Ginger Plant: How to Grow Ginger at Home in the US

You can grow ginger almost anywhere in the US, but only some places let you do it in the ground. It is a tropical plant that goes dormant and drops its stems when winter days arrive, so in cold-winter regions the realistic way to grow it is in a deep pot, kept outside in the warm months and brought in before the first frost. Plant a piece of grocery-store rhizome in spring, give it warmth, bright light and steady moisture, and expect to wait 8 to 10 months for a full harvest. It is slow rather than hard.

Days to harvest

8–10 months

Origin

Asia

Container friendly

Yes

Grown from

Rhizome pieces, not seed

Planting depth

2–4 in (5–10 cm), buds up

Spacing

6–8 in (15–20 cm) apart

Sun

2–5 hours of direct sun

Pot size

12 in (30 cm) deep, 18 in (45 cm) across

Why grow ginger at home?

Ginger is sold as a dry-skinned root, but the part you eat is a rhizome, a fleshy underground stem, and growing it yourself lets you harvest young ginger as well as mature rhizomes. Penn State points out that if you start your ginger in early spring it can be moved outdoors to harvest “baby” or green ginger. It also asks very little of you in the way of equipment. A rhizome from the kitchen, a deep pot and a warm spot are enough to start, and the plant itself is a tall, leafy clump, so it earns its place on a patio even before harvest.

Where can you grow ginger?

The extension guides we rely on do not give a USDA zone range for ginger, so we will not invent one. What they do say is useful. The University of Hawaii (CTAHR) guide is written for a tropical climate, where ginger is planted in March to May and harvested about nine months later. Penn State, writing for Pennsylvania, says ginger “can be planted in containers and later moved outdoors” in its area, and that night temperatures should not drop below 50°F (10°C). Texas A&M supplies the in-ground planting details used below.

The practical reading for the rest of us: in a frost-free climate you can plant ginger in the ground in spring. Anywhere with freezing winters, plant it in a container, start it early and move it outside once nights stay above 50°F, as Penn State advises. If you want a closer look at pots, see our guide to growing ginger in containers.

A year in the life of a ginger plant

The sources fit together into a simple annual rhythm, with the dates depending on your climate:

1. Early spring: start rhizome pieces in containers (Penn State). In Hawaii, planting runs from March to May (CTAHR).
2. Once nights stay above 50°F (10°C): move pots outdoors to a warm spot with 2–5 hours of direct sun.
3. Growing season: keep the soil from drying out, and mist in dry air (Texas A&M).
4. Before the first frost: bring pots inside if you want larger rhizomes (Penn State). Left to winter conditions, the plant goes dormant and loses its stems.
5. 8 to 10 months after planting: dig up the whole plant for a full harvest (Texas A&M, Penn State), or about 9 months in the CTAHR guide.

Ginger varieties

None of our three sources names a ginger variety, and the plant is sold simply as ginger, so there is no variety table here. What matters more than the name is the quality of the rhizome you plant. CTAHR warns that because ginger is vegetatively propagated, “it is important to plant seed pieces that are not infected” with bacterial wilt, so choose firm, plump, healthy pieces. Rhizomes from a grocery store can work, with a catch about growth retardant that we cover in how to grow ginger from store-bought ginger.

Ginger planting calendar

The two rows are not zones in the usual sense. They are the two regions our sources actually describe. If you garden somewhere between them, use the cooler-area row and let the 50°F night-temperature rule, not the calendar, tell you when to move pots outside. A pot can start indoors weeks before the garden is ready for it.

How to plant ginger

1. Choose a plump rhizome with growth buds. Look for firm pieces with small bumps at the tips, which are the growth buds. Texas A&M notes that store ginger is sometimes treated with a growth retardant, so soak the rhizomes in water overnight before planting.
2. Cut it into pieces. Cut the rhizome into pieces 1 to 1½ in (2.5–4 cm) long, each with a couple of buds. Texas A&M says to let the cut ends callus over for a few days; CTAHR says to cure seed pieces in a cool, dry place overnight or longer. In pots, CTAHR uses pieces of 2–3 oz (55–85 g).
3. Fill a deep container or prepare a bed. Use loamy, organic-rich soil with a pH of 5.5–6.5. For a pot, Penn State wants one at least 12 in (30 cm) deep and 18 in (45 cm) across.
4. Plant with the buds pointing up. Set the pieces 2–4 in (5–10 cm) deep and 6–8 in (15–20 cm) apart, growth buds upward, then water.
5. Put it somewhere warm and bright. Give it 2–5 hours of direct sun. In a cool region, keep the pot indoors or sheltered until night temperatures stay above 50°F (10°C), then move it outside.

Ginger care

CTAHR also advises keeping potted ginger elevated at least a few feet above ground level. A bench or sturdy shelf does the job.

Common ginger problems

Harvesting ginger

Ginger is harvested by digging up the entire plant (Texas A&M). The best time is when the plant is 8 to 10 months old, though Penn State says you can harvest “baby” or green ginger earlier if you start in early spring. Unpeeled fresh ginger keeps for up to 3 weeks refrigerated or up to 6 months frozen, according to Texas A&M. We cover how to tell baby from mature ginger and how to store both in our ginger harvesting guide.

What our sources do not tell you

Three extension publications are a solid base, but they leave gaps, and we would rather say so than guess. None gives a USDA hardiness zone, a freezing limit, an upper temperature limit, a watering amount in inches or a fertilizer rate. The Texas A&M and Hawaii publications are also older (2010 and 2013). If you grow ginger in a very different climate from Hawaii, Texas or Pennsylvania, treat the month-based timing here as a starting point and let your own frost dates and night temperatures decide.

Grow these next

Ginger has close cousins in the kitchen garden. Turmeric is also grown from rhizome pieces and suits the same pots, and lemongrass shares the warm-season, frost-tender habit. All three can sit side by side in a sunny patio container garden.

Garlic is the other kitchen staple in our catalogue, but it runs on the opposite calendar: planted in fall rather than spring, and hardy rather than frost-tender. See our garlic growing guide, or the spice garden collection.