spiral ginger

[OB Burt]

I just received a couple of rhizomes of Costus barbados, spiral ginger. I'm wondering if I should put them directly in the ground or start them in a pot. Right now I have them sitting in water. Any help will be appreciated.

[Vari805]

Burt, Costus is an easy grow. You could but them directly into the ground, and they would be fine. I personally like to root them out in a 2 gal bucket with Ocean Forest Potting Soil, and wait for a couple new rhizomes to pop up, and plant the whole clump.

Remember costus is an easy propagator, by rhizomes, or the cane itself. Take an old stalk that has flowered, cut the cane down into small pieces where there as at least 2 nodes of the cane per piece. Plant into a 6" pot, burying at least one node. This will root out and sprout a new cane within 2 months. From there, they grow quite quick. So it is easy to spread these all around your garden. I personally love costus, and it is my favorite of the ginger types.

[Tropicgardener]

I think you would have Costus barbatus (name sounds similar to barbados)..............These are one of the hardiest of all costus. I get the biggest, strongest plants if I plant them in near full sun in my climate which is almost tropical humid........they may burn where you are due to lower humidity in summer.

[Jeff Searle]

I would never plant just a rhyzome in the ground. It would have to be staked and can be extreamly wobbly while getting established. As a rule of thumb,, rhyzomes should always be started in a 3 gallon size pot and get well rooted before planting.

[aussiearoids]

This has been wrongly named forever ,is actually Costus comosus .

Great cut flower and strong grower .

[OB Burt]

Thanks to everyone for your input. Yes you are correct, it was sold to me as Barbatus. Re; the humidity, I'm .4 of a mile from the ocean, so there is a good deal of humidity most of the time in the summer, tho' no rain. As long as it gets enough water it should be OK. And I did pot them up and I will wait for a bigger plant before it goes into the ground.

We saw this plant at a garden walk through in Huntington Beach CA and my wife insisted I acquire some. It was a little difficult to come by.

[Jeff Searle]

And one last note of interest, the actuall yellow flowers inside the red bracts are very edible.

[Tropicgardener]

This has been wrongly named forever ,is actually Costus comosus .

Great cut flower and strong grower .

Mick, I used to call it Costus comosus when I first started growing it 20 years ago not long after it was brought into the country by Alan Carle.............but when I lived in Cairns it was always known as Costus barbatus and I do not think that Costus comosus is used in the U.S........well at least it wasn't used back then. Is Costus comosus the accepted correct name now?

[aussiearoids]

Saw comosus name being used at Ginger Factory so checked up on gingers'r'us .

Seems barbartus is common name ! So you had it right first of . Give yourself a pat on the back .

[Tropicgardener]

Saw comosus name being used at Ginger Factory so checked up on gingers'r'us .

Seems barbartus is common name ! So you had it right first of . Give yourself a pat on the back .

Yeah that would be right........the Ginger Factory plants would have been source from Bruce Dunstan as he labelled them as C. comosus..........Well I will go back to my original thinking and had better re-label those little plants that I potted up recently

[akamu]

Burt plant it in filtered light here in SD. i have grown them in sun and filtered light the ones in sun get a little burnt leaves and pale in comparison to the shaded ones in our garden otherwise they look awesome year round. Rancho soledad nursery has nice 5 gal plants for about 22 bucks good luck

[aussiearoids]

Should do ok in full sun .

Remove all foliage and plant out in suitable spot .

Mulch well and it will thrive .

Pick flowers often , pain to process leaves off , but if you only use short bit not to bad .

Late in the season tiny little basal flowers will form .

Flowers look a bit tacky if left to long .

[sgvcns]

I believe it is Costus comosus.

It has been called Costus barbatus for a long time.

C babatus is actually a different plant and Dave Skinner (HSI board) recently wrote an article re the two.

At the end of the day there is not a great difference between the two but it is comosus in cultivation

See my photos from Colombia travel logs for a variegated comosus(?) discovery on that trip

Steve

Edited March 28, 2013 by sgvcns

[aussiearoids]

This does grow very well in a shaded spot , but ends up sprawling ovewr searching for the light .

Here a cutting in a 6" pot was thrown away onto a pile of cyclone debris [ branches from brittle Java plum grove .

It is now a massive clump with 3m stems leaning out at a great angle .

[Josh-O]

look so beautiful...!