Rosemary cuttings...

I never rooted these before but have a friend who has asked for a start. Can anyone give us pointers on rooting upright Rosemary. Also on trailing Rosemary? We will appreciate any info you can offer. Thx pod

I've heard rosemary is one herb that's very hard to root. I know that McCool did it successfully though because she started me one last year. I'll ask her what she did and get her to post. :)

Hi,

I am by no means an expert at this! As a matter of fact, I asked about it here last year and got some good advice from others.

First of all, you need to take your cuttings from the tender tips of the branches (before the stem gets "woody"). Remove the leaves/needles from the bottoms of the cuttings and dip those ends in cinnamon (good for its antibacterial qualities). I used standard seed starting trays, but I think I used potting soil rather than a seed-starter mix. Use a pencil or other implement to make a hole for your cutting (so that you don't wipe all the cinnamon off by just shoving the thing into the soil). Firm the soil around the cutting and put the clear cover over the tray to keep in some moisture. Keep an eye on the cuttings and make sure that they don't dry out. I kept them in indirect sunlight until they either "took" or died off. The best thing to do is to start out with quite a few cuttings as it is unlikely that they will all make it. Once they root and start to put on some new growth, re-pot as you usually would. After they are over the transplanting shock they will usually be much happier outdoors. My rosemary is the upright variety, but I don't know why the trailing one would require any different handling as far as taking cuttings is concerned.

Good luck!

Just went back and checked on previous posts and found that it was Horseshoe and critterologist who helped me out a lot with this same problem. They might be of assistance if you D-mailed them.

Thanks McCool. This is great info. I always learn so much from everyone here at DG. :-)

Thank you I01 for recruiting McCools' knowledge.

McCool ~ thanks for sharing it. I am fascinated with the cinnamon. That is one I have never heard of using but it makes sense.

I read today that I may be able to find branches that have already rooted in which case, I should be able to seperate them and pot up.. I will use the cinnamon tho. Thanks for the information you two... : )) pod

McCool you did a beautiful description on how to root a rosemary cutting. I'd never heard of using cinnamon. I would just like to add that the potting mix should be of the soil-less variety.

I take hundreds of rosemary cuttings from my collection in the fall to root over winter. Prostrate or trailing rosemaries root the same as uprite. This year I experimented with doing half with rooting hormone and half without. The ones without did better than the ones with. I have found over the years that cuttings taken in spring when the plants pushing new growth and fall do better than those taken in mid summer. I will have to give cinnamon a try.

Happy rooting!

Interesting ~ I would have thought using the rooting hormone would be better. I appreciate the voice of experience... Thank you JeaneTH

I didn't get a chance to read the other posts. but I have had pretty good luck in the past rooting rosemary, the woody stems peeling off the leaves, sticking in rooting hormone and in potting soil, they did well for me. I was thrilled too.

Can anyone tell me approximately how long the rooting process will take?

Kathy_Ann ~ check out the 3rd post (McCool) for sure on using the cinnamon.

I've heard the same thing about cinnamon, I've heard of those using it to do the same thing with hoya cuttings too. Lots do it that way, so it must work.

I have rooted the skinny woody cuttings , but they may be considered green not sure, I dont' go down deep into the plant and get the woody stems, I gather the stems from the top so woody green may be what they are.

Good luck to you. hope you get some rooted.

I had to move a 3 foot tall rosemary bush last year for a new driveway going in, andI didn't try to transplant it, cause it was so big, we had to get the tractor and chain to pull it out of the ground, I did take cuttings and they all rooted for me, but their all gone now. now all I have is a little bitty plant , LOL

I am so amazed to know the rosemary will overwinter outdoors not just here but even in colder climates. A friend convinced me to plant it in ground after I saw his huge shrub...

WEll, I think there's only a few varieties of rosemary that's hardy, there are very many that aren't hardy. Hard to know which is and which isnt'.

As far as I know (wish it weren't so) there are NO varieties that are hardy as far north as I am. Even overwintering indoors presents quite a few problems. They really don't like being inside, but there's no choice if you are trying to grow them in zone 5 or under.

Which is where taking cuttings come in handy for you I guess.

McCool, I've known of a few rosemaries that have made it through the winter (in the Detroit area where I lived until last summer) but they where planted right next to a basement foundation that kept the ground a little warmer. I knew one old Italian gentelman who used to build a mini greenhouse around his for the winter. By using 4 wood stakes - not touching the plant - and wrapping with polyfilm. Several rosemaries are hardy to zone 7 - Madeline Hill (Hill Hardy), Arp and Salem. I wasn't having much luck inside my old house keeping them going, so I built a cold frame set down in the ground, wood sides and polyfilm inside a fiberglass top for an extra air layer of insulation. The rosemaries loved it and did much better than indoors. I just had to remember to give them some water about once a month while they were in a dormant state. Just enough to keep them alive. And open it on warm sunny days so it wouldn't get to warm. I have a greenhouse now. But some of my rosemaries are over 5 years old. I've already got them outside as I know even the nights that dip into the 30s still won't hurt them. It's wonderful to start out the year with big beautiful bushes of them. They look so happy and cheaful sitting on my front porch! Give it a try next winter. We used to be considered zone 5 but were upgraded to 6 a couple years ago. A cold frame would easily take you to zone 7.

Rooting takes several weeks. I have found that bottom heat can help speed things up a little and use a heat mat. I used to do all the cutting propagation in a commercial greenhouse where we had hot water pipes running under the table and misters. So, if I don't put one of those clear plastic dome's over my trays (available this time of year at garden centers and places that carry seed starting supplies.) I keep a water spray bottle handy to keep them from getting too dry. Just don't over do it as they can get powdery mildew - good air circulation helps prevent that though. Espoma has a new 'safe' product called 3 in 1 insect and disease control - in a pink bottle - that seems to be really effective for this. I was having a problem with my sages this winter.

This is a Salem cutting I took last fall and potted up in February.

Taking a long time to root, hmmmm I better tell my friend to find one because I don't think he is a patient sort. I will do some cuttings anyway. I wondered how well they would take lack of fresh air in your cold frame but I suppose the humidity level was lower during winter.

I've never found fresh air to be a problem in the cold frames. The winter temperatures here are cold enough that the rosemaries go dormant. The cold frame protects them from sever drops in temp and drying winds. Snow on and around the cold frame helps keep the inside temps at an even level that they can tolerate. It's more important to open it on warm sunny days to keep it from getting to warm and bring them out of dormancy too early. I give them a little water once a month, even though the soil in their pots may be frozen. Just enough to keep them alive.

Podster, I envy your zone 8 - where you can grow them in the ground year round! Would love to have big bushes of them growing outside.

I've never had much luck with rosemary cutting, but I haven't made more than a couple of casual attempts with them.

Here's a link to some information I wrote up (mostly paraphrasing Tom DeBaggio, herb guru) on rooting cuttings... should apply to rosemary cuttings also. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/597232/

Also, Vbsparky designed a DIY "aerocloner" that worked well with lavender cuttings and would probably be great with rosemary also... let's see if I can find that thread... http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/498781/

Wouldn't it be nice if threads like these could be added to our resources sticky for the herb forum? Please take a look at this thread, http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/696281/,#new, and make some suggestions for threads you'd like to see in the sticky thread at the top of the forum!

Hmmmmm, I did live in zone 6b and my rosemarys were 5+ feet tall. I could go get a sprig or two even if they were under some snow. Of course, they were in a brick-faced planter box on the south side of the house, but they sure fluorished. The one I planted last summer in a similar planter box here died, but I'm trying again.

I have a 5' tall, 8' wide, man-eater rosemary that is about 6 years old. It never dies back in our climate. I love having it in a corner of the main garden so that I can touch it each time I go by. But........I have never had any luck getting cuttings to root. I have shared some in the past by just digging up a chunk on the side or the back.

LOL on the maneater~ I am a toucher too and love to smell it. Do you find stems have rooted where they lay on the ground? Or do they come up from the roots?