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At a local grocery store, I bought some young ginger (Zingiber officinale) that was harvested about 3 days ago. It includes the rhizome, some shoots, and part of the stems (refer to the picture below). The width of each of the three rhizomes in the picture is about 10 centimeters (4 inches).

I want to propagate these ginger roots. How deep should I bury these rhizomes in loamy soil? Where should the soil line be? I am guessing that the soil line should be at the pinkish parts of the ginger, but I am unsure.

Three ginger rhizomes with shoots and cut stems

Flux
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2 Answers2

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Your guess is correct - plant parts above the soil level will be green to allow photosynthesis, whereas the parts below the soil level don’t participate in photosynthesis and are consequently not green.

Ginger is planted quite close to the surface, one or two inches deep. I would recommend using the stalk color as guideline in your case, certainly not deeper than the start of the green part, rather err on the shallower side.

Stephie
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I've grown ginger for 3 seasons in hardiness area 8a. I was told ginger could not be grown here because it is a "subtropical" plant. But it has done very well mulched overwinter with 12" of maple leaves. I agree with @Stephie that it should be planted shallow, with the green parts just poking above the soil. I did this with some rhizomes which I overwintered indoors as an experiment. They did well when re-planted in the spring

Woody
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