Repotting Rosemary cuttings

11 years ago

Any specific way? My neighbor has a massive Rosemary bush, and gave me two large clippings, around two feet each. Can't find much about repotting Rosemary. Do I cut these into smaller pieces and repot? When repotting do you trim the bottom leaves and stick in? Any specific sizes as far as pots, know nothing really about Rosemary and whether it would like smaller or larger pots. I've left them in water for the past two weeks but they haven't grown any roots (I've seen people doing so but with tiny cuttings)

Made some potatoes other night with it and my thyme and was incredible lol

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Comments (5)

Pyewacket
11 years ago
Oh gee - I'm not 100% sure - but I don't think you can root Rosemary from woody cuttings - can you?

Well my information is old and probably out of date - but as I recall, we did not take woody cuttings. But I don't remember where to make the cut. I do remember dipping the ends in rooting hormone and sticking them in sand. Not in water. You'll get roots in water, but the plants won't take properly when you pot them up.

40 year old memories - could be questionable. But that's what I recall.
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
11 years ago
They are not rooted yet so you're not really repotting, you're taking cuttings. The woody material will be much harder to root than soft stems. You can take heel cuttings i.e. pull a side shoot downwards so it comes off with a piece of the bark from the main stem attached. Or you can just take ordinary clipped off cuttings. Then remove lower leaves so they are not buried and insert into a gritty mix or cuttings mix. From those branches you could get at least 30 cuttings. Take pieces around 6 inches long but shorter or longer will work too. It is pretty easy to root so the precise method is not absolutely vital.

*Note that this link is from the UK so 'compost' just means 'mix' and the advice to put them outside in a cold frame may not be right for your climate. Unfortunately we don't know where you live so have no idea what your weather conditions are.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rosemary cuttings

This post was edited by floral_uk on Wed, Oct 1, 14 at 10:12
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surf1
Original Author
11 years ago
Ahh, no wonder I was confused even watching videos as nobody showed anything like what I have, didn't even think of "woody-ness". So it looks like, for example, if my woody stems were still attached to the bush, only snip off the top part like in the link above? Could also just go to the nursery since it's so cheap and they have nice size plants already.

I think I'll dry these out and keep for dry rosemary, or at least one of them as one doesn't look too good now with the leaves turning brown. If I need anymore I can just clip my neighbors as her bush is huge.
gardenper
11 years ago
This may be a little late, but let us know how your rooting progress is going.

I have rooted from about the last 4-6" of a rosemary branch, so it is a bit woody already but not as much as your 2-foot piece.

I've also used the water-in-cup method as well as sticking the branch in a pot and putting a plastic tent around it (whatever you like to use as the plastic tent)

However, the nice thing about getting such a large branch as yours is that you actually can take many cuttings from it to try all different ways. Or at least, do several so that in case some fail, hopefully some will succeed.
surf1
Original Author
11 years ago
No, the one stem was dying and the other just kinda left as it started to look like it was fading. I can always get more to use and try from my neighbor but it's so easy and cheap to just run to the nursery and grab a nice plant for only a few bucks. But I have two small pots not in use so may try and see what happens.