50% Success Rate: Dannybuntu's How to Plant Ginger Guide

With the self imposed closure of our resort, I am left with agriculture and making money online as an alternate revenue source. 

I'm not a farmer by trade, but last January, I had the privilege of harvesting something which I planted on my own. 

Ginger

It is locally known as Luya.

My grandfather, Lolo Ariong, told me that it was a cash crop and I've seen some articles online about the good opportunities in Ginger production.

• Philippine Information Agency - Ginger Production

These pictures were taken last week or the second week of July. I planted them sometime in January 2012. 

What I did was cut portions of the first Ginger lump we harvested and planted it in an experimental plot near our house. I planted 14 and out of that 14, 7 grew. I just discovered this after cutting the grass since I almost gave up on them and figured that they were eaten by "Bayuko" or Snails

How to Plant Ginger
For now, my plan is simple, I've already managed to have a harvest however puny they are and now I intend to learn how to make my planting more efficient.

We have 15,000 square meters of idle land and I intend to fill it with ginger.

The only problem would be the capital, I'm not too keen on risking a loan at this moment and I have tried with the Bank of the Philippine islands but they said that they only accept Residential or Commercial properties as collateral when it comes to business loans.

Our property is registered as Agricultural.

There are many who text me about Collateral and Non-Collateral loans but their marketing approach is too invasive and I wouldn't want those types of people nagging me for payments when it comes to paying time.

Anyway, I'll be making a video for this "how to" when it stops raining.

For now, here is the step by step procedure.

• Planting season should be 1 to 2 months before the rainy season which starts in June or July. I'm not really sure on this, but this is what I have done. Some guides out there may be more accurate or correct. My reasoning is the plants seem to love it and grow faster during the months of June to July. So it only makes sense for the Ginger to be planted 2 to 3 months prior. But I could be wrong.
• You can buy matured gingers for planting in the wholesale section of the market or even the groceries, but its more expensive there. I don't know if the Philippines Department of Agriculture provides free "binhi" for ginger and I don't know how to translate that in English.  
• Divide the Ginger lump according to bump. Generally speaking, the larger the lump of Ginger you plant, the better chances of it growing. But some are actually saying that you should plant ginger stumps with bumps or "bukol" on them. These bukols - hehehe - would become the plants later on. 
• Dig 6 to 10 inches deep in the ground and make it sizable enough for the average size of your ginger stumps. There should an allowance around the center so they have easy room to grow. 
• Burnok or Jason, our former employee told me that the ground surrounding the planting area should be how do I put this, "buhaghag" (Omigosh I sound konyo...) or loosened because the ginger will expand in volume. 
• Don't cover the ginger too much with soil, leaving only a few centimeters of soil above it. It would actually grow a little upwards too, too which you should just constantly pile with soil a few centimeters every time it pops its head out.  
• Cover the entire column with "palapa" or coconut leaves. Generally speaking - and again I may be wrong, if you are an agriculturist or professional farmer please comment below - Ginger only needs marginal sunlight - that's the reason for putting the coconut leaves on top. But since our place has a lot of trees, the sunlight is dispersed. 
• I don't know yet if we should use fertilizer on these very easy to grow plants. We'll see. 
• To be continued.