How to Grow Red Ginger Alpinia Purpurata

Find an ideal planting area on your property. Red gingers grow best in partial sun to dappled shade with four and eight hours of direct sunlight daily. Avoid soils that are alkaline in pH, dense and compacted, very sandy or naturally dry. These conditions do not promote lush growth and long-term success.

Cultivate a garden bed with a shovel to a depth of 10 inches. Break up the soil into small particles to create a crumbly, porous texture. Add 3 to 6 inches of compost or well-rotted manure to the bed, mixing it deeply into the freshly tilled soil.

Plant the rhizomes or container-raised red ginger plants into the garden. Plant rhizomes horizontally at a depth of 3 to 4 inches. Orient any buds upward. With plants, remove the root ball from the container and place them at the same depth in the garden as they were in the pot. Ideally, plant red ginger once the soil is at least 65 F, about the time you would plant warm-season vegetables such as sweet corn or melons.

Water the red ginger plants to maintain an evenly moist soil, supplementing natural rainfall as needed. The hotter the weather, the more water these ginger plants need. During fall and winter, when plants naturally die back or go dormant, keep the soil barely moist to slightly dry to prevent root rot.

Scatter compost and 10-10-10 slow-release granular fertilizer over the garden bed. Follow label directions for dosage or repeat application schedule.

Once red ginger plants display vigorous new growth in spring or early summer, apply water-soluble fertilizer in tandem with a watering. A balanced formula suffices. Liquid feed the red gingers once every two to four weeks during the heat of summer. In tropical regions, the warmest months extend from midspring to midfall, such as late March to late September in Hawaii or South Florida.

Cut off flowers as needed for bouquets. Once a stem produces a flower, it usually degrades slowly, becoming ragged and yellow. Cut back stems that already bloomed to the ground with bypass pruners. Compost the debris.

Propagate plants but digging up and dividing the rhizomes in early spring as the soil is warming up. Alternatively, tiny plantlets arise from the base of the red or pink flower and weight down the plant stem. The stem flops to the ground, bringing the plantlets in contact with the soil and rooting. Dig up these rooted plantlets or cut them from the stem to root in containers for planting later.

Cut back all stems by mid to late winter with a pruners, cutting them flush with the soil or with stubs 2 to 3 inches tall. Winter coolness, frosts and drought naturally kills back the leafy stems. The rhizomes remain alive and will sprout new, lush growth in spring's warmth, creating a more visually appealing bed once again.