A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Ginger

Hi, I have a big chunk of ginger that was given to me. I hung it in my kitchen & now it has a great big green sprout on the side of it. The sprout has a ball shape at the bottom, sort of like a gladiola bulb. Should I remove the sprout from the main root? The root is very large & will take a big pot to plant it in if I leave it intact.
I also was given a small ginger root from Hawaii that was already sprouted & I planted it using the instructions it came with. After planting it. nothing has happened for nearly 6 weeks. I carefully dug it up, & saw that the original sprout had died off & a tiny new one is starting. I know nothing about growing or starting ginger, or keeping it alive. I was hoping only for an unusual plant with nice blooms.
I've looked at a couple of web sites on how to plant & grow ginger but none of them mentioned whether or not to cut off the sprout or "bulb" from the main root.
Hope someone can help!

Hedychium [Ginger lily plant]

Info about growing ginger lily plant here.

That's okay. I have the white and yellow ginger lily plants growing in containers.

Ginger lily plants:[from Western Garden Book]

H.coccineum...red flowers
H.coronarium...white flowers [white ginger, butterfly lily, garland flower]
H.flavescens...yellow flowers
H.densiflorum...orange-yellow flowers
H.flavum...yellow or orange flowers
H.gardnerianum...pure yellow flowers with red stamens [KAHILI GINGER]
H.GREENEI...orange-red flowers
H.spicatum acuminatum...purple flowers in loose spikes

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Zingiber officinale [Ginger Root]
Info about growing ginger root here.


What I usually l do is to leave the portion of the ginger root with the sprout for planting and remove or break off the rest of the ginger roots.

Than you papito. I'm watching the one from Hawaii, hoping it will eventually get above the soil. The big root, I'm leaving in tact as you suggested and will plant it with the new shoots "bulb" down in the soil. I don't see others growing on the main root.
Thanks again!