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Little River Cooperative

Turmeric plant

$10.00 USD
$10.00 USD
Sale Sold out

Turmeric
Curcuma Longa

days to maturity: 8-10 months
plant spacing: 2 per square foot
sunlight requirements: 6-10 hours
look out for: needs very compost rich soil
harvest notes: harvest turmeric rhizomes in spring after plant dies back
perennial

Turmeric, native to India and Southeast Asia, is a valuable spice that can easily be grown in the South Florida home garden. Turmeric is used as a dried powder in many Indian dishes and used as a fresh root in juices and tonics. The flavor of turmeric is earthy, musky, slightly bitter with a kick of ginger-like spicy warmth. Its most prevalent as an ingredient in curry pastes and spice blends but it can be used in many ways in the kitchen. 

These days, it’s become quite popular as a medicinal plant. Turmeric is considered a superfood as the active compound Curcumin is believed to have a wide range of biological effects including anti- inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-tumor, antibacterial, and antiviral. Curcumin is capable of promoting nerve regeneration after nerve injury and is 2,000 times more bioavailable when consumed with capsaicin, most commonly found in black pepper but also found in chili peppers. Turmeric is a blood mover and blood thinner, which helps to improve internal and external circulation. Because of this, anyone on blood thinning medication should use caution around consuming Turmeric as it can magnify the affects of anti-clotting agents.

Like ginger and galangal, turmeric is a prolific root crop grown under a beautiful waxy leafed tropical plant. Plants require fertile soil and can handle partial shade or full sun. This crop is traditionally grown from spring to spring and it does most of its leafy growth during the rainy humid summers, and then the top of the plant will die off and it will focus its energy on growing rhizomes through the dry winter months. Side dressing through the season with new compost is recommended, and if you need access to turmeric before “harvest time” just push the soil around and grab yourself a chunk of rhizome, no need to harvest the whole plant at once. You can also grow turmeric in a 7 gallon pot just make sure to add a bit of compost and organic fertilizer a few times throughout its life. 

Materials

All of our plants are produced using OMRI certified organic materials (potting mix, fertilizer & pesticides) however our nursery is not certified organic. Plants are shipped in compostable peat moss pots and we use heirloom & organic seeds whenever possible.

Shipping & Returns

We ship plant orders every Monday. Due to the nature of shipping plants we only offer expedited shipping for our live plant orders. Our returns & exchanges policy is also quite strict since its hard to control the quality of a plant once it leaves our facility, however we do our very best to make sure that each and every customer is satisfied with their plants. Read more about our policies here. 

Size

All of our plants are potted in 4" pots and their foliage size varies based on how large the plant is naturally when its root ball is the correct size for the pot. If a plant is too tall for our shipping box we may prune it to fit (bonus: many plants do better after being pruned since they make bushier growth). We do our very best to ship all of our plants in the "sweet spot" of maturity however so long as the roots have colonized the pot we will consider a plant mature enough to ship.

Care Instructions

When you receive your plant its critical to get it out of its box and into the light the day it arrives. It will also want to be removed from its compostable plastic wrapping and given fresh water to drink. Keep in mind, this plant was grown in the tropical humid climate of South Florida, so if it's terribly cold or dry where you are it'll need to be hardened off before planting outdoors. Visit our care instructions page for more thorough info about caring for your new plant friend.

  • What Our Customers Have to Say:

    This is a great, local organization with really knowledgeable & friendly staff. They make gardening easy and accessible, and I've purchased many high quality plants and equipment from them.
    -Kate Black (5 star google review)

  • And Another One:

    How lucky we are to have a resource like Little River Cooperative here in Miami, not only for the access they offer to a great selection of plants and produce, but also for the knowledge they provide and the sense of community they foster!
    -Nick Vagnoni (5 star google review)