Hi,

Thanks for all this great information on Tumeric!

I want to grow Tumeric in my Miami, Florida back yard. Can someone help me get started?

There is a Whole Foods Market near me. It is now fall, November 1st is approaching. Do you think I can start growing it now?

Do you think I should start it in a pot indoors or outdoors and take it in when the cold weather starts. It sometimes gets down to the lower 50's. I have grown many plants before, but never Tumeric.

I want my plant to be very concentrated and high quality. I will be using it for health reasons. I have inflammatory auto-immune disorders.

Is there a way to grow it a certain way to make it more concentrated. I have done it with other plants. I'm not sure if it can be done with Tumeric.

Thanks very much in advance for helping me.

Elona

Started Tumeric this spring, mine are in a container. Used compost as the growing medium plus a few handfuls of pea gravel for drainage. Planted the rhizome approximately 1-2 inches deep, I purchased the rhizomes from my organic food store; make sure they have a few eyes on them (little nubs that are pointed), I plant them with the eyes up (not sure if you have to do that, but it seemed to work). Put the container in full sun, they like moisture but not so much that it can rot (make sure you have good drainage), it took quite a while for the leaves to emerge out of the ground (2-4 weeks), I was ready to give up on it!

By the end of the season(Zone 4b here-May-September) I had 2 plants from the 2 rhizomes approx 18" tall, they are now in the basement, so hopefully they will come back in the spring. Tumeric should be able to grow in Miami year round.
There are some pretty good videos on youtube for growing Tumeric.
The article that Bubbles wrote should have all the info you need on growing Tumeric.

I read that sometimes the rhizomes found in the grocery store have been treated with growth retardent.
Did any of you find that a problem?

The one I saw for sale (I didn't keep the link) was $ 12.99 for one rhizome (to buy thru the mail).

I thot I would try the ones I buy from Whole Foods as an experiment, I'm also going to ask the store if they can tell me if they have been treated with growth retardent. Probably they'll have to ask their distributor.
I also read an article that says the Turmeric plant is being heavily cultivated and 94% of it found undomesticated is gone.
Which is another good reason to grow it ourselves.
Plus I didn't know it had a beautiful bloom.

The plant shown was started from a tuber picked up at a organic food store, it took a long time to sprout, this will be the third year of growing it, hoping to get a flower this year.