Growing ginger in thailand

[worriedgary]

Hello,

my uncle has become very excited about growing ginger. He has heard its easy to grow and can be sold for huge profits?

ive never heard of anyone growing ginger, so cant believe its such a good crop?

we live near chaiyaphum in issann. does anyone know any facts please?

1. can it be grown easily?

2. is there a market for it?

3. soil type.

4. what type/ name of ginger?

5. water requirements?

6. fertaliser?

7. bugs , problems to look out for.

ect.

Any information greatly needed.

Tanks for your help in advance.

Gary

[slapout]

Do a search on this forum. A fellow was raising ginger in Thailand and was having a hard time finding a market for larger quanity. Pickled ginger is normally included with roast duck dish, but not much else. The article i am referring to was several months ago., but do a little work /.research yourself and you can answer your own questions.

[faraday]

http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/growing-ginger.html

[cooked]

Seeing as no one has answered so far, I'll tell you what I know. I have about 50M2 and sold most of it for what I thought to be a low price last year.

1, It is easy to grow yes. I am only now finding how to grow it well. They really suppress the weeds towards the end of the season. Two initial weedings plus mulching does it.

2. Walking around our fresh market in Buriram I see little ginger on sale. Thais don't seem to care for it, I know for a fact that Thais that can eat chilli dishes that make steam come out of your ears find that ginger is hot, which is good as I make ginger biscuits just for me, not even our granddaughter eats them

3. I'm guessing that they will grow in any soil. We tend to get water logged soil around here so I plant on ridges, which also makes it easier to harvest. We have other species of the same plant family growing all over the place so maybe that is a guide to whether ginger will be happy in your environment.

4. I have no names for the ginger I grow but there seem to be two types: a small, very scruffy rhizome that is difficult to prepare but tastes better in my opinion. The other gives larger rhizomes and is easier to prepare.

5. Planting time is supposed to be after the rainy season, but this doesn't seem to make any difference, I planted 6 weeks ago. I flooded the troughs between the ridges twice, but they don't really need a lot of water, obviously a cash crop needs watering more often, maybe once a week.

6. I worked in plenty of well rotted cow manure into the soil this time when I planted.

7. Never had any major problem with bugs

Plenty of stuff on the 'net about ginger cultivation in India. However I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as a cash crop. http://agriinfo.in/default.aspx?page=topic&superid=2&topicid=1369 is the one I used. I see I forgot to mention that I used shading / planted in a shady place,

Edited August 7, 2015 by cooked

[zyphodb]

I'm also interested in growing maybe a Rai of ginger also in Chaiyaphum province, still have to convince the family its a good idea though, be interesting to experiment how marketable it is around here.

Has to be said though, Isaan Thais certainly don't eat much ginger so might do better in other regions...

[stoli]

A little bit of ginger goes a long way. Not sure about who needs large quantities, but good luck. I would suggest if you want to grow something that all Americans are looking for at a reasonable cost, it would be real lemons. If the Thai's can grow limes, they can grow lemons.

[worriedgary]

hi guys

thanks for all your comments. Ive told my wife to get more information from her uncle, he live just above cha am so maybe its the export market he is looking at?

when i have more information i will post it, Thanks again.

Gary

[jonnyscot]

A little late in replying but the wife is growing a Thai ginger in our area (central thailand), I believe the variety is called galangal or something like that,, as far as I'm aware the buyer sends his people to harvest the roots every 9 months or so, another couple months should see our first harvest

[cooked]

A little late in replying but the wife is growing a Thai ginger in our area (central thailand), I believe the variety is called galangal or something like that,, as far as I'm aware the buyer sends his people to harvest the roots every 9 months or so, another couple months should see our first harvest

Galangal is indeed a member of the same botanical family (Zingiberacea) as ginger but isn't ginger. Thai name is Kha and this you do see more often in the markets than ginger.

[jonnyscot]

Thanks for the correction cooked, personally I've not much idea about it, I do know that around here locally (wife included) they call it "Thai ginger" whether it's called Thai ginger locally through lack of proper knowledge is probably likely why they call it that, but it's certainly easy to grow, assuming soil is prepared in advance, and availability of water, although I can't comment on profitability, just wondered if it possibly could be variety the OP may be referring to? If not then it gives another option to consider

[loong]

We have the small rhizome galangal growing at the edge of our plot. Zero care, no soil preparation and it grows like a weed.

[Supaluke]

A little late in replying but the wife is growing a Thai ginger in our area (central thailand), I believe the variety is called galangal or something like that,, as far as I'm aware the buyer sends his people to harvest the roots every 9 months or so, another couple months should see our first harvest

Galangal is indeed a member of the same botanical family (Zingiberacea) as ginger but isn't ginger. Thai name is Kha and this you do see more often in the markets than ginger.

These posts above just about nail it.

Thais use 'Galangal' and not ginger to cook with. There might be a few exceptions, but to find a mass market for the product (Ginger) will be an issue.

[tj916]

Alcoholic home made ginger beer/wine might do well.

I love ginger good luck.

[cooked]

Alcoholic home made ginger beer/wine might do well.

I love ginger good luck.

Temperatures in Thailand are not conducive to brewing, I don't know how the breweries here do it. My ginger beer turned out to be a very low alcohol syrup.

[77mouse]

A little late in replying but the wife is growing a Thai ginger in our area (central thailand), I believe the variety is called galangal or something like that,, as far as I'm aware the buyer sends his people to harvest the roots every 9 months or so, another couple months should see our first harvest

Galangal is indeed a member of the same botanical family (Zingiberacea) as ginger but isn't ginger. Thai name is Kha and this you do see more often in the markets than ginger.

These posts above just about nail it.

Thais use 'Galangal' and not ginger to cook with. There might be a few exceptions, but to find a mass market for the product (Ginger) will be an issue.

What???? Ginger is a stock ingredient in many Thai dishes. It's grown, sold, bought and used here daily in large quantities.

[cooked]

A little late in replying but the wife is growing a Thai ginger in our area (central thailand), I believe the variety is called galangal or something like that,, as far as I'm aware the buyer sends his people to harvest the roots every 9 months or so, another couple months should see our first harvest

Galangal is indeed a member of the same botanical family (Zingiberacea) as ginger but isn't ginger. Thai name is Kha and this you do see more often in the markets than ginger.

These posts above just about nail it.

Thais use 'Galangal' and not ginger to cook with. There might be a few exceptions, but to find a mass market for the product (Ginger) will be an issue.

What???? Ginger is a stock ingredient in many Thai dishes. It's grown, sold, bought and used here daily in large quantities.

Isn't. None to be found in Buriram fresh market today ( I just harvested and was looking for prices). As stated, you shouldn't mix up Thai Ginger (Ka) with ginger. Maybe you live in the South I know they use it more down there. Googling 'ginger Thai recipes' gives results but I have never seen on a menu here.

[tj916]

Alcoholic home made ginger beer/wine might do well.

I love ginger good luck.

Temperatures in Thailand are not conducive to brewing, I don't know how the breweries here do it. My ginger beer turned out to be a very low alcohol syrup.

Someone told me you could use a yeast that can handle the high temperatures.

He was sitting on a barstool at the time so it could be rubbish.

[riceyummm]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galangal

Galangal /ɡəˈlæŋɡəl/^{[note 1]} is a rhizome of plants in the ginger family Zingiberaceae, with culinary and medicinal uses originating in Indonesia. The rhizomes are used in various Asian cuisines (for example in Thai and Lao tom yum and tom kha gai soups, Vietnamese Huế cuisine (tré) and throughout Indonesian cuisine, for example, in soto). Galangal is related to and resembles ginger. While ginger tastes a little like galangal, most cooks who use both rhizomes would never substitute one for the other and expect the same flavor.

We have a lot of galangal (kha) so we eat it often. I've only seen ginger (keeng) used in Pat Phrik Keeng, gai, moo...etc, and a pickled version which is used for I don't know what.

In Japan ginger is served as a side to sushi (sliced thin, pickled, and dyed pink) along with wasabi. I haven't tried sushi here, does it come with pickled ginger?

[green thumb]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galangal

Galangal /ɡəˈlæŋɡəl/^{[note 1]} is a rhizome of plants in the ginger family Zingiberaceae, with culinary and medicinal uses originating in Indonesia. The rhizomes are used in various Asian cuisines (for example in Thai and Lao tom yum and tom kha gai soups, Vietnamese Huế cuisine (tré) and throughout Indonesian cuisine, for example, in soto). Galangal is related to and resembles ginger. While ginger tastes a little like galangal, most cooks who use both rhizomes would never substitute one for the other and expect the same flavor.

We have a lot of galangal (kha) so we eat it often. I've only seen ginger (keeng) used in Pat Phrik Keeng, gai, moo...etc, and a pickled version which is used for I don't know what.

In Japan ginger is served as a side to sushi (sliced thin, pickled, and dyed pink) along with wasabi. I haven't tried sushi here, does it come with pickled ginger?

Yes it does. Sometimes you get the pink ginger sometimes its more the natural color. The pink ginger to me tastes better.