How to Cultivate Ginger for High Yields? Detailed Explanation of Key Planting Techniques
Ginger refers to the tuberous rhizome of plants in the Zingiber genus. It is warm in nature, and its unique “gingerol” can stimulate the gastrointestinal mucosa, causing congestion in the gastrointestinal tract, enhancing digestive capacity, and can effectively treat abdominal distension, abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting and other conditions caused by eating too much cold and raw food. After eating ginger, a person will feel the body heating up, because it can dilate blood vessels, speed up blood circulation, and promote the opening of pores on the body, which not only takes away excess heat but also brings out pathogens and coldness from the body at the same time. When the body has eaten cold and raw things, has been caught in the rain, or has stayed in an air-conditioned room for a long time, eating ginger can promptly eliminate various discomforts caused by heavy cold in the body.
Morphological Characteristics of Ginger
Perennial herbaceous plant with persistent roots. The rhizome is fleshy, thick, flat, and has an aromatic and pungent taste. Leaves are arranged in rows, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 15-30 cm long, about 2 cm wide, tapering to a pointed tip and narrowing at the base, smooth and hairless, with a stem-clasping leaf sheath; sessile. The flower stem is upright, covered with imbricate, loosely arranged scales; the spike is ovate to elliptical, about 5 cm long and about 2.5 cm wide; bracts are ovate, pale green; flowers are dense, about 2.5 cm long, with a sharp pointed tip; the calyx is short and tubular; the corolla is 3-lobed, with lanceolate, yellow lobes, and the labellum is shorter, oblong-obovate, pale purple, with yellow-white spots, and each side of the lower part has small lobes; there is 1 stamen, protruding, and the ovary is inferior; the style is thread-like, pale purple, and the stigma is radiate. The capsule is oblong and about 2.5 cm long. The flowering period is June-August.
How can ginger be cultivated to achieve high yields?
1. Strictly select the site and avoid continuous cropping
Choose sandy loam, loam, or clay loam with fertile soil, deep soil layers, good aeration, rich organic matter, and strong water and fertilizer retention. The field should be slightly elevated, convenient for irrigation and drainage, and not prone to waterlogging. Ginger is not suitable for continuous cropping and should be rotated with rice, cruciferous crops, leguminous crops, etc. for 3-4 years.
2. Carefully select ginger seeds to promote early sprouting
Choose old ginger with plump and full ginger pieces, bright skin color, fresh flesh, hard texture, 1-2 strong buds, weighing 50-75 g, and free from disease as seed ginger. Before sowing, soak the seed ginger in a 500-fold dilution of 50% carbendazim for disinfection. After disinfecting the seed ginger, first sun-dry it for 2-3 days. When the surface of the ginger pieces becomes shiny, pile them up, cover with straw for insulation and sprouting promotion, keep them moist, and control the temperature at 20-25 degrees C. When the ginger buds grow to 1 cm, they can be sown.
3. Sow at the right time and plant at a reasonable density
Where irrigation conditions are good, the temperature is high, and no sprouting promotion is used, sow at the Jingzhe solar term; where there are no irrigation conditions and the temperature is low, and sprouting promotion is needed, sow around Qingming or at the Guyu solar term. Sow in rows, with a row spacing of 35-40 cm, a plant spacing of 26-30 cm, and a furrow depth of 10-20 cm, using about 500 kg of seed per mu. Apply 15 kg of urea and 25 kg of compound fertilizer per mu as seed fertilizer, place the fertilizer into the furrow and mix it evenly with the soil. About 1 hour before sowing, water the base to make the soil moist, place the ginger pieces horizontally in the furrow, keep the direction of the young buds consistent, and gently press them into the mud by hand, then cover with about 5 cm of moist fine soil.
4. Apply sufficient base fertilizer and scientifically topdress
Ginger has a long growth period, so the principle of applying sufficient base fertilizer and topdressing multiple times should be adopted. When preparing the land, apply 3000 kg of decomposed organic fertilizer and 25 kg of potassium fertilizer per mu as base fertilizer. When the seedlings are about 30 cm tall and have 1-2 branches, topdress once, applying 20 kg of urea per mu, or use clear manure water to irrigate the seedlings; around the Start of Autumn, apply 50 kg of compound fertilizer and 25 kg of potassium sulfate per mu, opening a furrow about 15 cm from the base of the plant, applying it in, then covering with soil and irrigating; when the underground rhizome expands, apply 10-15 kg of urea and 15-20 kg of potassium sulfate per mu.
5. Shade and cool down to promote growth
Ginger is a shade-loving plant that does not tolerate high temperatures and strong light, so shading should be carried out during the summer growth period to promote growth. There are many shading methods; you can build a shed for shade, or intercrop with the tall crop corn.
6. Prevent drought and waterlogging, and earth up in time
Ginger is neither tolerant of drought nor tolerant of waterlogging, and has strict water requirements. During the growth period, it is best to keep the soil moist. During the high-temperature summer period, water in time to cool down, preferably in the morning and evening. On rainy days, drain accumulated water from the field in time to reduce the occurrence of ginger blast. To prevent the rhizome from being exposed above the ground, the epidermis becoming thicker, and quality deteriorating, earthing up should be carried out. Generally, earth up 2-3 times in combination with watering and fertilizing, with each earthing up about 3 cm.
7. Do a good job of pest and disease control
The main diseases are soft rot and leaf spot. Soft rot generally begins in July, with August-September being the peak period. When diseased plants are found, pull them out in time, dig out the infected soil, spread lime in the diseased holes, and fill them with clean, sterile soil. For leaf spot, spray an 800-fold dilution of 50% chlorothalonil at the early stage of the disease, once every 7-10 days. The main pests are ginger stem borers and ginger maggots, which can be controlled by spraying trichlorfon or phoxim on the leaves.