- G'day, I'm Mark from Self Sufficient Me. And in this video, I'm gonna
show you how to grow ginger from store-bought ginger in containers. The second step is particularly important. Let's get into it. (bird cawing) (gentle piano music) (birds chirping) Firstly, why grow ginger from
the store or supermarket? Well, we know what a great
food ginger is to eat for its health qualities
and flavoring ability, but it's also very expensive
to buy, especially these days, so growing your own ginger
can save you a ton of money. And sourcing the roots or rhizomes from the store or
supermarket can be cheaper than buying the plant already
growing from the nursery. Step number one, go and buy some ginger. Store, markets. Supermarkets are probably
one of the cheapest or if you know someone
who is growing ginger, just go and bludge some off them. Buying organic certified ginger is good if you don't mind paying
considerably more. Look for nice, big,
healthy pieces of ginger. Stay away from old, shriveled,
dehydrated pieces of ginger because they might be too far gone and not have the energy
to sprout successfully. If the ginger pieces have
an eye here and there, that is extra good because it shows that it's ready for shooting. Step number two, soak the ginger in water. Commercial ginger is often
treated with a growth retardant to stop it from sprouting prematurely on the supermarket shelves. They'd have to change the product name from ginger to ginger plant. And you know how corporations hate those extra administration costs. Anyway, to dissolve this growth inhibitor that has been sprayed over the ginger, which is a good reason to peel
it before eating by the way, soak it for at least
24 hours in some water. It's as simple as that and
don't forget to remove it or it'll ferment and
turn into ginger beer. No, it probably won't, but if it did, it'd be awesome and weird. Step number three is plant the ginger. Get a larger container or several pots and fill with a premium potting mix leaving a few inches of space at the top. Divide the ginger into smaller pieces. In this example, I've left
them in larger chunks, but you can divide it in smaller and get more out of your ginger root. However, I have found that
some smaller inch-sized pieces, for example, can shrivel, rot, and die, and not grow as well
as those larger pieces, especially if they do have
an eye already formed. Spread the pieces evenly
around the container and then just cover with
some more potting mix. Ginger doesn't need to be planted deep as the rhizome tends to grow
sideways more than up and down. Burying too deep may
naturally inhibit growth and subsequently cause decay. (sneezes) Water occasionally so the
container doesn't dry out, but don't water too much, especially in those early
days before sprouting because you don't want those
rhizomes to rot in the pot. And just another point to note is it's not unusual for ginger
to take its time to sprout. So if by mid spring you see
nothing, don't be too concerned because it will start
sprouting eventually. I've seen times when ginger
has only started sprouting at the beginning of summer. Step number four, maintenance
of the ginger plant or plants. Once the ginger has sprouted
and is growing normally, make sure that it's getting enough water. Ginger does enjoy a lot of
water, but like most plants, it doesn't like to grow in
boggy, anaerobic environments. So keep the water up, but don't let it sit in
water for long periods. Having said that, if you do have a good well draining potting
mix in the container, you'll likely need to water often. I generally water container
ginger every day through summer because you don't want the plant
to suffer from water stress in the hot subtropical weather as the plant will simply shut down during the essential growing period and even start cannibalizing its rhizomes for extra moisture. You don't want that. And you don't want weeds either
competing with your ginger, so make sure that you are
weeding the container regularly. When it comes to fertilizer, a regular sprinkle of an
organic-based liquid fertilizer or liquid feed, say once a month, will help the plants get
the nutrients they need to grow strong. Since I planted this ginger
in a premium potting mix with a slow-release
fertilizer already added, I didn't add any extra fertilizer throughout the whole growing period except for once when I did water in some liquid fertilizer
from the Plant Doctor. It was some Activ8mate. And I did that at about three months at about the halfway mark
of the full growing period. I'm thinking due to the
extra rain we've had that may have washed a lot of nutrients through the container. I've got a gut feeling that I should have given
it some more fertilizer, but we'll soon see once we
get to harvesting, won't we. Step number five,
harvesting container ginger. Well, a ginger growing
period can be anytime really, but it's usually around
four to six months. In fact, young ginger is one of my faves because it isn't as potent
and doesn't require peeling. To get the most growth
out of container ginger, I recommend to let it grow
full term through summer. Harvesting when the leaves die back between mid autumn and early winter. You can leave ginger in the container and just harvest when you need it. And what you don't use
will re-sprout next season. And I often do this with my ginger crops planted out in our raised-bed garden. However, you do run the risk of the ginger rotting in ground, this is a little bit of
an example of it here, especially if you have a wet winter. So I think the best way
for container ginger is to harvest the lot and
then store it in the pantry or somewhere dry and it should keep well. And what you don't use, just
simply replant it again. We've had lots of rain
and stuff all sunlight. So even though ginger likes water, it also loves sunlight
for it to grow best. Yes, ginger will grow well in places that may get shaded out a bit, but when it gets sun,
it needs to be strong to give the plant the
energy to grow good roots. Our extra rainy lack of sunlight summer followed by our unusually wet winter has been terrible conditions
for growing ginger. But let's harvest this
container crop of ginger and see how we went. I'll start by just
cutting these stalks off. (dry leaves rustling) Give it another week and they'd
all be totally dead anyway. A ginger flower. Nowhere near
as nice as the ornamentals. Move that there. Cut that off. That one was a prop. Put that there. In fact, I did get that
out of the container. It has died back a bit here
on top. I can already see it. With some of the roots, I can see rotted with just the skin left. It might have been the old
tubers and they just expended, but we'll see. I think I'll just, I'll just tip it out. I reckon that's the goer. Wow. Look at the actual root ball. Who would've thought that ginger would have covered so much area? That is unusual. Well, it's good to see. And let's just break this up. It should be pretty much all on the top. (roots tearing) Yeah. Oh, well, that's fairly deep here. There we go. You can see how the
actual, not the rhizomes, but the ginger roots have penetrated down. There's still some
fertilizer left in this too. That half can go back in
the pot and I'll save that. No need to throw it away. I can reuse it, but let's
just keep working on this now. Wow, what a chunk. Oh, my
goodness, that's a surprise. Look how fused that is. Oh, that must weigh, I
reckon, a kilo and a half. See if I can pull that apart. Oh, there we go. It
actually was one piece. This has a little bit of rot in it. I can see and I could feel, but you could cut that out and use it. You'd use this straight away
rather than trying to store it. Some more beautiful root
system. Really good. Lovely. Put that there. Another small piece. Another
piece on top of that. Let's keep also the rotten
sort of skins that are left. Put them onto the side so
we can have a look at them. And I'll put the rest of
this back into the pot. (soil scraping) Let me give this a bit of a clean off. (water spraying) Just a quick clean so
that we can see it better. Even, oh, I can see there's still the old tag on here. So this is the old completed
stuff that I first planted. This was probably used up as energy for the ginger plant to get it going and then it grew the rhizomes from that. (water spraying) Well, I'm pleasantly surprised. I mean, look at the
size of these rhizomes. They are fat as. I mean,
yeah, I've done better. It hasn't been the best season for ginger, but I tell you what, I've
done worse in better seasons. So yeah, that's nice. I'm really happy with what we
planted in the one container to what we have now. We'll use some of this and
then replant it next season, and you'll just keep multiplying. And that's how we've
got all of our ginger. You know, we've got a ton
of it growing in the garden as you probably know if you've been following me for a while. And it all started from just
this one or two rhizomes purchased from the store. I wish you could smell
this. It smells incredible. These older pieces here and the ones that have
a bit of rot in them, well, we'll just use them up first. There's no use trying to store them because they won't make it. But you can store some
of these bigger pieces and use them next season
if it makes it that far. If you're a big ginger fiend, well, maybe you'll just eat it, but try to save at least
one or two small pieces to plant and regrow for next season. A little ginger goes a long way. Well, I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, make sure you
give it a big, massive, fat ginger finger thumbs up
and share the video around. Also subscribe if you haven't already. Remember, sharing my videos around is one of the best things
you can do for my channel. It helps me out heaps.
Thanks a lot for watching. Bye for now. Cool.
