Harvesting Turmeric is, in my mind, one of the post satisfying plants to harvest. You get to stick your hands deep in the soil and pull out uniquely formed and deeply colored orange treasures. It is rewarding and thrilling to find a huge clump held tightly together.
Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a perennial plant but since we grow ours for sale in pots, we harvest them each year and store the rhizomes indoors until we are ready to plant them out in late winter.
We left the Turmeric out to dry for a couple of days so that they go dormant before harvesting. It is helpful to let the plants dry out before harvesting the Rhizome.
We pulled the plants from their original pots and gentle removed the soil from around the clumps of Turmeric.
We gently brushed the soil off of the clumps. Making sure soil is removed can prevent rotting while they are in storage.
We left them out to cure for a couple of days and then they will sit in our office for a couple of months until we are ready to plant them out again in late winter!
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Thanks for sharing your harvest pics and tips! 
I will harvest mine and let them dry out also. 
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Thank you for sharing pics of your very rewarding harvest!
We are also trying to propagate lots of turmeric along with ginger. Currently, we are growing just to propagate more that have successfully adapted to our soil conditions. Ginger production has been off the charts and have now populated our banana circles in between the pineapples.
Unfortunately, the turmeric side has not been near ass successful. I went to the farmer’s market and bought a couple of kilos of handpicked rhizomes that looked like they were ready to pop. Divided them accordingly, and let them cure before planting. With all that, our rate of emerging leaves is less than 5%. Growing medium to start is our blend of aged coco peat and bamboo litter/ mulch.
Any ideas what we could be missing?
Thank you for any input to help this along.
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Hi Rick,
Our harvest was good and have given a bunch away.
I am no expert, but I would make sure it was fluffy loose soil with lots of vermi compost or something similar.
God bless your growing friend 
I grew turmeric for the first time this year. Is it possible to just leave them in the ground until needed rather than digging them up and storing them?
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Hi Nathaniel
I looked up your question on Brave AI via their browser:
Harvesting Turmeric: Key Timing and Methods
Turmeric is typically ready for harvest 8 to 10 months after planting , when the leaves turn yellow, dry out, and begin to die back . This is the most reliable visual cue—do not harvest too early, as the rhizomes won’t be fully developed, and avoid leaving them too long, as they may rot in the soil.
That is what I would do friend 
God bless your gardening
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Thank you Galen!
I ask because in the Philippines there is turmeric growing wild on the mountain side. It seems that the patch just gets a little bigger from year to year. That would indicate to me that the previous years turmeric doesn’t all rot, but remains viable for the next year’s production.
