Hi again all, Well, Good News! I wanted to let everyone know that the lost plant has been found ! and will soon be on its way home . It mistakenly got loaded into the wrong car. Anyone who attended the swap, knows how easy that would have been to do with the hundreds of plants and the somewhat crowded conditions due to the number of people attending and quantity of the swaps . So all is well and again thanks to the many participants and their generousity . Signet

Dormant gingers respond to heat more than anything. They don't sprout as fast as one wants, its just the way they are. They aren't sprayed with any chemicals to prevent sprouting. As for the bag method, I store dormant rhizomes in paper bags sometimes, so it definitely doesn't give them a jumpstart. In a pot, in a warm area, they will sprout fine. It will take awhile if the rhizome was in complete dormancy. If you got it out of the refrigerated produce section, chances are its going to take longer. sometimes you can luck out and find one sprouting. regardless, once established in the ground they'll establish their normal season like the rest of the gingers in your area. remember it may have come from the southern hemisphere and be really out of whack. it would still sprout though. you can chop a piece off as needed. some people have preferences and want the dormant dry stuff. in zone 6 you will need to lift them and store inside. you want them dry, but not completely in the open air, just enough to get some kind of air flow/ exchange. also, soaking doesn't help speed up the process. It is hard to do if you have kids/animals or other creatures in the way, but if put a bag of rhizomes on the floor in front of the refridgerator where the hot air blows out, they sprout pretty easily... again, not the most convienent thing but i've done some like this in late winter to get a head start on them. Tim Chapman

Half of my gingers rotted. The others took 3-5 months to come up and towards the end of that time I had bottom heat and a covered dome and placed them on the top shelf of the greenhouse where it might have gotten 100 or more during the day. It seems that they need heat in order to sprout. Next yr I'm going to try them in a sandier soil with daily watering.

The 'bulb' is the root. It is not called a bulb. It is a rhizome Lift it out of the pot and lay it sideways so that the pink tips are up if there are any. Barely cover with soil. Also you need a least a gallon size pot. It will out grow that in 6-8 weeks and then transplant to a larger pot. Was there a picture on the bag? It could be a hardy type ginger that you could plant directly in the ground. But without knowing the variety play it safe and keep it in a pot. Take it inside if your temps go below 45. It needs a well draining soil so that you can water it often without it getting soggy. Also lots of fertilizer.