The goal here is to force some ginger root. To do that, you put the root in a warm, moist (micro) environment, and encourage it to sprout. Typically, you do that warm-moist thing indoors, with a planting tray on a “seedling heat mat”.
On my first attempt, I ended up cooking my ginger roots. Per just-prior post. Soil temps approached 110F, in what I think was its thermal steady state.
This post is about my second attempt at sprouting ginger root.
That’s a pretty important conjunction.
In hindsight, I may have learned two things, from my first try at sprouting ginger. Turn the heat mat down, and only use it at night.
First, I need to put a dimmer on the heat mat. Check. Done that. Shoulda donnit the first time.
But second, maybe heat mat and window sunshine is not such a great idea. It’s not the sunlight per se, it’s the solar heating that comes with it. In hindsight, probably the easiest solution is to turn the (now-dimmed) heat mat on only at night. So, heat mat or window sunshine, as the heat energy source, depending on the time of day.
Suffice it to say that both practice and theory suggest this to me. I turned down the electricity for the heat mat today, yet the mid-day potting mix temperature remained higher than I expected. As if there were some other energy source. Stuff warms up when you leave it in the sun. Even in winter.
The section heading is from one of my (of not my) most favorite animated movie, The Emperor’s New Groove“.
Root reboot. I bought some more ginger root. I think I’ve figured out the heat mat. At the very least, I’ve turned it down a lot. It’s time for round two. I’m going all-ginger-root the second time (no turmeric), under the theory that we actually use ginger, sometimes.
The ginger clock is ticking. I’ll know in another couple of weeks whether or not this second attempt was a success at sprouting ginger.
If not, I’m going to punt for the year, owing to the shortness of my 6-month growing season relative to ginger’s preferred 10-month growing season. Well, that, and having no clue what the problem is. But even if I could solve it, there’s no time for a third try at ginger this year, anyway.
Seems idiot-proof, doesn’t it? Yet, for every seemingly idiot-proof system, there’s always a bigger idiot. I attribute the failure of my first attempt to excess heat. Didn’t help, that’s for damned sure. Whether that was the problem, or merely a problem, we’ll find out in a couple of weeks.
