This topic was brought up in the Vegetable Gardening forum, but didn't quite reach resolution. I'd like to get some insight here.

The question was about dormancy, and precisely what triggers it .

It is clear that the ginger foliage dies off in the winter, and the general assumption is that's because it gets cooler. That's an indication of dormancy. Does anyone know HOW MUCH COOLER it has to get for dormancy to be triggered? 60F? 50F? 40F? A related question is whether ginger is kept at constant temperatures, as in, as a house plant, will it go into dormancy at all? That is, can ginger be maintained indoors year round as an evergreen house plant, or does it somehow know, even when the temperature doesn't change, that it's time to go dormant?

I planted some storebought ginger root in August, kept it partly inside (70F) and partly outside (50-90F). I brought it in when temps were below 50F. It went dormant in December. Well watered and fertilized thoughout. I was *amazed* at how much root growth happened in just those four months.