Ginger too small

I harvested my bed of ginger and the ginger roots were way too small.

I intend to try again next year. Any idea what leads to small roots?

Jamin, I grow ginger too (in containers, though). But I've not had this problem, so I can't offer anything other than the generic advice (that you've probably already thought of): soil fertility, amount of light, temperature, water, etc. But maybe my comment will boost the question so that it will catch the eye of someone with more expertise who can offer a solution.

I also find it is way small (not sure why i keep growing it, honestly...). My soil is clay and tends to have a lot of small rocks, so I've been blaming that. I also don't get too much sun/heat and I know ginger is a real heat lover. I've visited commercial ginger fields and they tend to have fluffy sandy loam, you pull it out with a fork and can shake the roots clean, pretty much.

Thanks for the ideas, mates.

My soil was fairly loose and nitrogen rich - it was a new bed I put together just this year, and well-mulched and with a good layer of cow manure at the bottom. The soil was mostly just aged cow manure and some loose composted soil, nothing fancy.

Harvesting the ginger was very easy to pull up and shake loose (unlike my tomato beds, which are rather clumpy).

I planted the ginger in almost full shade (about three hours full sun, maybe two more hours with partial sun), because my area gets really hot, and it's possible I didn't water it as much as it may have wanted - rather inconsistent watering on my part. I'll try better on watering next year, I'm just curious if anyone has any other thoughts.

You might like this article from the great and recently late Hugh Lovell

https://quantumagriculture.com/2016/12/20/growing-ginger-building-the-soil-foodweb/

This was my first time getting ginger to grow so I'm too happy about that to care about size yet😄  I finally had success by using a pot with part compost and part potting mix.  Based on weather, I've been bring it in and out of the house because I'm paranoid I'll kill it in the final stretch.  I was so sure I'd kill this or that it wouldn't grow, I haven't even looked up how to harvest. Maybe I'll let it overwinter near woodstove and see if it gets bigger since it does look kinda small from what I can tell without digging it up.

Tina Hillel wrote: Maybe I'll let it overwinter near woodstove and see if it gets bigger since it does look kinda small from what I can tell without digging it up.

It will go dormant over winter, so expect it die back. It's okay to let the soil dry out some during the dormant stage; not bone dry, but definitely not soggy. It seems to get bigger in subsequent years.

Thanks Leigh! Is it better to pull the ginger and divide it or anything? Re-pot to larger size first?

Right now the plant looks good other than losing a couple leaves.  Not watering won't be a problem...remembering to is the problem.

Actually I don't know how good my ginger looks. To me it's good...edited to add this pic.

Tina Hillel wrote:Thanks Leigh! Is it better to pull the ginger and divide it or anything? Re-pot to larger size first?

That's what I do. After the leaves dry, I pull the rhizomes, keep some, and replant some. In a large pot I've put up to three rhizomes.

Right now the plant looks good other than losing a couple leaves.  Not watering won't be a problem...remembering to is the problem.

It looks like late season ginger plants, getting ready for it's winter sleep.

Let us know how your harvest turns out! I think my first year it wasn't much, so I replanted all of it.

Leigh Tate wrote:

Tina Hillel wrote: Maybe I'll let it overwinter near woodstove and see if it gets bigger since it does look kinda small from what I can tell without digging it up.

It will go dormant over winter, so expect it die back. It's okay to let the soil dry out some during the dormant stage; not bone dry, but definitely not soggy. It seems to get bigger in subsequent years.

Leigh/All, I'm in Virginia, zone 7B.  I planted some ginger in one of my beds over the summer, assuming that in this region it would over winter outside.  Is this not correct?

Even as warm as 9b it goes dormant, and doesn`t seem to wake up with heat (we`ve had a really weird year so far) or moisture, maybe it goes by daylight hours or some other hocus pocus that I don`t perceive. Ginger is definitely a "does what it darn pleases" kind of plant around here (I spent last year trying to coax some out of a big barrel full of good soft dirt and compost, regular watering, etc. It refused to cooperate. This year a tiny bit of root I must have missed is now just starting taking over the same barrel, which I replanted with mint. Stayed dormant for at least 4 months of moisture and nice tending. My tomatoes, cukes and zucchini have been going since maybe the first week of September, when it first got hot, so it took its sweet time.

Tereza Okava wrote:Even as warm as 9b it goes dormant, and doesn`t seem to wake up with heat (we`ve had a really weird year so far) or moisture, maybe it goes by daylight hours or some other hocus pocus that I don`t perceive. Ginger is definitely a "does what it darn pleases" kind of plant around here (I spent last year trying to coax some out of a big barrel full of good soft dirt and compost, regular watering, etc. It refused to cooperate. This year a tiny bit of root I must have missed is now just starting taking over the same barrel, which I replanted with mint. Stayed dormant for at least 4 months of moisture and nice tending. My tomatoes, cukes and zucchini have been going since maybe the first week of September, when it first got hot, so it took its sweet time.

Gotcha - I guess my question is if the ginger will die if I leave it outside in Virginia 7B

Joshua LeDuc wrote:Leigh/All, I'm in Virginia, zone 7B.  I planted some ginger in one of my beds over the summer, assuming that in this region it would over winter outside.  Is this not correct?

Joshua, I think it depends on the variety you have. The tropical variety (Zingiber officinale), thrives in zones 9 - 12 and doesn't seem to like temps lower than 50°F. This is the standard culinary kind. But there are some hardier varieties that are said to overwinter up to zone 7. I started mine from grocery store rhizomes, and so treat them as tender tropicals. In fact, one winter I lost all my ginger because I stored their pot on the back porch, where it got too cold for them. (Very sad!).

If you don't know what type you have, you could experiment by storing some inside over winter, and leaving some well mulched outside.

^^ that is probably what I should have said!! Mulch the heck out of it and don't be worried if it takes its sweet time to appear.

Leigh Tate wrote:

Joshua LeDuc wrote:Leigh/All, I'm in Virginia, zone 7B.  I planted some ginger in one of my beds over the summer, assuming that in this region it would over winter outside.  Is this not correct?

Joshua, I think it depends on the variety you have. The tropical variety (Zingiber officinale), thrives in zones 9 - 12 and doesn't seem to like temps lower than 50°F. This is the standard culinary kind. But there are some hardier varieties that are said to overwinter up to zone 7. I started mine from grocery store rhizomes, and so treat them as tender tropicals. In fact, one winter I lost all my ginger because I stored their pot on the back porch, where it got too cold for them. (Very sad!).

If you don't know what type you have, you could experiment by storing some inside over winter, and leaving some well mulched outside.

Thank you for that Leigh!  Good idea - have a control sample!  My wife will be thrilled when I bring another plant inside!  Lol....