starting rosemary

[PhilaGardener]

Steve's rosemary plants look wonderful!Just had to say so! I can almost smell them from here! Ahhhhh!

For only a few cuttings, I have had good luck taking 4 inch long shoots, stripping off the lower leaves (save for the kitchen) and then simply standing them in a bottle of water in a sunny window. Try to get a little woodier stem at the base of your cutting - all soft green tissue tends to die off. They can be slow - several weeks to two months (depending on the season) - but they generally break roots at the bottom, at which point I transfer them to potting soil. A few fail to develop roots but I get a better than 50% success rate with this no-fuss approach.

I have more difficulty getting larger plants potted up from the garden through the winter indoors. Powdery mildew can be an issue, and the plants are sensitive to over- or under-watering.

Here in Philadelphia I have been able to get a ground planted rosemary bush through the last 3 winters outside with minimal protection. Last Fall it was 5 feet high! However, after the recent arctic vortex I am glad I have a few cuttings in the house as a back-up, because I am not sure that run will continue.

 

[digitS']

PhilaGardener, you are going to give me the big head . . .

At least, I don't have to worry about potting up outside rosemary. Maybe if we continue having these warm winters, I can give overwintering outdoors a try. But, I don't know.

What I'd really like to have outdoors is a fig tree! We had one in southern Oregon when I was a kid. I was always checking it out for ripe fruit! So did the banties!

They would hang out under that little tree like animals just waiting for a ripe fig to drop on the ground - then, they'd attack it!

Major' & others had probably better be the ones with fig trees . . . but if they ever come up with a variety that I won't just kill by planting here . . . well, then I'd be singing a happy song!

You can click the little dancing guy for some ♪ ♫


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Steve

 

[ducks4you]

Do they like it wet? I went on vacation and the store-bought rosemary that I had successfully transplanted to a terra cotta pot...dried out and died.
...ya, ya, ya, RIP
I think if I do it again I should put it in a plastic pot with no drainage. Do you agree?

 

[digitS']

Ducks', my guess is that rosemary likes things on the dry side. That's the "take" on the herbs from that part of the world.

You know how those terra cotta pots are, tho.

What I have been finding is that they really appreciate the shade when they are trying to make some roots. And yes, mildew can be a problem but that seems to mostly be thru the winter on the floor of my greenhouse.

Steve

 

[ChickenMomma91]

I killed my rosemary last fall. did putting it in a terra cotta pot cause that :-O?!?!

 

[PhilaGardener]

They don't like to be too wet or two dry. While I think they like clay, if they aren't watered regularly that can happen. :<(

 

[ChickenMomma91]

It was a nursery plant and the rest that i bought had weird little white bugs on it. ended up wasting $20

 

[Mackay]

I have purchased rosemary a few time and then I finally started some from seed. The germination on the seed was not great but I did get a couple of plants. I found out that not all rosemary is created equal and this seed one was better than what I had previously purchased with more tender and longer leaves… so now I just do cuttings off of the ones I planted from seed. I ve had 100% success rate with sticking cuttings directly into the soil… my neighbor rooted them in water first and all of hers made it. I couldn't see a difference on which way to go. Both worked