The magnificent flowers and its use as a dye and spice are reasons for many hobby gardeners to take a potted turmeric plant home from the gardening store. If the above-ground parts of the plant finally die at some point, this is sometimes mistakenly attributed to care errors.
How to overwinter a turmeric plant?
To overwinter a turmeric plant successfully, dig up the rhizomes and store them in a dry, dark place at around 15 degrees Celsius. Potted plants can remain in dry substrate and should be repotted and possibly divided in spring.
The life cycle of the saffron root
There are different ways to grow turmeric yourself:
- as a houseplant in the winter garden or on the window
- as a seasonal potted plant on the terrace
- planted in the garden bed
When growing outdoors, however, it should always be noted that it is a plant from tropical latitudes and is not frost-resistant. For cultivation in pots or in the garden bed, the rhizomes are grown indoors in spring and not planted outside until May at the earliest. If potted specimens are purchased as houseplants during the fall or winter months, they will have reached the end of their seasonal cycle at some point. The flowers and leaves then wither and the plant retreats into its survival organ in the form of a tuberous rhizome.
Overwintering curcuma properly
The curcuma rhizomes can be dug up in a similar way to caring for dahlias and overwintered in a dry and dark place at around 15 degrees Celsius. You can also overwinter potted specimens in the soil if it is dry enough. However, the tubers should still be repotted in spring and sometimes divided at this opportunity.
Tip
In order to activate new growth of the rhizomes in spring, they are moved to a room with a room temperature of around 22 to 24 degrees Celsius. Only when new shoots become visible should the plants be watered more heavily and fertilized a little later.
