Allotments 4 All

I am thinking of growing some this year. I understand its really difficult to grow.
Can anyone offer some advice? How long before I can expect to harvest it?

Duke :)

I grew some last year. Quite straightforward but slow growing. You might get useable stems at the end of the first season - sow early if you can.

I agree, easy to grow, needs somewhere fairly warm/sheltered. Well worth growing and the smell from the leaves when crushed is heavenly. As GodfreyRob says, sow early as they take a little while to get to harvestable size.

I usually sow each year any time from now onwards. I know some use shop bought stems rooted in water to get a head start, but I've not tried this myself.

I am sure that stuff in the shops is too old, it has no smell taste or flavour so if you can get it to grow, well done you.

I wish I could get my ginger to take it produces tops but never any roots and fresh is just gorgeous eaten raw in thin shreds.

Thanks everyone:)

I will start some off tomorrow and let you know how I get on. I need to bring in the some compost to warm it up :)

Duke

I got some seeds from the Wyevale seed bins... but I'm not starting anything yet..  :-X

Is it too early to start lemon grass seeds Saddad ?

Duke

Good lemon grass seed germinates like a weed,that`s not the problem.

Getting it through the first winter needs a tiny bit of care.

Bring the young plants in--in the house is fine as light levels are not an issue,keep the top soil bone dry(water sparingly from the bottom(ie pots in a saucer)

Next spring put back in the greenhouse and by the Autumn you should have stems to use and stems to pot up to repeat the process

we bought some from aldi, had a small root on the bottom, it took off in a large pot in the polytunnel but I left it in there over winter and it died  :-\

I'm a firm believer in not starting things too soon...  :-X

My lemon grass seed was very slow to germinate - I put some more on damp paper and found it germinated very patchily, and I failed to establish it in pots. Eventually someone in Malaysia gave me a plant which I have kept going for about three years now, bringing it in over the winter. It romps away in the summer, in the ground. I nearly lost it last winter through cold and neglect, but it came back wonderfully in warm weather.

Now that I have a Thai daughter-in-law, I hope to establish lots of clumps this summer, and we'll both look after it in winter.

I grew mine from a pack of stalks from the supermarket.

You put the stalks in a jam jar of water, and keep somewhere a bit warmer than the kitchen windowsill (at this time of year ;D).  Change the water regularly, and they should start producing roots.  Gently pot them up into a 3.5" plant pot, and watch grow.

I started mine about March/April last year.   I managed get two stems to root.   They are now in 5" pots, about 4ft tall and have about five or six side shoots each.  I find this a much easier method than seed, as I've never managed to germinate any seed. ;D

valmarg

Hiya,

Just a brief question for those lemon grass growers!!

I have rooted three lemon grass stalks from the supermarket recently and they are now in 3" pots.  I was just wondering what care you need to give them in order to get them to send out further stalks and bulk out so that you can actually use them in cooking eventually...

Do you need to do anything - cut them back etc.? or will they just do that on their own with time?

Thanks in advance!!

Liz

Well....I can't talk because my plant had a bad winter followed by a cold windy late spring and I am nursing it back to health - but from past observation it sends out new shoots constantly in a ring around the older shoots, but slowly. It gradually bulks up. I can't imagine cutting it back would speed this up, though I do trim back ragged leaves to make it look better.

One observation: if you pull a thick shoot and use it for cooking, cut it in slices but leave the base intact, and put it back in a pot, and it will send up new little shoots.

At least, that's what mine did until I forgot to water it and it died.....

Cool, I will just wait, then, with baited breath for the first shoots!!!

Also thanks for the advice about leaving the base...hopefully in a few months that will be handy advice!!

Liz

I've grown it in the greenhouse a couple of times, both by striking plants bought from ethnic grocers but always lost it over the winter. I guess that means buy some stalks in early Spring and treat it as an annual. It has a lovely flavour but is too fibrous to eat so more a spice like cinnamon stick than a vegetable.

My Thai daughter-in-law slices it very very finely and adds it to soups and curries. It does not seem fibrous then.

I had some from the seed steward day at the allotment and it also died during the winter.

Lemongrass needs to be brought into the house and treated like houseplant during the winter. My first year I managed to overwinter it in doors successfully. Last year I thought I would keep it in the greenhouse (unheated) but it died.
Duke