You don't have to dig up the entire plant to get at usable amounts of the root. Like ginger, new bits just keep growing, and it can spread quite some distance. If your plant isn't quite ready for that sort of selective digging, you can dig up the roots, but make sure to plant some of the root back again. It will soon become a new plant. In any case, you don't harvest galangal until the plants are 4-6 years old, in autumn or winter, at the end of the growing season, when they are large enough to be of use.

Hi

Thank you so much for the information!

I want to know about the Holy Basil! is this the stuff the hindus call Tulsi or Tulasi?

I'd be really interested in finding a source...

I found fresh galangal at an Asian market, stored in water, and it has sprouted. I planted it outside so hope it will be hardy in z 8 and multiply.

In the same vein and with another ginger relative, I have purchased tumeric rhizomes from the vegetable bin at an organic food store and readily sprouted and grown them. They are even flowering right now.

Hi Gone Bananas,

I want to sprout fresh tumeric. The leaves are essential for some indonesian curries. I bought four rhizomes that had buds that looked like they could sprout. Seems like the roots always have two rows of buds, one on each side of the root.

How did you root it? Plant it? if so, how deep, and were buds facing up? Or, did you have it in water till it sprouted? would love your or anyone else's help! Thanks!

Lisa Amir

Hi Ana53,
Holy Basil is same as Tulasi used by Hindus in relligious ceremonies.You may buy seeds at horizonherbs.com.

The tubers of tumeric are long, so you just plant them flat (sideways). I soaked them in an abundance of tepid water for a few hours not so much to help them sprout directly but to try to soak away any sprouting inhibiter that might have been applied. I chose rhizomes that looked like they had at least one healthy plump "bud." And planted them about twice their width, about an 1-1.5 inch down.

Regaeding growing them in z. 8, I give them a thick winter cover to keep the rhizomes from freezing but otherwize they stay outdoors.

Where on the internet can I purchase the Galangal rhizomes??

I have ginger started and I want to grow Turmeric and now I want to grow Galangal as well. I know Turmeric and Ginger both grow well indoors. What I would like to know is will Galangal grow indoors in a large pot. I live in Ontario Canada and I know that none of these plants will grow outdoors here. And if I can grow it in a pot where would I find some in Toronto.

Thanks

Hi. I did the ginger from the groser and it is doing great indoors,Can I have someone send my some Tumeric & Galangal root .Would gladly renburse.Thanks
e-mail me if you can help me out .

Galangal and turmeric roots are both readily available year-round from ethnic grocers here in the Washington DC area (notably Korean or Indian places) but it's 22 degrees out and anything sent to you now from DC would be frozen and worthless by the time it reached you. I'd like to raise these again, but Han ah Reum, my favorite source, only sells the rhizomes in packages of two or three pounds, more than I want to buy for my own use.

Soooo, if you haven't gotten any locally by, say, mid-April, contact me and for postage I will happily split a package of each among whoever wants them.

Lynn

am thinking about putting a galangal root in some soil here in minnesota if I can keep any from the grater. Any one have any more experince growing indoors with the tumeric, ginger, galangals? should be interestin with four hour direct light a day-if I move it around. maybe just get a lamp for it. House usually kept around 68f.

I recently acquired rhizomes for Greater Galangal, Lesser Galangal, Kra Chai (Boesenbergia Pandurata), and Turmeric. I am new to growing things from rhizomes and had some questions. I haven't seen anything out of the turmeric plant yet. I just potted the rhizome, kept it moist and covered it with a clear plastic sheet with holes poked in for ventilation and kept it in partial sun at about 80-85F for 3.5 weeks. Does it just take a long time to sprout or did I do something wrong. Perhaps I planted it wrong. The instructions said plant with the crown facing up. The crown was broken, so I planted the individual pieces vertically, which according to others on this forum may have been incorrect. With the kra chai and galangal, I put the bulbous end down and left the cropped off shoot part pointing up, covering the whole thing with at least 0.5 in. soil. Is this the correct way to plant galangal?

With regard to obtaining rhizomes, I found the ones from Uwajimaya and 99 Ranch Market didn't sprout. I believe the grocery stores may use inhibitors as others mentioned. I got my rhizomes online from Tropilab and Horizon Herbs. You can find those online.