The First 90 Days
Guided Walkthrough
Chapters 04–08 each cover one decision well; a new grower still asks, “but what do I do this week?” This walkthrough chains them into one guided sequence — six phases, each with the jobs, the tool that computes your numbers, and the checkpoint that tells you it worked. It covers the 90 days that decide the season: the pre-plant build-up, planting, and the establishment window where most ginger is lost.
Where am I? Set your planting date below and the walkthrough highlights your current phase — the same tracker as the Weekly Field Checklist, so the two stay in sync.
Set a planting date to place yourself on the timeline.
Phase 1 · Foundations weeks −8 to −4
The decision: where ginger can actually live. Soil and water mistakes made now are unfixable later — this is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy.
- Soil-test the block (pH, OM, P, K) — Tool: the Liming Calculator turns a pH reading into tonnes; target 5.5–6.5 (Ch. 04).
- Walk the block in rain if you can: standing-water marks are future rot patches. Design drains first, beds second (Ch. 04 bed geometry, Ch. 08 drainage).
- Order or commit seed — a named variety from a known field, not market leftovers (Ch. 05 grading standards; Variety Wizard if undecided).
- Plan shade: 25–50% filtered light under the envelope in Ch. 03.
✓ Checkpoint: soil test in hand, lime (if any) spread 2+ weeks before planting, drain outlets walkable in a storm.
Phase 2 · Seed & Beds weeks −4 to 0
The decision: what goes in the ground, and how ready the ground is. Seed is 40–50% of variable cost — every cut piece is a budget line, not a leftover.
- Grade seed pieces 30–50 g with 2+ strong buds; cull anything soft, shriveled or ring-scaled (Ch. 05).
- Treat: registered fungicide dip → Trichoderma → shade-dry. The treatment protocol in Ch. 05 is the single highest-return 20 minutes of the season.
- Size the purchase: Tool: Seed Rhizome Calculator — pieces, kg and cost from your spacing; while there, run the degree-day emergence predictor on your soil temperature.
- Solarize or fallow problem beds; form beds at 100–150 cm width with 30–50 cm walks (Ch. 04) and flood-test the drains one last time.
✓ Checkpoint: treated seed drying in shade, bed surfaces level, drains passed a flood test, seed bill within ~5% of the calculator.
Phase 3 · Planting week 0
The decision: the one day that sets the year. Plant into warm, moist — never waterlogged — soil.
- 4–6 cm deep, buds up, firm under / loose over; 25×25 cm dense or 30×25 cm standard (Ch. 06).
- Basal round at planting: all P, half the N and K — Tool: the Fertilizer Bag Calculator converts your schedule into bags and per-round splits.
- Mulch 10–15 t/ha immediately after planting; it is simultaneously moisture, temperature and rot control (Ch. 06 two-round program).
- Log the planting date in the tracker above — every other date this season keys off it.
✓ Checkpoint: pieces at correct depth with buds up, mulch even, fertilizer split recorded, date in the tracker.
Phase 4 · Emergence weeks 1–4 · DAP 0–28
The decision: catching rot and gaps in the only week they are cheap. The first 10 days after planting are one of the two hardest windows of the crop (Ch. 07).
- First-week rot watch: soft, smelly patches dug out same day, hole limed (Ch. 11 rogueing rule).
- Emergence check at DAP 10–25: >80% of pieces up by day 25 is healthy; uneven up-and-down emergence is a seed-quality alarm (Ch. 07).
- Gap-fill from spare treated pieces only in the first 3 weeks — later fills never catch up.
- If dry: first light irrigation; Tool: the Drip Irrigation Scheduler turns any mm target into run minutes on your layout.
✓ Checkpoint: ≥80% emergence by day 25, no spreading soft patches, mulch intact after first irrigation.
Phase 5 · First Topdress weeks 4–8 · DAP 30–56
The decision: feeding a canopy that is now building the rhizome's finger count.
- 1st N topdress ~DAP 30–45 with earthing-up; 2nd ~DAP 45–60 with the second mulch round (Ch. 07, Ch. 09).
- Hand-weed once before the canopy closes — after closure, weeds lose and labor is wasted.
- Second mulch 5–10 t/ha; keep it off the collars — collars touching wet mulch is a rot invitation (Ch. 06).
- Confirm your splits against the calculator's per-round table rather than a neighbour's memory.
✓ Checkpoint: two N rounds in on schedule, canopy closing, no yellow flags on the busiest beds.
Phase 6 · Scouting weeks 9–13 · DAP 60–90
The decision: switching from establishment to defense. At ~45 DAP the shoot borer arrives, and by 90 DAP the rhizome is deciding its finger number.
- Weekly borer scouting from 45 DAP: dead-heart counts per 10 m row; act on thresholds, not calendars (Ch. 10).
- Start the records now — Tool: the Spray Decision Log keeps product, rate, PHI and lot; export buyers will ask for exactly this.
- Drain patrol after every heavy rain; recut slumped channels the same week (Ch. 08).
- DAP 90+: final N by ~120, K rounds continue — the season's remaining nutrition is already planned in your fertilizer split.
✓ Checkpoint: scouting ledger running, spray log live, drains clean, borer pressure quantified weekly.
After day 90: the crop shifts to protection and filling — follow Chapter 07 week by week and the Weekly Field Checklist for the day-level operations through harvest.