Ginger likes warm, humid and weak environment, and is especially intolerant of frost and low temperature. When the ambient temperature reaches above 15℃, dormant ginger will germinate. Exposure to frost and low temperature will cause freezing injury and affect eating.
So, how to store ginger after harvest so that it is not easy to deteriorate?
Ginger should be stored in a suitable temperature and humidity environment to keep dormant. Different storage methods and conditions determine different storage periods. Under proper methods and conditions, the storage period can be as long as several months or even years. Therefore, fresh ginger and old ginger are supplied at the same time in the vegetable market, which never stops all year round.
Production experience and scientific experiments prove that the most suitable environmental conditions for storing ginger are that the temperature is kept in the range of 1 1℃ to 13℃, the relative humidity of air is kept above 96%, and the sterilization and disinfestation during storage are kept clean and hygienic.
With such a narrow temperature range, such a high humidity condition, such strict environmental hygiene and such harsh storage conditions, how can ginger growers and distributors store ginger in large quantities for a long time?
This requires 1 1 1.
First of all, we must seize the opportunity at harvest and prepare ginger pieces before storage.
Strictly speaking, it is necessary to harvest ginger before the first frost, so that the time for harvesting ginger in the north and south is different. For the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, the harvest is generally completed in the middle and late days of 10, that is, before the "first frost" solar term, while the southern region can harvest later on the principle of frost-free. Harvest at night will suffer from freezing injury, and the yield target has not been reached prematurely, so timely harvest is very important to ensure yield and quality.
In order to facilitate work, water the ginger fields four or five days before harvest to keep the soil moisture transparent but not too sticky, and the soil is loose when digging. After planing the whole plant, remove the soil and roots on and between the ginger pieces, leaving three or four centimeters at the base of the stem, and cut off the above parts and save them without drying.
Fresh ginger skin is thin and tender, which is easy to be injured and infected with germs. It should be protected when harvesting. The fine soil on the skin is beneficial to the storage of ginger and does not need to be scrubbed and removed. With the extension of storage time, the skin of ginger will gradually age and fibrosis, and its self-protection functions such as preventing bacterial infection and waterproof dispersion will become stronger and stronger.
Second, before harvesting, we should make preparations for digging storage pits and storing them.
To achieve the best environmental conditions for ginger storage, such as long-term storage, marketing or processing, the most ideal method is of course constant temperature storage. As a ginger grower and general distributor, it is impossible, but what methods can be adopted to basically meet the storage conditions, achieve safe wintering and preserve ginger for a long time?
Experience comes from practice, and there is always a way before difficulties. Just like farmers storing sweet potatoes, they can dig underground pits to use the ground temperature in winter to achieve the purpose of safe storage, but the temperature of storing ginger is higher than that of storing sweet potatoes, so the storage pits need to be dug deeper.
At present, storing ginger in underground cellar is a simple, safe, practical and popular method. If the temperature and humidity in the cellar are adjusted, the ginger in the cellar can be stored for several months.
Dig a hole. Just like digging a sweet potato cellar, choose a place with the leeward facing the sun, high terrain and low water level, close to the slope of the ground, preferably azithromycin granular soil, dig down a cylinder with a top diameter of about 80 cm, a bottom diameter of about 1 meter and a depth of about 6 meters, and then dig two or three ∩-shaped ginger storage holes horizontally to the depth of the high slope at the bottom of the cylinder, with a height of about 1.5 meters, a bottom width of about 1.5 meters and a depth of about 2.5 meters. After excavation, necessary measures can be taken to strengthen the barrel and the hole, with firm structure and safety first.
Disinfect. The newly dug ginger cellar is relatively clean and hygienic, and basically does not need disinfection, but it is relatively dry inside, so it can be kept moist by spraying water. The old ginger pit needs to be thoroughly cleaned. After removing sundries and eluvial soil, fungicides and pesticides, such as carbendazim and dichlorvos, should be sprayed for sterilization and pest control.
Third, stack the ginger pieces and manage the temperature and humidity.
Code ginger. After cleaning the pit, spread a layer of wet river sand on the bottom of the pit, and then pile ginger slices in the pit layer by layer, either horizontally or vertically. The top floor can be covered with a layer of wet sand and keep a distance of 20-30 cm from the pit top.
Temperature control. After the ginger is coded, cover the barrel mouth with straw stalks. After about half a month, use wooden poles as support, cover the straw stalks, cover the straw stalks with soil, partially seal them, and leave ventilation holes to facilitate the ventilation of ginger in the cellar. When the temperature drops and the frost comes, it is necessary to cover the grass in time and further cover the soil to seal the hole, so as to keep the temperature in the cellar and prevent the ginger stored in the cellar from freezing injury and sleep peacefully.
When storing, the hole must be properly handled, and a waterproof cover plate can be covered to prevent rainwater from flowing into the hole and cellar.
It is important to note that ginger is still breathing although it is dormant during storage. Ginger respiration increases the concentration of carbon dioxide in the cellar and makes oxygen dilute. Never go into the cellar to check and take ginger without adequate ventilation to prevent the danger of suffocation! Need to pay close attention! ! !