How do you keep potted ginger alive indoors in winter.

[Hardypalms]

I bought a flowering ginger on clearance and going to keep it either inside my house or unheated garage for the winter (Z7b).

I just want it to survive, it does not have to look at its best.

Can it take a low of 35 in my garage?

I do drag plants outside in the winter during nice spells.

Do i need to keep it under lights?

Thanks

 

Pat

[Looking Glass]

Curcuma sulee sunshine.

These die back to the ground in fall-winter, and rest and re-emerge in summer.   I had a few in the ground.    They behaved like Caladiums do here, and not like gingers.   These came back strong for a couple of years, then by year three, were tired and atrophied and almost gone.   The lows here are in the mid 40s for a few days, every other year.  

You could probably dig up the rhizome/bulb at dieback, and keep in a warmish spot indoors, then replant in spring.   These don’t survive freezing temps.  

1st couple years….

 

Last hoorah, this year.  Pretty much out of gas…

[metalfan]

I grow a ton of curcuma ginger. I am in done 9A in Florida. Curcuma are deciduous gingers. So are Globbas, Zingibers (pinecone gingers) and Kaempferias (the Peacock gingers). You can't keep them from going dormant, its genetic. The gingers that do not go dormant are Etlingeras (Torch Gingers), Hedychiums (Butterfly Gingers), Alpinias, Tapeinochilus and the Costus (which are not true gingers).

I can say with absolute certainty that, because they are usually dormant when it happens here, they will survive freezing temps. Mine have gone down to 20F. BUT. Caveat. The ground does not freeze here. So the rhizomes do not freeze here. If your ground freezes, then yes, you might lose them if you plant them out.

There are 3 types of curcumas. The one you have is a late summer bloomer. There are others that are early Spring bloomers, and there are late Spring/early summer bloomers. If you collect different ones you can have Curcuma blooming (here anyway) from March through November/December, then they start to go down.

You can just wait for the plant to go into dormancy and store the entire pot in a place that will not freeze, and stick it back out in Spring. 

BB2F064E-C46F-467B-9D56-9198CBA45F27_1_201_a.heic 44762B9A-ED90-4C61-A78A-7D10FA335D2B_1_201_a.heic

[Hardypalms]

1 hour ago, metalfan said:

I

You can just wait for the plant to go into dormancy and store the entire pot in a place that will not freeze, and stick it back out in

BB2F064E-C46F-467B-9D56-9198CBA45F27_1_201_a.heic 1.42 MB · 2 downloads 44762B9A-ED90-4C61-A78A-7D10FA335D2B_1_201_a.heic 1.26 MB · 2 downloads

Where exactly do i have to put the pot?

Inside my house in a closet?

Inside my house by a window?

Or in my dark unheated garage (Mid 30’s at worst)?

Thxs again

Pat

[Looking Glass]

1 hour ago, Hardypalms said:

Where exactly do i have to put the pot?

Inside my house in a closet?

Inside my house by a window?

Or in my dark unheated garage (Mid 30’s at worst)?

Thxs again

Pat

In Florida, depending on the area, you get brief cold nights that then warm up during the day.   If you store the rhizome in a pot up north and it freezes, I think it’s done for.   

Where I’m at, many of the gingers grow way out of control.  The few I had, I ended up removing due to this.   Those Curcuma are nice and well behaved.   
 

2 hours ago, metalfan said:

I grow a ton of curcuma ginger. I am in done 9A in Florida. Curcuma are deciduous gingers. So are Globbas, Zingibers (pinecone gingers) and Kaempferias (the Peacock gingers). You can't keep them from going dormant, its genetic. The gingers that do not go dormant are Etlingeras (Torch Gingers), Hedychiums (Butterfly Gingers), Alpinias, Tapeinochilus and the Costus (which are not true gingers).

I can say with absolute certainty that, because they are usually dormant when it happens here, they will survive freezing temps. Mine have gone down to 20F. BUT. Caveat. The ground does not freeze here. So the rhizomes do not freeze here. If your ground freezes, then yes, you might lose them if you plant them out.

There are 3 types of curcumas. The one you have is a late summer bloomer. There are others that are early Spring bloomers, and there are late Spring/early summer bloomers. If you collect different ones you can have Curcuma blooming (here anyway) from March through November/December, then they start to go down.

You can just wait for the plant to go into dormancy and store the entire pot in a place that will not freeze, and stick it back out.  

I’m no ginger expert, but do you draw a line somewhere between Tumerics vs Gingers, or is this not a real delineation?    I always thought of these as Tumerics.  
Do your rhizomes seem to weaken over the years if left in the ground?  
 

 

[metalfan]

17 hours ago, Hardypalms said:

Where exactly do i have to put the pot?

Inside my house in a closet?

Inside my house by a window?

Or in my dark unheated garage (Mid 30’s at worst)?

Thxs again

Pat

Somewhere where it won't freeze. If your winter temps get to ZERO and its in your garage, its still going to freeze. If your garage only gets to mid-30 at worst that's ok. You will only have a bare pot of buried rhizomes, no top growth at the time so it doesn't matter

[metalfan]

16 hours ago, Looking Glass said:

In Florida, depending on the area, you get brief cold nights that then warm up during the day.   If you store the rhizome in a pot up north and it freezes, I think it’s done for.   

Where I’m at, many of the gingers grow way out of control.  The few I had, I ended up removing due to this.   Those Curcuma are nice and well behaved.   
 

I’m no ginger expert, but do you draw a line somewhere between Tumerics vs Gingers, or is this not a real delineation?    I always thought of these as Tumerics.  
Do your rhizomes seem to weaken over the years if left in the ground?  
 

 

Turmeric is a single species of Curcuma, Curcuma longa. The other species of Curcuma are not used for food like Turmeric. No the rhizomes don't 'weaken', in fact the stand expands every year

Edited September 3, 2023 by metalfan

[Hardypalms]

55 minutes ago, metalfan said:

Somewhere where it won't freeze. If your winter temps get to ZERO and its in your garage, its still going to freeze. If your garage only gets to mid-30 at worst that's ok. You will only have a bare pot of buried rhizomes, no top growth at the time so it doesn't matter

Thank-you so much, it helps a lot!

 

Pat