g'day west9491,

depends if it has been treated with growth inhibitors? most stuff from the regular supermarkets has been.

maybe buying from farmers markets or local green grocer stores you could get viable corms? organic will be viable.

also think about gal-n-gal it is the indonesian version i reckon tastes the same it is frost hardy evergreen, the other dies down in winter.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

I have grown ginger roots from the supermarket in a pot. In a tropical climate, growing it outdoors in the ground would probably be best.

I had no intention of producing my own supply of ginger for cooking. I just wanted to see a ginger plant. It grew nice leaves but I did not stick with the experiment long enough to see blossoms or to increase the amount of roots. There are ornamental gingers which would be fun to grow.

Jim

I have also grown ginger from supermarket ginger. It was a lovely plant, and my cat ate it to the soil line! Thinking that was just one cat with a strange taste for spice, I tried again years later with a different cat in the house. She loved it, too. It must have a chemical in it that acts similar to catnip!

Anyway, go ahead and try it. The next time I try it, I will plan to plant it in my herb bed in the summer, and pot it up for the winter.

Catherine

thanks, what I was really wondering was if it had any frugal purposes, lol. like, if you bought a piece and cut it up into a few peices and planted them would it make more? or does planting one whole piece result in a couple of pieces???

something i always need but never have, but never want when im at the grocery store. kinda like cilantro, i may use a lil and the rest usually hits the compost, that's why i'm growing that this year, i can just step out and grab some....good stuff too....

I tried to sprout ginger but could not. They said that you put them in a plastic bag, with little water, keep it in a warm place. I did not follow the instruction fully.
Lately I bought some galangal(Indonesian ginger). I kept a piece in a plastic bag for about 3 weeks and it has sprouted. Now that I hear it is cold hardy, I will plant it.
HOW TO..
As potatoes have eyes, gingers, turmerics have nodes(bumps) from where it will sprout. So you have to start with a piece that has couple of nodes. Horseradish is similar. Actually it has eyes like potato. I have started some horseradishes from store-baught pieces and they are growing right now in my garden. Seems to be fast growing too.
Galangal has a similar taste to ginger but more potent and it is much more expensive(grin!). Both ginger and galangal, in addition to colinary use, are medicinal too.

I have ginger in my pond. I bet you could get some from an asian market and grow it.

it does multiply as the small piece planted turns into a much larger corm, so you can harvest a piece to use in cooking or grow more on. no need to wait for end of season to harvest just dig down a little and remove as much as you need for the purpose. no need to peal it just wash it thoroughly and use a fine grater to get what you need for cooking purposes. harvested corms can be stored in the freezer, but grate them while frozen.

if left in the ground each year it comes back the clump gets larger in size. flowering is a bit of a lottery and only an added appearance bonus, this ginger i currently have has never flowered, the gal-n-gal flowers each year.

if a corm is going to grow it needs no special treatment simply plant it, remember they are tropicals so need it warm earth wise and handle full sun.

len