How to Propagate Rosemary from Cuttings? You'll Get It at a Glance with This Illustrated Guide

  Friends who like growing plants and flowers, or those who like growing herbs, probably know that if you sow rosemary from seed, the germination rate is very low, and it is quite difficult to grow it from seed. So how do you propagate rosemary? I recommend using the cutting method. Although the survival rate is not 100 percent, even half surviving is fine. Let's take a look at the specific cutting and planting method for rosemary.

  Materials to prepare:

  Soil, disposable cups, a watering can, rosemary branches, and so on.

  1. Fill the flower pot with soft, fine soil, and press the potting soil down firmly and level it with your hands, but do not press it too tightly.

  2. Then water the pot soil thoroughly.

  3. Insert the prepared cuttings directly into the soft, fine soil, with a spacing of at least 4 cm, and place them in a spot with plenty of sunlight.

  4. Water thoroughly the first time, then water thoroughly once a week afterward, and keep the soil moist on ordinary days. If the local climate is dry, be sure to insert wooden sticks or chopsticks taller than the rosemary cuttings into the flower pot, then cover it with a perforated plastic bag, and make sure the plastic bag does not touch the cuttings.

  5. After about 6 to 7 weeks, the rosemary will take root. After rooting, remove the plastic bag, carefully loosen the soil in the pot with a small shovel or fork, and take out the cuttings. Do not pull the cuttings out, to avoid breaking the roots.

  6. Transplant them into separate flower pots and water thoroughly. At this point, because the cuttings have not received nutrients for a long time and have also grown many roots, they have used up a lot of energy, so when watering, you can appropriately add a little nutrient solution.

  7. The cuttings planted in flower pots still need to be carefully looked after for at least about 2 weeks. After they are established, you can decide whether to continue growing them indoors or outdoors according to the local climate and conditions.

  Key points for cuttings:

  1. In spring or autumn (because these two periods are when rosemary grows most vigorously), and also when the temperature is good, find a 2-3 year old rosemary plant as the mother plant, and cut vigorous growing branches. Do not choose branches that are too old and already heavily woody.

  2. Prepare disposable cups. Actually, small flower pots, small boxes, and other small containers can all be used. Then put soil into the cups. This soil is about half garden soil and half sand, mixed however you like.

  3. Remove the lowest leaves from the branches you picked, then insert them into the cups. A depth of about 1 cm is enough. About three branches per cup is fine, so as not to waste space.

  4. Then place the cups with the inserted rosemary branches in a place with less sunlight. Next is simply waiting slowly. Of course, when you see the cups have dried out, water them. I just put mine on an open-air balcony, and sometimes they get some rainwater. After about 20-30 days, roots will gradually begin to grow in the soil at the bottom of the cups, which proves that the cuttings have successfully taken root.