Topic: galangal and lemon grass

[springbok]

As a family we love Thai food and was wondering if anyone can help me out here.

How do you grow galangal, as I believe its started in the spring time.

And can you purchase lemon grass from anywhere?

Thanks in advance

:D

[ceres]

I can let you have some lemon grass seed if you want to grow your own.  I've found it germinates very easily.  It can go outside in pots in summer but won't survive cold and damp so needs to be brought indoors in the autumn.

[Eristic]

Lemon grass is available at most Asian grocery stores and the major supermarkets.

If you manage to buy any, check the stems at the bottom to see if it has the solid base. If yes it can be planted in a pot of damp compost in a warm situation and it will root and grow very quickly.

[Hyacinth]

I grow lemongrass from packets I buy at Aldi 8)...like Eric has said & it roots and grows really well in a pot (well, black bukkit, natch 8)). Never tried galangal, sorry, so can't help there :-[

[cleo]

Lemon grass will grow from seed like a weed-it`s keeping over winter that is a pain.

I have come to the opinion that lemon grass ,like okra,and even galangal if you find it --is best just bought when one sees it and leave greenhouse space to what grows well.

I love Thai food and I love Indian food-but I know when I am beaten-I don`t try to grow coconuts either

[Hyacinth]

Lemon grass will grow from seed like a weed-it`s keeping over winter that is a pain.

I have come to the opinion that lemon grass ,like okra,and even galangal if you find it --is best just bought when one sees it and leave greenhouse space to what grows well.

I love Thai food and I love Indian food-but I know when I am beaten-I don`t try to grow coconuts either

That doesn't bear out the fact that it's easy to grow lemongrass from S'market stalks & to compare it to growing coconuts is just plain silly IMO :(

SBG, Google 'growing lemongrass' & read the results..Valmarg's there giving her advice on one of the results 8)

Sorry, still don't know bout galangal :-\

[Barnowl]

It's a rhizome like ginger and propagated the same way. I ogt one from th elocal Asian supermarket and got it to grow but started it too late on the season.

Apparently the government of India has banned the export of Galangal plants - no idea why.  The only advice I've seen is:

"Buy a very fresh rhizome with unbruised pinkish shoots and plant shallowly in moist, well-drained soil. Like ginger, it grows into a lovely tropical plant for the garden, producing sweetly fragrant, white orchid-like flowers atop lush four-foot stems over many weeks in late summer and autumn. It grows very vigorously once established."

[1066]

If you manage to buy any, check the stems at the bottom to see if it has the solid base. If yes it can be planted in a pot of damp compost in a warm situation and it will root and grow very quickly.

Thanks for that tip Eristic, I'd forgotten about lemon Grass, and hadn't realised how easy it could be to grow. I did have some a while back but it didn't survive the winter outside so will have to remember to bring it in!

[thifasmom]

It's a rhizome like ginger and propagated the same way. I ogt one from th elocal Asian supermarket and got it to grow but started it too late on the season.

Apparently the government of India has banned the export of Galangal plants - no idea why.  The only advice I've seen is:

"Buy a very fresh rhizome with unbruised pinkish shoots and plant shallowly in moist, well-drained soil. Like ginger, it grows into a lovely tropical plant for the garden, producing sweetly fragrant, white orchid-like flowers atop lush four-foot stems over many weeks in late summer and autumn. It grows very vigorously once established."

does it have to be brought in during the winter?

[saddad]

Yes, from the end of August this far North...  ::)

[Barnowl]

does it have to be brought in during the winter?

That's how mine died. Brought in indoors after it died back in the Autumn (checked the rhizome all ok and re-potted).  It wasn't labelled and there was no growth showing on the surface so she put it back out in mid-January thinking it was one of my (many) failed horticultural experiments. :)

[1066]

does it have to be brought in during the winter?

Thifasmom - you're not too far from me (over the border so to speak) and yes it should be brought in (have a dead lemon grass plant to prove the theory correct!), I presume its cold and wet that kills 'em off over winter.

[thifasmom]

does it have to be brought in during the winter?

That's how mine died. Brought in indoors after it died back in the Autumn (checked the rhizome all ok and re-potted).  It wasn't labelled and there was no growth showing on the surface so she put it back out in mid-January thinking it was one of my (many) failed horticultural experiments. :)

tah i thought this might be the case but hoped otherwise :-\.

does it have to be brought in during the winter?

Thifasmom - you're not too far from me (over the border so to speak) and yes it should be brought in (have a dead lemon grass plant to prove the theory correct!), I presume its cold and wet that kills 'em off over winter.

yep i got one of those too, i planned to greenhouse mine this current winter and thought it was in the greenhouse when we were hit with early frost found it a couple weeks later outside the greenhouse door dead as a door nail along with the ginger plant i was growing. most likely i was interrupted by the kids when i was carrying out that task >:(.