Rosemary seeds

[pepperhead212]

Sage was one of the fastest herbs to root in my cloner - started showing roots in less than 48 hours one time. I didn't do anything special with that - just stripped the leaves.

[GoDawgs]

A direct stick into starter soil works just fine. A few years ago I had an old, large Tuscan Blue dying and took five cuttings off the still-healthy part, cut off the top 3" tips at a 45 degree angle, stripped leaves from the bottom 1", dipped the ends in rooting hormone and then stuck them all in a 3" pot. All five rooted. That's how they did it at the nursery I worked at.

I think for the first week I put the top half of a 3 liter soda bottle (cap off) over the pot to keep the humidity up around the cuttings. At the nursery they just put the trays out in a greenhouse and had a timed mist going. It will take a little while for the cuttings to root so give them several weeks at least before you do any test tugging. As long as they're green and looking good, all is well so don't monkey with them.

[Ginger2778]

A direct stick into starter soil works just fine. A few years ago I had an old, large Tuscan Blue dying and took five cuttings off the still-healthy part, cut off the top 3" tips at a 45 degree angle, stripped leaves from the bottom 1", dipped the ends in rooting hormone and then stuck them all in a 3" pot. All five rooted. That's how they did it at the nursery I worked at.

I think for the first week I put the top half of a 3 liter soda bottle (cap off) over the pot to keep the humidity up around the cuttings. At the nursery they just put the trays out in a greenhouse and had a timed mist going. It will take a little while for the cuttings to root so give them several weeks at least before you do any test tugging. As long as they're green and looking good, all is well so don't monkey with them.

Sounds like great advice. And I surely would've monkeyed with them! ☺

[Barb_FL]

I posted to this thread but it didn't go thru.

I strip just the bottom leaves and stick in mix. I'm going to take a couple more cuttings today and try Rockwool and the rapid rooter spongy things. Then the race begins on what will root the quickest.

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For my cloner, I find that the water temperature sometimes gets too warm and then it isn't even faster than the non-cloner method.

[Ginger2778]

I posted to this thread but it didn't go thru.

I strip just the bottom leaves and stick in mix. I'm going to take a couple more cuttings today and try Rockwool and the rapid rooter spongy things. Then the race begins on what will root the quickest.

----
For my cloner, I find that the water temperature sometimes gets too warm and then it isn't even faster than the non-cloner method.

I love how you choose cool things to have an experiment with.

[ponyexpress]

I have two cuttings going. One is outdoors with compost and root powder. The other is indoors in water. The outside one I water every day to keep it moist.

I wish I wrote down the day I took the cutting. Here are some pictures:

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Today I did put a tiny amount of miracle grow into the water.

[ponyexpress]

I posted to this thread but it didn't go thru.

Weird, I also had the same problem so I had to repost the previous content. Not sure why it didn't go through before.

[Clkeiper]

Are you only stripping the leaves or do you also strip the bark? I strip the leaves and put in a pot with damp soil. I put a ziploc bag over the whole thing so it doesn’t dry out.

I’m trying to get a sage cutting to develop roots. Have it in a jar of water for at least two weeks but no sign of roots. The leaves still look healthy though. Will try putting a couple drops of liquid fertilizer in it.

you really need a rooting hormone to encourage the roots to develop in a soiless media on a heating mat, not in water.. a drop of fertilizer wont make a lick of difference.

[worth1]

I've had great success with rooting hormone water and perlite in a clear jar so you can see the roots grow.
Another good tip is to bag the top if in a very dry environment.
Keeps the top from drying out.
Rosemary in my opinion is best cloned here where I live in Texas in the winter.
Heck I have cloned plants in a glass pop bottle.

[ponyexpress]

you really need a rooting hormone to encourage the roots to develop in a soiless media on a heating mat, not in water.. a drop of fertilizer wont make a lick of difference.

What kind of soiless media would you recommend? Something from this list like potting soil or sand?
https://www.mykitchengarden.info/2018/0 ... tings.html

[Barb_FL]

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Update - Looks like all 6 are rooting in the potting mix. I split one of the cells to look for roots - I was pulling / tugging before but didn't want to disturb them.

I think the mail will be faster after the election so will mail then (if your clones didn't work).

[pepperhead212]

[mention]ponyexpress[/mention] I had some sage root in the cloner in just 3 days before! One of the fastest of any, every time I went to clone one for a friend, and one of the fastest growing in the hydroponics. Unfortunately, it was also a spider mite magnet, so I had to pull it out.

Looking at the photo of your sage, it looks a little woody, for lack of a better term. That happens with me with basil, late in the season, when the cuttings are sort of old growth, and not new growth, which roots much better.

[ponyexpress]

Looking at the photo of your sage, it looks a little woody, for lack of a better term. That happens with me with basil, late in the season, when the cuttings are sort of old growth, and not new growth, which roots much better.

Thanks for the feedback. What do you mean by old growth? Yes, the plant is old. Probably about 4 years. I looked for a new branch and cut about 4-5 inches from the tip of the new growth. To me, that's new growth, no?

[Ginger2778]

DSC_1417.JPGUpdate - Looks like all 6 are rooting in the potting mix. I split one of the cells to look for roots - I was pulling / tugging before but didn't want to disturb them.

I think the mail will be faster after the election so will mail then (if your clones didn't work).

The top 1 inch is new growth so I think I'm all set. Thank you so much Barb.

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[pepperhead212]

[mention]ponyexpress[/mention] The old growth I refer to has simply been on the plant for a longer time, and gets harder than what I call "new growth". You'll see a lot of new growth on old plants early in the spring, or after trimming way back, which is what I do with basil, which sort of triggers the new growth. And the softer stems of the newer growth seem to root better. And something I do, which seems to help, is to score the stems very lightly, with a paring knife or razor blade, many times about 1/8" apart, perpendicular to the stem, 3 times down the sides. When the roots start showing, it is usually in these score marks! I don't know where I learned this trick, but it does help

[ponyexpress]

And something I do, which seems to help, is to score the stems very lightly, with a paring knife or razor blade, many times about 1/8" apart, perpendicular to the stem, 3 times down the sides. When the roots start showing, it is usually in these score marks! I don't know where I learned this trick, but it does help

Good tip. I just pulled another clipping off my sage plant and tried this technique. I'll report back in a week. I also have a couple of new cuttings where I just took the very tip of the plant. We'll see if any develop roots.

[worth1]

Every place my rosemary touches the ground new roots develop old growth or not.
Not saying that new growth isn't good far from it but what is going on with me is what they call layering or some such thing.
It it is done in a bag with soil in it along along stem and kept moist it is called air layering.
The there is tipping where you put the end of the stem pin it down in the soil and let it grow from there.

[pepperhead212]

[mention]worth1[/mention] That's basically air layering, without trying! Sort of like those squash vines.

[Ginger2778]

All I did with mine was get store bought rosemary sprigs, strip the leaves from the bottom of the stems, and stick them in moist promix. No hormones, and they rooted, new growth is present. If I think about it, it is creating wounds where the leafs were, so scoring the stem might essentially be just what stripping those leafs is.

[ponyexpress]

All I did with mine was get store bought rosemary sprigs, strip the leaves from the bottom of the stems, and stick them in moist promix. No hormones, and they rooted, new growth is present. If I think about it, it is creating wounds where the leafs were, so scoring the stem might essentially be just what stripping those leafs is.

That's exactly what I do with rosemary except that I'll also use the root hormones since I have it and might as well use it. I also put a ziploc bag over the cutting/soil container. Rosemary is easy in my opinion.