Grow and Care for Turmeric

Grow turmeric in morning sun or part sun on soil that stays moist and still drains. Turmeric is Curcuma longa.

Give it morning sun, moist soil, and extra water in a dry spell

turmeric is a tropical rhizome. It wants warm, humid weather, morning sun, and soil that stays moist after you water, then drains. Full sun is fine if you can keep up with water; afternoon shade is easier in a hot, dry spell. [1] [2] Once shoots are up, do not let the bed dry out. Water at the soil. A soggy, cold pocket rots the rhizome before it ever sprouts. [3] Set pieces after frost on Planting Turmeric. Lift them to eat when the season ends — see Harvesting Turmeric.

Grow it in a pot you can move when nights drop below 50°F

A pot is the usual home start because you can water it by hand and roll it inside before a cold night. The rhizomes bulk up fast, so start with a wide, draining pot and be ready to move it up a size.

1. Choose a pot at least a foot across with a drainage hole. Fill it with a rich mix that still drains.
2. Keep the mix barely moist until sprouts show, then keep it evenly moist. A pot dries faster than a bed, so check it in heat. [4]
3. When nights drop below 50°F, bring the pot inside to a bright, warm room, or let the tops die back and store the rhizomes cool and dry until spring.

Not kitchen ginger — and not a Siam tulip

Kitchen ginger is Zingiber officinale. It is a different genus. A grocery “yellow ginger” tag on this plant is still turmeric, not that kitchen rhizome.

A Siam tulip is Curcuma alismatifolia, a gift-plant cone sold as curcuma ginger. Hidden ginger is Curcuma petiolata. We do not sell those. The leaves can look like canna lilies — see How to Grow Canna Lilies — but canna is not a spice rhizome. Ginger lily is Hedychium — see How to Grow Ginger Lily.

If a pot dries out in afternoon sun, move it into morning sun and water at the soil — dry mix is the usual reason the clump stalls.