Organic Rosemary Propagation by tip cuttings

Rosemary is a must for any serious organic herb garden, we find the easiest way to propagate Rosemary is through tip clippings in late Winter, early Spring when the Rosemary has started to grow.

We keep our eyes on the Rosemary from early January onwards,  Rosemary seems to start pushing out new side shoots really early the the year.. When the new shoots have reached a length of 6 cms, with a sharp pair of clippers cit off the top 5cms. Cut them very carefully at a point on the stem where there are leaves growing or even where there are the start of side new side shoots. The growth hormones vital to develop roots seem to be concentrated stronger at these points.

Fill up a series of largish pots, minimum 10cms of depth, with a good organic cutting mixture, we swear by Frayssinet’s Orgasyl, and organic soil that has organic rooting hormones mixed in with the growth medium, it really boosts the success rate. Water the pots generously.

Take the tip cuttings one at a time, hold the Rosemary tips firmly by their heads and strip off all but the heads of leaves. Do this gently as new shots are tender and using too much force will snap the heads off. Keep all the leaves they dry well and are wonderful for making teas, with thyme and honey. especially good for colds, and also to flavour meat dishes, and roast potatoes.

Don’t put too many in each pot, as you will have to separate them out later. They can go in a green house but frankly I tend to leave them on my terrace in the sun, they seem to like it. The most important thing now is to get the watering right. they must never dry out, but equally they must not sit in water, so don’t pop a plate underneath them, so they can drain if it rains a lot. I find watering about once a week does the job.

After a month check the bottom of the pots for roots. Once you see them growing out the bottom of the pots it time to gently separate them out and put the Rosemary in their own individual pots. A mixture of 50% garden soil and 50% an organic planting soil seems to work well, Rosemary’s are garrigue plants and do not need too rich a soil. Once they are in their individual pots they will shoot up, if you find it is just a single stem, and the plants are not bushing out, when they get 10cms tall do not hesitate to just clip off their heads.

It is best to do clip cuttings over a period of a few weeks, a small batch at a time. For some reason there is always one lot that decide not to work, maybe they were too wet, or too dry, too cold or too hot, doing a small number repeatedly is by far the safest bet.

Planting organic Rosemary in your garden

Rosemary is best planted in the ground in Autumn, if you are in a Mediterranean climate like us, they then has all Winter to lay down a good root base which will increase their ability to survive next Summer. Plant in a nice sunny spot. The first year in dry Summer water once a week, make sure you water around the plant and not on it’s head, that way the roots ball will continue to spread out. In theory the second year it will survive without any water. I find that Rosemary takes a year to settle in, the first year most of the plant’s activity is below ground, it is the second year it starts to really grow. Do not hesitate to prune, if left unpruned Rosemary can get very leggy and woody, to keep a dense compact bush pruning in Autumn is always a good idea. In theory Rosemary is good for 8-10 years, but I have a huge mother plant that is 15 years old and all fresh and green now as it was 10 years ago.

For more information on Rosemary Growing Organic have a good Rosemary page