How to grow ginger to get high yield?

Ginger originates from tropical rainy forest areas and prefers warm and humid climatic conditions. The ideal temperature range for ginger growth is 25℃ to 32℃. Temperatures below 15℃ or above 35℃ will have an adverse effect on its growth. Ginger needs plenty of sunlight, but at the same time it cannot tolerate long periods of strong sunlight. In the high temperatures and strong sunlight from July to August, ginger leaves can easily wilt or even die without proper shade. Let’s learn in detail how to grow ginger to achieve high yield.

1. Choose the right land

The land for planting ginger should be selected from the land that was previously used for rice, peanuts, sweet potatoes or newly reclaimed land. It is best to choose a south-facing plot with loose and fertile soil and convenient drainage and irrigation. The ideal soil is sandy soil with warm weather all year round, cool summers, short daylight hours, and rich humus.

2. Select excellent varieties and process ginger seeds

The locally grown “Pear Ginger” variety is an ideal choice due to its high quality (plump and tender flesh, rich aroma), high yield and high efficiency. When choosing to plant ginger, you should ensure that the plants in the ginger garden are healthy from the previous season and that there is no "ginger plague". High-quality seed ginger should be oval in shape, with short and strong internodes, bright in color, and free from diseases and insect pests.

The middle-aged and old fresh ginger harvested around the "Winter Solstice" every year is used as ginger seeds for planting in the spring of the following year and needs to go through a storage period of 2 to 3 months. During this period, good insulation storage measures should be taken, such as sealing the cave or covering it with sand. Before sowing, dry the ginger seeds in the sun for 24 to 48 hours to reduce moisture, kill pathogens, enhance water absorption capacity, promote ginger sprout germination, and improve germination ability. Chemical disinfection: Soak the ginger seeds in 0.7% Bordeaux liquid for 10 minutes before planting to effectively kill the "ginger plague" bacteria.

3. Strengthen ginger garden management

(1) Prepare the land early. In the winter of the year before planting ginger, the soil should be deeply plowed and dried. Before sowing, the beds should be carefully prepared. Generally, the beds are 1 meter wide and 0.20 meters high, and sowing furrows are opened horizontally on the bed surface.

(2) Sow seeds at the right time and plant them at a reasonable density. According to local climatic conditions, the best time to plant ginger is from the Spring Equinox to the Qingming Festival, while in high-altitude mountainous areas, the sowing can be extended to the Grain Rain.

The sowing specifications are generally 0.40-0.45 meters in row spacing and 0.25 meters in plant spacing. The amount of ginger seeds required per mu is about 225 kilograms, and 3,500 to 4,000 ginger pieces are sown per mu. The weight of each ginger seed should be 5 to 10 grams.

(3) Apply fertilizer appropriately. Apply sufficient base fertilizer, mainly organic fertilizer , in combination with long-term and short-term chemical fertilizers. Base fertilizer usually accounts for 40% of the total fertilizer application. Before sowing, 15 kg of imported compound fertilizer plus 50 kg of calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer can be used as deep base fertilizer per mu. After sowing, it is best to cover ginger with high-quality soil and fertilizer, dry cow dung or mushroom soil. Farmers who allow can cover the crops with straw after sowing to keep them moist, prevent weeds and promote growth.

On the basis of applying sufficient base fertilizer, topdressing should be applied in small amounts and multiple times, using nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers in combination. Light fertilizer is mainly used in the seedling stage, and the amount of fertilizer can be appropriately increased in the middle and late stages when ginger is rapidly expanding. There are two important periods for fertilizing ginger during its growth process: one is when the ginger plant enters the fourth stage, which is the peak period for fertilization in its life; the other is between August and September, when the climate turns cooler and the temperature difference between day and night is large, which is a critical period for the rapid expansion of ginger. These two key fertilizations should be applied with imported compound fertilizer plus urea. When applying fertilizer, if there is drought, watering can be adopted.

(4) Scientific irrigation. The soil must be kept moist throughout the growing period of ginger, neither too dry nor too waterlogged. After sowing, keep the soil surface relatively dry to increase soil temperature and promote germination. The soil cannot be dry from the time the seedlings emerge to before the harvest, especially during the vigorous growth period of ginger from July to September. In case of drought, irrigation should be carried out in time. Irrigation can be carried out in the morning or evening, or combined with fertilization or irrigation, but the irrigation depth should not exceed the height of the underground stem, and rotation irrigation and series irrigation should be avoided, especially for plants with "ginger plague", as irrigation and flooding can easily spread the pathogen. During the entire growing season, especially in spring, ditch clearing and drainage work should be done.

(5) Pay close attention to weeding and soil fertilization. After ginger is planted, when about 5% to 10% of the ginger sprouts in the field are above the soil surface, chemical herbicides should be used for spraying in the sunny weather. Using 450 to 600 milliliters of glyphosate and 50 to 60 kilograms of water per acre to control weeds can save labor and money. In the middle and late stages of ginger growth, tillage and weeding should be carried out in combination with soil cultivation.

(6) Strengthen the prevention and control of ginger diseases and pests. The pests and diseases that harm ginger include "ginger blight", "striped borer", "leaf blight" and "curved flea beetle". The prevention and control work should be based on agricultural measures, adhere to the prevention-first, comprehensive prevention and control methods.

"Ginger plague" is the biggest threat to high and stable yields of ginger. It is a bacterial disease. The pathogen overwinters in the soil and rhizomes and can survive for more than two years. It is mainly spread through irrigation water and underground pests. The disease is widespread, develops rapidly, and causes serious harm. It can occur from the time when ginger sprouts out of the ground to before the ginger is harvested, and often occurs in high temperatures, frequent showers, and waterlogged fields.

Measures to prevent and control "ginger plague" mainly include using disease-free ginger, choosing plots with convenient drainage, disinfecting ginger, practicing high ridge cultivation, paying attention to soiling, shading, increasing the application of potassium fertilizer, and practicing crop rotation. At the same time, strengthen the inspection of ginger gardens, dig out and burn diseased plants in time, and disinfect the ginger holes with lime; pay attention to strengthening water management to prevent the spread of bacteria through water, and spray with Bordeaux mixture or mancozeb 3 to 4 times during the entire growth period.

During the period when the "strip borer" occurs, use 90% dichlorvos plus cypermethrin for control.

Use "Frost-kill" to prevent and control "leaf blight" in the early stage.

(7) Provide appropriate shade and cover to facilitate summer survival and increase yield. Ginger likes shade and is afraid of direct sunlight, and scattered light is most beneficial to its growth. The high temperature and strong sunshine in summer are extremely unfavorable for ginger to survive the summer. It is very necessary to provide shade and cover, especially in low-altitude plains where the geothermal area is flat, the temperature is high, and the sunshine is strong and long, which should be paid more attention to. You can interplant corn shoots and other crops between the ridges, or build a shed to provide shade. The shed is 1.5 meters high, and melons are planted on it, allowing the vines to spread onto the shed to provide shade; at the same time, straw is covered between the ginger rows to increase soil moisture.

In addition, during the ginger cultivation process, foliar fertilization, such as auxin, micro-fertilizer and other effective measures can be adopted to promote the healthy growth of ginger.