not all the "Thank Yous"
Best, Olaf |
Re: My quest for ginger
Great information. I too do ginger whish I knew what kind they are. I have all diffrent kinds. Ill have to post pictures when they bloom.
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Re: My quest for ginger (Yipeeh!)
Today, finally 23 days after planting there is a sign of life in one of my two Costus Saber
(thanks, Steve and Alex). There is now at least one of my little trophies, which I schlepped home from Vietnam, that hit pay dirt. The other Costus S. and the two bananas (Musa Ornata), which I also planted 23 days ago, still show no sign of life. :( If you look closely you will see the tiny cause of my triumph between the two stubs, which are connected by a common rhizome. Today I peeled the bananas' now dried up outer leaves off their rather short PS stumps, until I got down to some still healthy looking pale yellow leaf stubs, which are tinged with some green. Now the question is: Should I expose the stubs to more sunshine at a loss of heat? The temperature on my window sill could go down to 12 to 14^C (54 to 57^F) overnight, - there they will get some sun or should I keep them om my electric throw at an even temperature of 27 to 28^C (80 to 82^F), but with light from a skylight, but no direct sunlight? Any advise on that will be welcome. Olaf |
Re: My quest for ginger
I'm Glad that they are sprouting for you! I think its safe to say that most, or maybe all, gingers are very very slow to sprout. I bought some hedychium roots one month ago, and they are just poking up now (and thats by a very warm and sunny window). In comparison, my cannas started sprouting a week after planting! Gingers are slow plants to sprout, but pretty fast after that. My Costus is pupping and growing pretty well. I cant wait to take it outside and see it bloom.
Keep us updated on how your gingers do! |
Re: My quest for ginger
Olaf,
I would keep them on the heat matt for a few more weeks until the first leaf shows up. After looking at the picture of your "nub" poking out of the soil, I'm not sure it is Spicatus. Spicatus comes out of the ground a maroon color. Keep taking pictures as it develops and post them. Maybe I can re-identily it. Steve |
Re: My quest for ginger
Hi Steve,
Here follows my conjecture, why my plant could still be a C. Spicatus/Saber, even though it is not sprouting maroon. I have always looked at the purple or red colouring of foliage as being akin to sun-tanning. It is protective colouring against UV rays. Put a red leaved plant into shade and the leaves will be mostly green, to allow maximal exposure of the chlorophyll. Move that plant into the sun and the green will be covered with a protective ‘curtain’ of red or purple pigment. Now back to the C. Spicatus/Saber: When the shoot first breaks surface with its tip suddenly exposed to sun light, it softens that shock temporarily with protective pigmentation. However in my case the plant was in an environment equivalent to a bright room away from the window. Add to that, that it happened on a day, which was not particularly bright to start out with and you have an environment, which made the protective pigmentation unnecessary. So let us do, as you suggested: wait, see and take more pictures as growth progresses. Thank you for your continued interest in – and moral support for my little project Best, Olaf |
Re: My quest for ginger
Olaf,
Keep watching your ginger and post a few pictures in a week or two. We won't really know for sure until it blooms. Steve |
Re: My quest for ginger
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it's been exactly one week and I just took a couple more pictures. I do not think that they will give you any strong indication, let alone anything conclusive as to the true identity of this plant. I find the segmentation interesting resembling that of bamboo or even horsetail Here is the "front view"...: ... and here is the back |
Re: My quest for ginger
They look good, but they still have a lot more growing before you can get a definite ID on them! Keep us updated!
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Re: My quest for ginger
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Steve |
Another Week - Another Leaf...
...and a bit more. :)
If it keeps it up at that rate, we will have that thing blooming before the growing season is up. :) You can see in the below pictures, that the basic leaf structure is identical to the ones in C. Spicatus/Scaber. Here it is from one side... ...and here from the other It has now been promoted to a place among 'the privileged' in my window sill "greenhouse" (5th from the left, to the right of the M. Ornata). There is room for one more on each of the window sills, by squeezing the blinds, but these spots are reserved for the M. Ornata pup (if it recovers) and the other for the C. Scaber. BTW I have dug that one out and there is a little green node right down by the rhisome. It was about 2 1/2 inches deep and looked too weak to make it up from there, so I raised it to a depth of about 1" There are a few others, mostly Cannas, but they have to make 'do' on an electric throw under a skylight . |
Re: My quest for ginger
somthing is eating my ginger leaves think it could be snails ? I notice its just one potted plant others are fine so far.
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