# How do I overwinter ginger?



## magnolia2017 (Dec 5, 2005)

I planted some ginger root in pots outside this spring and it has done well. Now winter is approaching and I'm wondering if I should let it go dormant after I bring it inside or can I keep it going year round?

Thanks,
Maggie


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## susieM (Apr 23, 2006)

Isn't ginger lovely? Is yours giving you red flowers, or those beautiful-smelling yellow flowers?

I stuck some in the ground that I had brought to France from Hawaii, and it grows back every year, after dying back with the first frost. If you live in a very cold place, try covering it with straw or a bushel basket for the winter. Or dig some up and make it be a houseplant...it loves living in a big pot in the house.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Last year, someone said their mother (Asian, I believe) kept her's in a container of sand (damp if I recall) under the sink all winter.


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## Guest (Sep 25, 2006)

Edible ginger will go dormant once the cold weather sets in. The tops will die off leaving the tuber (rhizome?) in the ground. I'm pretty sure it won't take winter lows in West Virginia though so once the tops have died back bring the pots into some place cool, but above freezing until next Spring when the weather stays reliable above freezing. A basement or some such place is good. Keep the potting media slightly damp over the winter but not more than that.

.....Alan.


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## magnolia2017 (Dec 5, 2005)

Thanks for the replies 

Will be bringing the ginger in soon. As for flowers, I didn't notice any but anxious to see what next year will bring.

Maggie


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## rwinsouthla (Oct 24, 2005)

Even in south Louisiana, the first frost kills the tops. I rake up the leaves on an acre of my lot with rake and lawnmower and put 6-8" over all of the ginger in my yard and it always gets going quickly in the spring. 

On the flowers, the kind that I have, and I don't know the scientific name of it, if it doesn't get below 28 degrees, it flowers the second year. If we get below about 28, no chance for flowers the following year. The butterfly ginger I think flowers every year.


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