How to Care for Dormant Gingers

Mulching for Outdoor Gingers

• 1

  Spread a 2- or 3-inch layer of mulch around the base of the ginger plant in the fall, before the first frost in your area. Ideal mulching materials include wood chips, straw, crumbled leaves or pine needles.

• 2

  Pull the mulch away from the stem of the ginger plant. Too much mulch packed around the stem can smother and kill the plant.

• 3

  Remove the mulch in the spring, after the last frost in your area.

Bring the Rhizome Indoors

• 4

  Allow the ginger plant to get nipped by a light frost. This alerts the ginger to the end of the growing season.

• 5

  Dig up the ginger rhizomes, and wrap each rhizome individually in peat moss or damp newspaper.

• 6

  Put the wrapped ginger rhizomes in a black trash bag. Store the bag indoors in a dark room where temperatures range from 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

• 7

  Mist the newspaper or peat moss monthly to keep the ginger rhizomes from drying out.

• 8

  Replant the ginger rhizomes after the last frost has passed in your area. Water the rhizomes thoroughly and apply fertilizer regularly.