How to Grow Ginger in a Pot – Beginners Guide to Propagating Store-Bought Ginger
Have you ever fancied growing your ginger at home? Follow the tips detailed in our beginner’s guide to growing ginger in a pot, and you’ll soon be enjoying your own organic ginger root all year round.

Welcome back to the second part of our guides to growing ginger root at home.
As a quick recap, our first guide for Propagating Ginger Roots in Water cultivated our ginger rhizomes into burgeoning ginger stems with strong roots.

Now that we have successfully navigated the propagation process, the next step is transplanting our new ginger plant into a suitable soil-based environment – which is what this guide is about.
So, we don’t know about you, but we’re excited! So let’s dig in and get our hands dirty!

How to Grow Ginger in a Pot – Planting Instructions
Don’t feel left out if you haven’t sprouted or propagated your ginger roots in the water. It is possible to implement the steps in this guide with a piece of store-bought ginger root.
As long as you follow the ginger rhizome selection criteria, which we’ll detail in the first step below, you can still see success.
Alternatively, you still have time to return and try your hand at water propagation. As you can see from our experiment, it only took a week or two to show results. Plus, it increases the likelihood of a successful outcome in your ginger-growing adventures.
And anything we can do to tip the scales in our favor is always welcome at the Garden Bench Top!
Materials Required
Here is what you need:
- viable ginger rhizome
- Suitable container or pot
- Regular potting mix
- Worm castings (optional)
- perlite and vermiculite (optional)
1. Preparation and Gather Materials

Planting your ginger root in regular potting soil will yield satisfactory results if it is high in organic matter, has a light consistency, and is a well-draining soil.
However, when we transplant a seedling or plant cutting propagated in water, we like to include vermiculite and perlite in our soil. We feel it helps transition from a water-based growing environment to a soil-growing medium.
We also like to add worm castings from our worm farm into the mix as a light, well-balanced fertilizer to boost the nutrient-rich soil and growth of the ginger root.
Plus, we love worm castings and use them whenever we have the opportunity because it is a wonderful natural organic fertilizer.
Besides the usual collection of the above materials before commencing the project, here are the few PRO TIPS from our Garden Bench Top to increase your chance of success.
Garden Bench TOP TIP
- Ginger Piece Choice – We covered this in the previous tutorial on propagating ginger in water. But for those that want to grow directly in the soil, let’s revisit the two things you want to look for when selecting your ginger pieces for propagation. First, your selection of ginger needs to be a minimum of 2 inches wide to ensure it has sufficient energy to sustain the growth of a new plant. Secondly, you should look for new growth in your rhizome to eliminate the possibility that growth retardants haven’t been used on your ginger. Try to have at least a new shoot growing on each piece of ginger, like the ones in the picture above.
- Dimensions of your Pot – as your ginger matures, the rhizomes will begin to grow in size horizontally rather than vertically. It is for this reason we recommend planting ginger in wide pots. Ideally, the width of your pot should be 2-3 times the size of your ginger rhizome. Also, ensure the pot has plenty of drainage holes to allow excess water to escape. If the soil is too soggy, it will be prone to rot and fungal infections.
2. Combine Growing Medium (Soil)
You can skip this step if you are not using any of the optional ingredients.
However, if you have opted to use worm castings and the soil conditioner ingredients, the next step is to get your soil ready.

And to do this, simply combine all the soil mediums together in a separate container until you have a consistent and even distribution throughout your soil.
3. Plant Ginger
Now we get into the fun part of the process – planting and setting the ginger.
Fill your container with soil so that it is two-thirds full.
You will want to place the ginger growth pointing towards the sky. This is where the new ginger stem will develop and grow.
If your ginger piece has roots from water propagation (like ours), make a little mound of soil in the center of your pot.
Carefully place your ginger root at the peak of the soil to allow the roots to splay around the sides of the mound. Use this opportunity to position the roots, so they grow evening and don’t end up concentrated in one area.

Once the ginger piece and roots are in position, backfill the soil to cover the ginger root entirely, and only the ginger stem or growth is visible.
Gently press down the soil to stabilize your ginger and keep the soil from becoming dislodged when watering.
4. Aftercare for Ginger Root
Once your ginger root is settled in the soil, give it a thorough watering.
This is an excellent opportunity to make sure the drainage holes are functioning correctly. Make sure any excess water freely flows out from the pot.

As for basic care guidelines for your newly planted ginger:
- Sunlight – a position where it can receive direct sunlight in the morning and is shaded during the hotter afternoon soon is ideal.
- Watering frequency – keep your ginger in moist soil, but as mentioned earlier, not overly wet to avoid complications.
- Humidity – because ginger originates from tropical climates, try to provide an ambient environment with medium humidity. If your local environment isn’t normally humid, try making your own DIY pebble tray to put underneath your pot of ginger.
- Winter care – ginger requires protection from freezing temperatures. The cold temperatures will damage the root and cause it to rot. Bring your ginger indoors if your area is prone to frost and the ground freezes during the colder months.
We found moisture is the key to accelerating the growth of your ginger roots. Therefore, we recommend regularly misting your soil mix with a spray bottle during the first two weeks.
You should begin to see your ginger stem developing, and the leaves of plants begin to open up once the ginger stem is approximately a foot in length.
How do I know when my ginger is ready to be harvested?
It will be many months before your newly planted ginger will be ready for consumption.
In fact, you want to give your ginger ample time (up to a year) to mature and develop that wonderful zesty flavor before you even consider taking a peek at its progress.
There are signs to look for to know when your ginger is ready to be harvested. And we explore these in our next article in the series When to Harvest Ginger.