Holy cow,,,is this what I have to look forward to? I saw a small piece of ginger starting a very small sprout in the market so I bought it! I laid it on a small bunch of shredded barely damp spaghnum on my east facing windowsill above my kitchen sink.

I purchased it in the fall, and it is just now starting to get larger where the sprout started. I will admit I didn't keep it probably as damp as I should have to facilitate rooting. I had one before and I kept it too damp and I lost it.

I don't use ginger for anything. Just wanted to see if I could grow it! And I guess I can. Anyway at this point, should I wait for roots to really develop or should I plant it in maybe a 3 in pot (just guessing). Should I just lay it on top of the soil or bury it an inch or so down in the pot? I am totally clueless as to what to do, Can you also tell me what it may look like and how to handle it if it does grow?

From your photos above I now realize the size of the roots and that it makes new plants underground on the roots! Thanks! Rosie

Oh, no, MUCH larger than a 3" pot! At the very least, a 12" pot. Put about 4" to 6" of potting medium on the bottom of the pot and just barely cover your sproutling. Leave the tip of the pink bud poking out.

Go ahead and plant it now, don't wait for roots. It'll make roots in the pot. As the fronds grow up, add more potting soil around the stem. It will develop more rhizomes along the stem. Sort of like hilling up potatoes.

I am pretty sure I killed mine. Forgot to water it! I will most likely have to start over now.

Thanks for the reply. The one I had before I started the same way (the 3" pot routine) and as it got larger I put it in larger pots until I had it in a gallon (or bigger) pot. It seems I had more roots than top growth, and no flower. When fall came I brought it in the house and treated it like a house plant. It was ok for a while. But I could tell it wasn't happy. I gave it to my daughter (by this time it seemed to be languishing) and she said she would try. She was moving to Tennessee. It died.

This is actually my 3rd attempt at this. The one I kept too damp and lost was actually #1. This one I am referencing in the above paragraph is #2. The one I asked you about (that you can have!) is #3.

I googled "how to grow edible ginger" and I think I am sorry I started this. It said the flowers are insignificant and green, not worth mentioning. All I wanted was maybe a pretty tropical plant. (I do really well with my Clivia). If you want to start over I would gladly send you mine just for the postage. I can't stand to throw out something living,,,,,BUT I don't think I want to pursue this after all. It is small and could be sent for a couple dollars. "follow" me so you and I can PM about this. Rosie

@Zen - WOW what a great result, you can actually pull off all the ginger you want to keep for use and just put a small portion back into new pot. Where are you? If you are close to me, I would love to help you for the price of 1 or 2 baby plants!

I, unfortunately, have not had as much success. I got 2 to sprout, but bot the green tips have died off. I did tip the pots over to see the rhizomes and saw that they were still firm and were developing nice roots. So, I put them back in the pots hoping that they will grow more before winter arrives and then I'll move them indoors for the heat. I love using ginger in cooking and having them home grown would be great.

Sorry, someone else already asked for it. It has found a new home. Thanks for inquiring.

I bought this little piece in the produce market. I picked one that had a little growth bump already barely started. Maybe you can find one locally also!? Rosie

@meisocal - You can easily grow ginger from a piece of fresh ginger you buy at the grocery store. Get a nice firm chunk. Here in the arid High Sierra Desert region, I place mine in an open (not tied shut) plastic bag, such as you find in the grocery aisles for produce. It sprouts quite nicely that way. If you are in a more humid area (if you're in So Cal I doubt that) you can put it in a small paper bag such as a lunch bag with the top folded over. Check once in awhile for buds. Once you see the buds, break of chunks with a bud on each one and plant them with the bud up as described above.

Super super easy to grow.

If you want pretty flowers, check out the ornamental gingers. Some of them have the most spectacular flowers in nature. And they don't photograph well, either (but the photos will blow you away)!

My favorites are beehive ginger, or the red ginger.

I also grow ginger from the grocery store, along with continuing from the harvest of the plants I have.

When starting from grocery store rhizomes, look for ones with growth buds/eyes on them. I put mine in shallow plastic "tubs". The containers from sandwich meats work well, or left over shallow clear plastic salad tubs or bowls from the produce department at the local grocer.

I punch a few holes in the bottom for drainage, put the rhizome pieces in the tubs, and fill in around them with a 2:1 mix of plain (unfertilized or "balanced fertilized) potting mix and sand (2 parts potting mix, 1 part sand). Leave the tops of the rhizomes exposed. Light seems to promote budding and green growth, so it grows much better with the top of the rhizome exposed.

I keep those tubs moist and under sunlight or red/blue plant lights until shoots develop and push up 4 to 6 leaves. That's when I transplant. I use 10" pots for single rhizomes and 14" or 16" pots can have three rhizomes growing, spread around the edges of the pot. You can break up the pieces, with one or two shoots on each piece you transplant into each pot.

I use a balanced fertilizer, applied within a few days after every full moon, until September. I stop fertilizing after the August application. Most of my ginger plants do bloom with 2 to 5 blooms per rhizome, starting late in September through October. If you want the blooms to look best, make one more application of balanced fertilizer to the pot after you see the third bloom stalk developing (count any leaf stalks that are getting fat as it pushes a bloom up those). If you fertilize at that point, most of the "cells" of the bloom will open together, and it will look prettier. If you don't fertilize, the bloom will push out from one or two cells at a time, over a week or two.

I typically start some from the grocery store in late October or early November, right after the full moon. Yes, I just planted some yesterday. And I harvest and replant from this year's plants that I have left on the next two or three full moons (through February, usually). I have fairly mature plants available for the farmers' markets and such as soon as March (from the Oct-Nov planting).

I keep them in my "tropical room" through the winter which is actually a spare bathroom with heat to 75F and grow lights on timers. In the summer, they stay outside in our high heat, high humidity environment, in an area with morning sun. filtered light at noon time, and afternoon full shade.