Growing Ginger in a Pot

According to wikipedia

Image From Wikipedia

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or simply ginger, is widely used as a spice or a folk medicine.

 It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual stems about a meter tall bearing narrow green leaves and yellow flowers. Ginger is in the family Zingiberaceae, to which also belong turmeric (Curcuma longa), cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), and galangal. Ginger originated in the tropical rainforest in Southern Asia. Although ginger no longer grows wild, it is thought to have originated on the Indian subcontinent. The ginger plants grown in India show the largest amount of genetic variation. The larger the number of genetic variations, the longer the plant is thought to have grown in that region. Ginger was exported to Europe via India in the first century AD as a result of the lucrative spice trade and was used extensively by the Romans.

In our country, ginger is commonly used as spice specially for seafood and raw dishes, since ginger tends to lessen the stench of fish and raw meat, while at the same time it enriches the flavor and aroma of the prepared dish. 

Since the price of ginger tends to vary depending on the season, I have decided to do some research on how to plant ginger in a pot.

Fig. 1.Ginger Rhizome with leaf sheath.

According to Tropical Permaculture, one of the websites that I was able to access while doing my research on ginger, it mentioned that when planting a ginger root, one should "select fresh plump rhizomes," and "for pieces with well developed "eyes" or growth buds. (The buds look like little horns at the end of a piece or "finger")"

When  I started looking in our kitchen for a rhizome with such characteristic, what I found was something that really surprised me, since I never noticed that the ginger root that I had used before when I cooked a "Chicken Tinola" has grown a "leaf sheath."(Figure 1)

fig. 2. Planted ginger root after 3 days

At first I was not sure if this could be planted, but since I'm actually doing some experimenting on ginger, I've decided to plant it anyway, and just have a "wait and see" attitude with fingers crossed. Hehehe...

Three days later, this is what I saw from the ginger that I have planted in a pot. (Fig 2.) From the looks of it, the ginger root that I have planted had survived and I just need to ensure that the plant is well taken cared of and just wait in a few months to really know how it progressed.  Til then, have a nice day folks!