I recently brought a varigated shell ginger plant.. I posted about it in the tropicals forum but it didn't get any hits hardly so I'm posting about it in here.


right now its in a 1 gallon pot under the grow bulb I have hanging down., i was wondering a few questions


how often do you water it? right now its winter but soon spring is going to come I know this changes things

How often do you reppot ginger?

Its got slight leaf curl, maybe from cold damage but other then that its healthy. It had aphids but i treated the plant with foloar spray of homemade dawn soap... and the store said they sprayed for them so I'm not worried about it.

Is what you have the same as what is in my photo? Sorry I don't have a better one. I had to crop this out of a general plant photo. I haven't ever tried to just photograph the plant.

yes, thats what i have.

Though all my gingers are outside, in the landscape, gingers in general like lots of water and lots of fertilizer. That being said, they will still do quite well with the lack of either or both. They are also very vigorous growers. I would remove your plant from its pot (the whole root-ball should come out pretty easily) and see if the plant is getting root-bound. If so, re-pot it in the spring in a pot twice the size it is in. Use potting mix that drains well but still retains water a bit more than the average mix. A commercial potting mix is fine as a base, but to every gallon of that I would add a large handful of milled sphagnum moss to retain that additional water.

I don't have any variegated ones, so I don't know about sun-tolerance of the one you have. All mine get full sun for 6-8 hours (spring/summer).

Then I can tell you it has been an easy container plant for me. It goes outside under an oak tree during summer. This is the third year I've had it. Except for moving it from the nursery pot into the one you see I have not repotted it. I may tackle that this spring. Last winter I moved it in and kept it in front of some west windows. I gave it less water than in the summer, but still gave it more than indoor plants usually are given. It grew to more than 4' diameter before spring came back. I moved it out before the trees were budded, so it got sunburned and I cut about 3/4 of the plant back. The photo is after that trimming. I was hoping it would bloom on what was left, but it didn't. It did grow back into a large, full plant. This winter I've just kept it in the garage and when weather permits I've been moving it outside on the east side of the house. Pretty much it gets some water every day in summer and that includes filling up the rubber cattle tub the pot is sitting in. It seems to thrive on water and the tub is usually dry by the next day. My location in Texas is dry, windy and often very hot. If I were in a more humid area that might be too much water, but the plant clearly likes plenty of water. I think it would be happier with more water than it gets in the winter, but when I have to keep it in the garage, it not convenient and does without. Grasshoppers have chewed the leaves, but otherwise I haven't had any pest problems.

Donald, you answered the question I had about variegated ones. They appear to prefer shade during the hottest part of the day, 11:00 AM till 4:00 PM. Since all mine are outside and are never brought in as "houseplants", they receive lower levels of sun as they emerge in the spring and then as they grow, the amount of sun slowly increases. This is what one would do to acclimate their houseplants to sun, moving them from inside to outside. Mother Nature "acclimates" mine.

In my part of the world, there aren't too many plants that don't appreciate some shade when the summer really is cooking. That includes native plants. Lots of plants described as needing full sun do better if they can get a break from what the sun can dish out here.

I am in the deep south, Donald, and certainly get the same sun as you do. The difference is that we always have high humidity with our heat. My canna, azalea, ginger, and plumeria bloom best with that 6-8 hours of full sun. The landscape plants also get water about every-other-day since I have a automatic irrigation system in place. Most of what I grow though are tropicals, and they flourish with a couple of hours of early morning or very late afternoon sun. I would/could never expose them to mid-day sun. They would sunburn!

I think the lack of humidity combined with hot winds are part of it. Really, though, a plant that is in full sun only 6-8 hours here is getting some shade for a good part of the day from somewhere. Otherwise it would be getting sun for more like 12 or more hours of direct sun. I lived in coastal Texas for a while. It was hot and very humid. The humidity seems to mitigate the effects of sun. I'm not sure how, but the surface of a plant does not burn with exposure like it does here. Even native plants that grow in it naturally get some browning effect after a while. There's something more harsh about the sunlight as you move east to west across the broad central part of Texas. That's my own observation. I have no science or other source to back it up . I really wonder if the additional green from more rainfall mitigates the effects of hot sun somehow. Less glare, softens it by absorption or something.

thanks... I'll give it a drink later on when I get home. I tend to fertilize every time I water so it wont be an issue, as for the whole repotting thing I think I'll wait until spring/late may. I use happy frog potting mix.

PML, do we know where you live?

In MN, zone 4. so it would be a house plant until may.

Yep, May for you then.

I came home to find the newest leaves, some of them curled inward so i gave it a drink. i also misted them down, the plants.

Try moving the plant light farther away. That plant curls up its leaves to protect itself from too much sun. The variegated need less light than the plain ones and are more sensitive. Good luck.

My variegated gingers are outside under some trees. They are just coming back from a bad freeze we had a couple (?) of years ago. I see them planted in medians in full sun within the city. Mine barely get any sun and do well, even bloom from time to time. But their growth is stunted I think due to lack of sunshine. I didn't know they could be potted up. I might do that and them put them back where they are at least for the warm seasons, as I do worry about them in the winter. I keep them covered and for the most part they do well. They get regular water in the summer. But they have to fight the trees for it as they are at the edge of my driest bed, as a the circle of 4 large trees and a very large Youpon Holly surrounds the space. So massive amounts of water? Not mine. Full sun? Not mine. Perfect drainage situation? Not mine. But YMMV-Your Mileage May Vary.

How can you get it to bloom, if you live in zone 4?. I do keep the room well lit in winter - under a sun leaves grow light and warm, around 70- 75 degrees

may get a humidifer for my room if i'm allowed too.

figured I'd give an updaate on the ginger


I repotted it into happy frog potting mix ( can be brought at roots hydro organics) and its doing well. seems to like what drdwarg/ken said it would. I moved it further from the light as it was getting tiny brown spots on its leaves/ sun marks. it should be a few weeks before it recovers from the shock of repotting.

Sounds like it is on the way to recovery.

Thats good. I hope it grows well for me. hay i saw this youtube video of a guy that put a large plastic bag around his coffee tree to keep humidity in. do you think i could do the same with the ginger plant. i just need a really..... really huge plastic bag clear to let light in of cource.. anyone know where i can find one?