Harvesting Turmeric and selecting seeds for replanting

Hello friends in Hive Garden Community, About 8 months ago I planted some turmeric rhizomes in an old fruit basket. I put a basket containing turmeric rhizomes under the longan tree, I never gave it fertilizer, only pulled out the weeds that grew around the basket. Every time I need turmeric for cooking, I don't buy it, I take it from the fruit basket, and often neighbors come to ask for some turmeric rhizomes to make herbal medicine. Today I will harvest it and transfer the turmeric rhizomes into several polybags.

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Harvest turmeric in a used fruit basket

The land in my front yard contains a lot of gravel, so it is difficult to plant directly without the help of a pot or polybag. I started digging little by little to get the turmeric rhizome.

I continued digging with the help of a machete and found a lot of turmeric rhizomes among the used baskets. I didn't expect to harvest a lot of turmeric today.

After I collected it, I finally got quite a lot of turmeric rhizomes.

Selecting seeds for replanting

After I finished harvesting the turmeric rhizomes, I also separated some of the rhizomes to replant, so that I had enough turmeric rhizomes all year round and didn't need to buy them at the market. The way I choose good turmeric seeds is the turmeric rhizome which has lots of new shoots at the end of the rhizome.

Turmeric rhizomes that have sprouted will grow more quickly after being replanted, so I don't use old turmeric, but I use young turmeric for replanting. I looked for turmeric rhizomes that had sprouted in the eyes.

I also separate the shoots that have grown into new plants, these new plants will quickly grow into new turmeric rhizomes once planted.

So that the new plants grow faster, I cut off the tops of the leaves and leave the rhizomes and stems.

Planting Turmeric in polybags

A few days ago, I filled soil into a polybag, I didn't plant the turmeric rhizome directly, I allowed the gas in the soil to escape, so that the turmeric plant could grow well in the polybag, I filled it with 3/4 of the soil. After the turmeric rhizome grows well and starts to bear a lot of fruit, I usually add soil until it is full into the polybag.

The way I plant turmeric in polybags is by placing several turmeric rhizomes, around 6-7 rhizomes, I place these rhizomes in a parallel position and do not overlap each other.

I also added one turmeric plant seed that had grown to each polybag, this was to stimulate the growth of new rhizomes, after that I covered the turmeric rhizomes and new plants with soil.

Today I have planted several polybags of turmeric seeds, for maintenance I only remove weeds and wild grass that grow in the polybags and I do not apply manufactured fertilizer.

I planted turmeric in polybags because the soil in my front yard was full of longan plant roots, so I had to use polybags. I don't want the front yard of my house to be idle, there can be no empty land, everything must be used as well as possible.

Processing the harvest

I usually don't sell the harvested turmeric plants, but I process them to make herbal drinks and also as a cooking spice. Today I will process turmeric into a warm drink. First clean the turmeric from the ground, then peel the skin.

After that, wash the turmeric, then cut it into small pieces, boil the turmeric pieces in water, the ratio of water to turmeric is that for 100 grams of turmeric I add 1 liter of water.

I also added 100 grams of palm sugar.

then boil the turmeric until it boils and the water content is reduced, from 1000 mL of water it will be reduced to 800 mL. After that, turn off the stove and wait for the turmeric herbal drink to become warm.

Thank you for visiting and reading my post.

Best Regards
@umirais