Monday, May 11, 2009

How to harvest Rosemary?

Someone gave me a rosemary plant. To harvest the needles, do I cut the whole branch off and then strip off the needles, or pluck the needles off of the branch, leaving the branch on the plant?

How to harvest Rosemary?
Cut the branch from the plant. Better yet, if you just need a few needles, I suggest you pinch them from the end of several stems. Removing the terminal bud or meristem will encourage the rosemary plant to send out multiple new stems from the end. This will also happen if you just trim off one branch. Just don't trim back so far that the wound is deep inside the plant where new growth will not thrive.
Reply:It will depend where you are in location to how much sun you get on an average day. Inside Rosemary need full south sun all day--south facing bay window. Temp. ranges no higher than 60 degrees F. and good air movement around the plant. If you cannot give these conditions to the plant and live in one of the northern states, harvest the plant now and be done with it, because they are very difficult to grow inside ----especially in New England. But if it is doing well, just keep it pinched and use the tips whenever you want them.


I manage a low light retail greenhouse in New England, and I cannot keep rosemary going all winter even under lights. So Good Luck.
Reply:You can cut sprigs of rosemary whenever you need them, just cut a couple inches off a branch at a time, and strip the leaves to use them. Remember with fresh herbs you need to double the amount the recipe calls for in dried herbs.


You rosemary should be kept in as full sun as possible, and the soil kept just barely moist. It won't thank you for overwatering. One the other hand, if you let it dry out to the point where the needles wilt, it is gone and will not come back. I keep mine outside in the summer in full sun, in the pot. In the ground, it might not survive the winter if you are in zone 6 or north.ine always comes indoors in the winter. This one is 5 yrs old now.
Reply:You could do it either way but the plant will look nicer if you clip or trim branches then strip the needles.


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