Hi all,

I am trying to propagating some rosemary using a branch a pluck off from
an adult plant. But for some reason, the leaves of the branch starts turning
black after I put it into the pot with my other plants. What does this
indicate? Is the soil in the pot too wet for the rosemary?

Thuan Seah

"Tan Thuan Seah" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I am trying to propagating some rosemary using a branch a pluck
off from
an adult plant. But for some reason, the leaves of the branch starts
turning
black after I put it into the pot with my other plants. What does
this
indicate? Is the soil in the pot too wet for the rosemary?

Was it a young piece of this year's growth, about 6 - 10 cm long which
you tried tp propagate?
Did you trim it with a sharp knife to just below a node?
Did you trim off the lower leaves neatly?
Did you insert it in a small pot with a suitable cuttings compost?
Did you keep it covered with something like an inverted jam jar to
prevent it from drying out too much?

Franz

Yes, it's 6-10 cm long.
Hm.. not quite sure what trimming with a sharp knife is referring to.
Yes, the lower leaves are trimmed off.
I am inserting it in a small pot with potting mix. Not sure if it is
suitable for cuttings.
Didnt cover it. Is that step crucial?

Thuan Seah

"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...

"Tan Thuan Seah" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I am trying to propagating some rosemary using a branch a pluck
off from
an adult plant. But for some reason, the leaves of the branch starts
turning
black after I put it into the pot with my other plants. What does
this
indicate? Is the soil in the pot too wet for the rosemary?

Was it a young piece of this year's growth, about 6 - 10 cm long which
you tried tp propagate?
Did you trim it with a sharp knife to just below a node?
Did you trim off the lower leaves neatly?
Did you insert it in a small pot with a suitable cuttings compost?
Did you keep it covered with something like an inverted jam jar to
prevent it from drying out too much?

Franz

"Tan Thuan Seah" wrote in message
...


Thuan Seah

"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...

"Tan Thuan Seah" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I am trying to propagating some rosemary using a branch a
pluck
off from
an adult plant. But for some reason, the leaves of the branch
starts
turning
black after I put it into the pot with my other plants. What
does
this
indicate? Is the soil in the pot too wet for the rosemary?

Was it a young piece of this year's growth, about 6 - 10 cm long
which
you tried tp propagate?

Yes, it's 6-10 cm long.

Did you trim it with a sharp knife to just below a node?

Hm.. not quite sure what trimming with a sharp knife is referring
to.

It is usual to use something very sharp, like a razor blade or a
Stanley knife to cut the cutting cleanly very close to a node. A node
is the slight swelling on the stem at the positions there leaf-stems
are attached to the main stem.

Did you trim off the lower leaves neatly?

Yes, the lower leaves are trimmed off.

Did you insert it in a small pot with a suitable cuttings compost?

I am inserting it in a small pot with potting mix. Not sure if it is
suitable for cuttings.

That would probably be OK. I often use sharp sand for rooting
cuttings. I also usually dip the cuttings into a corredtly diluted
fungicide before inserting them into the medium.

Did you keep it covered with something like an inverted jam jar to
prevent it from drying out too much?

Didnt cover it. Is that step crucial?

Yes, otherwise the cutting might lose so much moisture that it dies.

Franz

So I suppose cutting cleanly means to have the end point of the cutting
close to a node? Or does it means I need to shave the cutting a bit from the
end up to a node?

| -branch | -branch
o - node OR | -branch
| -branch (shave) o - node
| - branch (shave)

Hope this is not too basic a question to ask. I am a novice in gardening.

Thuan Seah

"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...

"Tan Thuan Seah" wrote in message
...


Thuan Seah

"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...

"Tan Thuan Seah" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I am trying to propagating some rosemary using a branch a
pluck
off from
an adult plant. But for some reason, the leaves of the branch
starts
turning
black after I put it into the pot with my other plants. What
does
this
indicate? Is the soil in the pot too wet for the rosemary?

Was it a young piece of this year's growth, about 6 - 10 cm long
which
you tried tp propagate?

Yes, it's 6-10 cm long.

Did you trim it with a sharp knife to just below a node?

Hm.. not quite sure what trimming with a sharp knife is referring
to.

It is usual to use something very sharp, like a razor blade or a
Stanley knife to cut the cutting cleanly very close to a node. A node
is the slight swelling on the stem at the positions there leaf-stems
are attached to the main stem.

Did you trim off the lower leaves neatly?

Yes, the lower leaves are trimmed off.

Did you insert it in a small pot with a suitable cuttings compost?

I am inserting it in a small pot with potting mix. Not sure if it is
suitable for cuttings.

That would probably be OK. I often use sharp sand for rooting
cuttings. I also usually dip the cuttings into a corredtly diluted
fungicide before inserting them into the medium.

Did you keep it covered with something like an inverted jam jar to
prevent it from drying out too much?

Didnt cover it. Is that step crucial?

Yes, otherwise the cutting might lose so much moisture that it dies.

Franz

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 14:15:51 +1000, Tan Thuan Seah wrote:

I am trying to propagating some rosemary using a branch a pluck off from
an adult plant. But for some reason, the leaves of the branch starts turning
black after I put it into the pot with my other plants. What does this
indicate? Is the soil in the pot too wet for the rosemary?

Root your rosemary by itself in fairly dry soil.

Indeed, cuttings in general need only enough moisture to prevent
them from drying out. Overly wet conditions will cause rot.

The exception is when you root cuttings directly in water, but
even there you must change the water regularly to prevent rot.

A good general purpose rooting mixture is perlite with 10% peat
rubbed into it. Well drained, well aerated, yet slightly
retentive of water.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
[change "atlantic" to "pacific" and
"invalid" to "net" to reply by email]

So does that means I can put the cutting into the soil before any roots
appear from the cutting? Or it's necessary to root it in water first for
roots to develop?

Thuan Seah

"Rodger Whitlock" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 14:15:51 +1000, Tan Thuan Seah wrote:

I am trying to propagating some rosemary using a branch a pluck off
from
an adult plant. But for some reason, the leaves of the branch starts
turning
black after I put it into the pot with my other plants. What does this
indicate? Is the soil in the pot too wet for the rosemary?

Root your rosemary by itself in fairly dry soil.

Indeed, cuttings in general need only enough moisture to prevent
them from drying out. Overly wet conditions will cause rot.

The exception is when you root cuttings directly in water, but
even there you must change the water regularly to prevent rot.

A good general purpose rooting mixture is perlite with 10% peat
rubbed into it. Well drained, well aerated, yet slightly
retentive of water.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
[change "atlantic" to "pacific" and
"invalid" to "net" to reply by email]

"Tan Thuan Seah" wrote in message
...
So I suppose cutting cleanly means to have the end point of the
cutting
close to a node? Or does it means I need to shave the cutting a bit
from the
end up to a node?

| -branch |
-branch
o - node OR | -branch
| -branch (shave) o - node
| - branch (shave)

Hope this is not too basic a question to ask. I am a novice in
gardening.

I am afraid I cannot interpret your diagram with enough certainty to
comment on it.
The cutting should not have any branches. It should just be a little
length of a single stem. You cut it as best you can judge, at a node
and remove a few of the leaves nearest to the cut, to give a short
length of bare stem.

[snip]

Franz

"Tan Thuan Seah" wrote in message ...
So does that means I can put the cutting into the soil before any roots
appear from the cutting? Or it's necessary to root it in water first for
roots to develop?

[...]

Don't try to root rosemary in water: it'll be a waste. As you're in
Australia, you'll probably find this is not the easiest time of year
to take cuttings of plants like this, anyhow. (I guess you're in
Canberra, right? Not exactly an English climate, but the principles
are similar.) If you want to do it now, skip cuttings and see below.

Cuttings: in late summer (say February) take a piece about 250mm long,
remove the lower leaves, make a clean cut just below a node (Franz has
explained that), and stick it in the ground where you want the plant
to grow. Do five or six, about 75mm apart, in case some don't root,
and forget about them till spring.

Then, if they look ok, and have started sending up fresh growth,
you're a winner! Remove the ones you don't want, and either plant them
somewhere else or plant them in pots and give them away: people will
be impressed, so get a gardening book in a hurry in case they start
asking _you_ questions!

If you want to do it NOW, the best way in winter is called "layering".
Insanely easy.

You don't cut a piece off the plant. Instead, choose a low branch,
gently scrape off a narrow strip of the bark (from the dark-coloured
part, not the soft tip) about 5mm long (on the underside only), and
gently bend the branch down till the bit you've scraped meets the
ground. Weigh it down with a stone, and forget about it for half a
year. By next February or so, you should find the little branch has
sent out roots from where you removed the bark. You can then cut the
link with the parent plant, and carefully dig out the baby with its
ball of soil and put it in its new position; if there's no hurry, you
can leave it there after cutting through the branch to grow on for a
couple of months before moving it.

Why not try both methods, just for fun, and see which you prefer?

Mike.

ya, I am in Canberra. It seems they take a long time to develop roots
then... Guess I am better off buying a pot of rosemary. It seems that
rosemary can survive with very little watering. How many times a week do you
recommend watering?


Thuan Seah

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
om...
"Tan Thuan Seah" wrote in message
...
So does that means I can put the cutting into the soil before any roots
appear from the cutting? Or it's necessary to root it in water first for
roots to develop?

[...]

Don't try to root rosemary in water: it'll be a waste. As you're in
Australia, you'll probably find this is not the easiest time of year
to take cuttings of plants like this, anyhow. (I guess you're in
Canberra, right? Not exactly an English climate, but the principles
are similar.) If you want to do it now, skip cuttings and see below.

Cuttings: in late summer (say February) take a piece about 250mm long,
remove the lower leaves, make a clean cut just below a node (Franz has
explained that), and stick it in the ground where you want the plant
to grow. Do five or six, about 75mm apart, in case some don't root,
and forget about them till spring.

Then, if they look ok, and have started sending up fresh growth,
you're a winner! Remove the ones you don't want, and either plant them
somewhere else or plant them in pots and give them away: people will
be impressed, so get a gardening book in a hurry in case they start
asking _you_ questions!

If you want to do it NOW, the best way in winter is called "layering".
Insanely easy.

You don't cut a piece off the plant. Instead, choose a low branch,
gently scrape off a narrow strip of the bark (from the dark-coloured
part, not the soft tip) about 5mm long (on the underside only), and
gently bend the branch down till the bit you've scraped meets the
ground. Weigh it down with a stone, and forget about it for half a
year. By next February or so, you should find the little branch has
sent out roots from where you removed the bark. You can then cut the
link with the parent plant, and carefully dig out the baby with its
ball of soil and put it in its new position; if there's no hurry, you
can leave it there after cutting through the branch to grow on for a
couple of months before moving it.

Why not try both methods, just for fun, and see which you prefer?

Mike.

In article , Tan Thuan Seah
writes
ya, I am in Canberra. It seems they take a long time to develop roots
then... Guess I am better off buying a pot of rosemary. It seems that
rosemary can survive with very little watering. How many times a week do you
recommend watering?

It's not a matter of 'so many times a week' - it depends on how hot and
dry it is. Water well when the soil is dry, then let it dry out before
watering it again. This works well for most plants.

Thuan Seah

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
. com...
"Tan Thuan Seah" wrote in message
...

--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"