A couple of years ago I bought a small piece of turmeric in a grocery
store. I put it in a pot indoors. Leaves sprouted and grew about 18".
Then the tips turned brown. The whole leaves started to wither.

A new set of leaves started growing in the second year. Now they are
healthy.

How do I harvest turmeric. Can I dig out some of it and cut the root
without killing the whole plant?

Also are the leaves edible?

-Danny

"Danny "remove remove"" wrote in message
. ..
A couple of years ago I bought a small piece of turmeric in a grocery
store. I put it in a pot indoors. Leaves sprouted and grew about 18".
Then the tips turned brown. The whole leaves started to wither.

A new set of leaves started growing in the second year. Now they are
healthy.

It will do best if you keep in mind that it is a tropical plant so it
needs the warmest shetered spot with full or nearly full sun you can
find. Keep the water up to it in the warmer months, it will probably go
dormant in winter (often it dies back in coastal Sydney) when it doesn't
need water. It will re-shoot in the spring if you remember to start
watering again. If you grow it well with plenty of sun it will flower
too, the flowers are very pretty.


How do I harvest turmeric. Can I dig out some of it and cut the root
without killing the whole plant?

Yes, try digging a hole next to it and taking some from the side without
disturbing the whole thing. Wear plastic gloves while cutting and
peeling unless you like yellow hands.


Also are the leaves edible?

Yes but they are rather tough. Better used as a wrap, say around baked
meat or fish or something similar. If you want to see what the flavour
is like select some young small leaves which will be more tender.

David

In article ,
Danny \"remove remove\" wrote:

A couple of years ago I bought a small piece of turmeric in a grocery
store. I put it in a pot indoors. Leaves sprouted and grew about 18".
Then the tips turned brown. The whole leaves started to wither.

How did you get yours to sprout? What ambient air temp? I've been
trying to get my piece to sprout. Only some green spots and small bumps
that haven't gone anywhere.

"Not the Karl Orff" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Danny \"remove remove\" wrote:

A couple of years ago I bought a small piece of turmeric in a
grocery
store. I put it in a pot indoors. Leaves sprouted and grew about
18".
Then the tips turned brown. The whole leaves started to wither.

How did you get yours to sprout? What ambient air temp? I've been
trying to get my piece to sprout. Only some green spots and small
bumps
that haven't gone anywhere.


It needs to be warm, in my experience above about 24 degrees C (~75F),
this is best done in spring, keep the root damp but not soggy. Make
sure you start with a fresh plump rhizome not a withered dried-out one.
Plant into a sheltered spot with full sun or nearly full sun and keep
the water up to it once the leaves appear. If your air temp is too cold
or very dry you will not succeed. The plant is native to the tropical
parts of SE Asia so if you are in a cool/cold temperate area forget it
without a hothouse or equivalent.

David

In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:


It needs to be warm, in my experience above about 24 degrees C (~75F),
this is best done in spring, keep the root damp but not soggy. Make
sure you start with a fresh plump rhizome not a withered dried-out one.
Plant into a sheltered spot with full sun or nearly full sun and keep
the water up to it once the leaves appear. If your air temp is too cold
or very dry you will not succeed. The plant is native to the tropical
parts of SE Asia so if you are in a cool/cold temperate area forget it
without a hothouse or equivalent.

Thanks. I tried growing it in the shade here during the summer. Have
no trouble getting normal ginger to sporut but this one will not. The
ones at theindian market have not sproutd though they have not been
refrigerated.

On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 05:03:28 GMT, Not the Karl Orff
wrote:

In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:


It needs to be warm, in my experience above about 24 degrees C (~75F),
this is best done in spring, keep the root damp but not soggy. Make
sure you start with a fresh plump rhizome not a withered dried-out one.
Plant into a sheltered spot with full sun or nearly full sun and keep
the water up to it once the leaves appear. If your air temp is too cold
or very dry you will not succeed. The plant is native to the tropical
parts of SE Asia so if you are in a cool/cold temperate area forget it
without a hothouse or equivalent.

Thanks. I tried growing it in the shade here during the summer. Have
no trouble getting normal ginger to sporut but this one will not. The
ones at theindian market have not sproutd though they have not been
refrigerated.

FWIW, I have two 30 gal nursery containers into which I throw "used"
planting mixes when transplanting or repotting seedlings and other
plants. They sit in a brightly lighted portion of my greenhouse. I
have ginger, galangal and turmeric growing in them. Here (Central
Texas) the galangal thrives even when the GH temps drop to the upper
30's (F) (I only heat in emergencies). The ginger turns brown and
loses its upper growth as soon as the soil termp drops into the
50s.(F). The turmeric is somewhere in between. Last year it kept the
top growth but was so sorry looking that I cut it off. As the inside
temps get into the 80s (F) in spring, all of them resume growth.

The tumeric is a pretty, roughly 5 foot, plant with very nice flowers.
Unfortunately they are hidden at the base of the plant rather than
being at that top was with most gingers.

Not the Karl Orff wrote in message
...
In article ,
Danny \"remove remove\" wrote:

A couple of years ago I bought a small piece of turmeric in a grocery
store. I put it in a pot indoors. Leaves sprouted and grew about 18".
Then the tips turned brown. The whole leaves started to wither.

How did you get yours to sprout? What ambient air temp? I've been
trying to get my piece to sprout. Only some green spots and small bumps
that haven't gone anywhere.

Writing from England - you know what our weather is like.

Well, I know this sounds nuts, but...:

Bought some turmeric roots in an Indian grocery about a year ago, put them
in a brown paper bag in the salad crisper thing in the bottom of the fridge
and promptly forgot about them. Every time I cleaned the fridge (about once
every 4 months, to be honest) I'd just remove the bag, clean the crisper and
put the bag back. This summer I felt sorry for these few roots. Two had
withered away to nothing. I planted the other three in a pot of ordinary
compost in June and put them in my greenhouse (in case of late frosts).
Crikey, up they came! These tubers had been saving themselves for a big
explosion, and they've done extremely well, unexpectedly putting out lots of
nice green leaves.

Have removed them to my bathroom (which is the only warmish, moist place in
the house at this time of year). So far, so good, they haven't died down
yet.

I also grow Kra Chai (Kaempferia spp.), another ginger-like S.E. Asian food
plant. As you say, though, the tips turn brown and the whole plant appears
to die. But my Kra Chai has been springing up now for several years.

Don't throw your tubers away once the leaves turn brown, they'll spring up
again.

thecow

Hey Danny,

Have you continued trying to grow turmeric? Has someone else on this forum? What weather conditions are supposedly ideal for it to be grown in?

It will do best if you accumulate in apperception that it is a close bulb so it needs the warmest shetered atom with abounding or about abounding sun you can find. Accumulate the baptize up to it in the warmer months, it will apparently go dormant in winter if it doesn't need water.