Rosemary grown from clipping

With one exception, I'd follow Phil's advice.

The exception: remove all the leaves, not just the bottom ones; otherwise some of the stem's energy will go into continuing their growth, instead of root production.

Best bet, too, is to cut the bottom (root) end of the stem at a sharp angle.

As to rooting hormone, I have mixed feelings. I've started cuttings both with and without it, and haven't decided for sure how much help it is---although the more herbacious the stem, the better it seems to work.

However, it's cheap. And my attitude, generally, is if something doesn't hurt, and may help, then give it a go.

 

I'd petition your municipal government to change your watering times.  Midnight till 2 A.M. is a poor choice in times.  Optimally, your best time for watering for the minimal wasteage is around 3 to 4 hours before sunrise. 

 After the sun goes down, plants go into a respiratory state.  Photosynthesis slows almost to a stop and they actually take in a small amount of oxygen and release CO2 during this time.  Plants at this time take in little to no water, hence the waste of water and potential for root problems.

 

The process is called layering.  Find a fairly tender branch that can be bent to the ground.  Wound or scrape it where it is to come into contact with the moist soil,  and push it down until it is slightly below ground level.  Cover over that part of the branch with more earth,  and place a flat rock on top to hold it down.  Walk away,  and leave it there like that.  Once it has sent out good roots, you can cut the parent branch and dig up the new plant. 

 

There's also air layering, a slightly different approach.

For that one, you straddle the branch with a soil-filled container of some sort. Then walk away. Eventually roots will form at that spot, and you merely prune off that branch and plant it.

 

Air layering can also be accomplished by slicing diagonally a third of the way into a branch, place a small wedge of wood, or even a toothpick, into the slice to keep it from closing up, then wrap the wound with moist sphagnum moss and then cover the moss with clear plastic and tie at both ends.  Leave this until roots emerge, then remove the new plant from the mother branch.  These various methods are used on different plants.  I used the above method for propagating deafembachia (spelling? AKA dumb cane). 

 

Grace, I'm interested in your "cut 1/3 through" approach. I was taught that so long as the inner bark was exposed (and presuming, of course, it's the kind of plant that will work with air layering) roots would emerge. So I just make a series of scraping cuts around the mother branch. Guess I should have mentioned that in my above post; just didn't know how many would be interested in the mechanics.

I've never done it, but I wonder if sprinkling rooting hormone in the cuts would speed the process?

 

 I don't know if applying a rooting hormone would aid in the rooting process but it is definitely worth a try.  
 
 Thanks KYH, I now have another thing to try.....Like I didn't have enough to do already this spring /img/vbsmilies/smilies/crazy.gif

 

KYH, either method will work.  In most cases it's a matter of preference. 

 

FR33_Mason,

What the heck. Everybody can use another hobby! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smoking.gif

 

Congratulations!  I think one out of four is very good, especially for just rooting the cutting in a soil medium without the nutritional support of the mother plant.  Good job! 

 

I'll second that motion. One for four is pretty good odds with this sort of thing.

 

I live in Mediterranean climate of Northern California and rosemary loves this place; they grow into large bushes in front of our house. I clip twigs, place them in a water-filled vase and in a few months most sprouts bushy roots ready to be planted outside in the spring. They do take well.

 

I'm not jealous, I'm not jealous, I'm not jealous... ok, yes I am, a bit.  /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif   It still strikes me as odd to read about 'huge bushes' of rosemary growing in public places (a median in a parking lot! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/eek.gif).  So much of what grows wild in more temperate areas doesn't survive the winter at my latitude.  To find any edibles, anything at all, growing wild around here is such an exciting treat.  I got giddy when I discovered some wild grapes growing along a fence line once lol

It has always struck me as odd that more food sources aren't planted in public areas.  Fruit trees in parks would be lovely, but dropped fruit is probably too much to worry about cleaning up after...  Hardier herbs as decorative shrubberies?  Probably some legality about weed sprays or potential allergic reactions... sigh.  Around here everything is so controlled its hard to imagine anyone ever being able to forage for survival.

So, this summer, I will plant my new fruit trees along the fencelines where passerby will have access to half (and hope they don't break too many branches) and I think I'll train the peas and beans up the privacy fence where they can grow through to the side where my customers walk up from the park.  Until then, I'll dream about monster rosemary running wild /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif