rosemary
Hello, I am new here.
I have a rosemary plant that did wonderfully in a planter outside on my fire escape for the whole summer. Now, it's inside, in a very bright spot and just developed some white fur on some of its leaves. What can I do? I sprayed it with water and neutral soap but I doubt that's what is needed. My grandfather had a huge rosemary bush when I was a child. I would love to have rosemary myself... Thanks a lot to whoever can help me.
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(post #12811, reply #1 of 14)
Welcome to Fine Gardening online!
Being indoors with a different "climate" may be part of the problem for your rosemary plant. The temperature, humidity, air circulation and sunlight available indoors is quite different than that of outdoors.
Rosemary is quite hardy, being evergreen, but strong winter winds will dehydrate a potted plant, which is almost sure death to a small plant in a pot.
Indoor watering can be done in a shower or tub if you are certain you want to keep this plant indoors. A good soaking every once and a while is good.
Is the plant in the potting soil you bought it in? Whatever is in that soil will warm up indoors and you may see tiny white flies and other evidence of intruders which came along with the plant with the soil. Rinsing with water helps.
If the plant survives the winter, re-pot it next spring in a good fresh mix of bagged soil, to give the roots room to grow.
New Mexico home organic gardener
Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience. Emerson
Edited 11/6/2008 1:56 pm by Astrid
(post #12811, reply #2 of 14)
Make sure that the "white fur" isn't mealy bugs. They tend to cluster on the stems. If you can pick them off and smash them and they're kind of yellow-goldish on the inside, then that's what you have. If you don't want to squish them, just try removing one and setting it down to see if it tries to walk away (it may take a minute or two). They don't look like insects at all, they just look like small white blobs.
(post #12811, reply #3 of 14)
Rosemary indoors is really prone to powdery mildew. If your white fur is on the leaves, or leaves and stems, and is especially on newer growth, that may be what you have. I've kept rosemary alive indoors over the winter, but it often looks pretty bad by spring. An alternative is to take some cuttings; it roots pretty easily and stays healthy in water, and then you can plant the cuttings outside again in spring.
(post #12811, reply #4 of 14)
Thank you for giving me the name of the disease. I read about it and I understand it is mostly caused by lack of ventilation. Since where I live (NYC) the temperature is still in the 60', do you think it is a good idea to bring it back outside?
Thanks - Spizzichina
(post #12811, reply #5 of 14)
Might as well take it back out if it's still warm; just watch out for a sudden freeze. When you bring it back in try to not let it get really dry.
(post #12811, reply #7 of 14)
thank you. I brought it outside. I will keep a close eye on it.
Spizzichina
(post #12811, reply #9 of 14)
Rosemary will survive a pretty hard freeze. It handles temps of 20 F or so without problem. We always had trouble keeping our plants over the winter (Maine, zone 5) until we left them on our unheated, enclosed porch. It gets well below freezing, but apparently not too cold for Rosemary. The windows face south so the sun heats the room. The plants do fine and the cold seems to deter the bugs that otherwise always seemed to infest the plants. The same treatment works for lemon verbena plants. They go dormant, but stay alive.
(post #12811, reply #10 of 14)
My rosemary lives a little further south, in zone 6. It is huge after just a few years and seems to withstand any conditions as there is some in a very sunny bed and some in a container close to the house with only part sun. Last year we had a warm winter with a late freezing rain that coated everything with ice and killed a lot of perennials. It almost totally killed my usually tough sage, but the rosemary didn't seem to notice it.
I'd say keep the rosemary out until a snow storm or hard freeze is predicted. If it doesn't have to stay in too long it probably could go back out on an unusually warm day so it doesn't get shocked. Once out it should readjust well. It could also go out during the day and come in at night in a cool place. Right at a sunny window with a heavy curtain between it and the heat of the room helps keep it cool.
For insurance you can make some cuttings to root, or divide your plant into two and let one stay out and one stay in as an experiment.
(post #12811, reply #11 of 14)
We have three pretty big pots of Rosemary, so it is too much trouble to bring them in and out. We get at least a few temps of -15 degrees each winter, and lots of below zero temps, so leaving them out all winter is not an option. They have been doing fine on the unheated porch. The cool temps there also seem to keep the whitefly and other pests at bay.
(post #12811, reply #12 of 14)
I grew up in NYC, lived there off and on as an adult, and do not remember it ever getting colder than a few degrees below zero, and those were very rare occasions. It stays warmer at night than in surrounding areas because all the pavement and bricks retain heat and all the concentrated escape of heat from buildings contributes. Where are you getting these temperature readings from?
http://home.att.net/~ny_climo/nymnmn.gif
Edited 11/25/2008 9:23 am ET by PASDENOM
(post #12811, reply #13 of 14)
You must have me confused with someone else. I live in Maine. It was 11 degrees last Saturday morning, with a balmy high of 25. We had to harvest the last of the carrots while we could still pry them out of the ground.
I've been here for 15 years. Every winter we see at least -10 and once in a while close to -20 or so.
It has its benefits. When it is that cold, the night sky is amazing. We are out in the boondocks, so no light pollution.
(post #12811, reply #14 of 14)
Oops, I see I meant to reply to the person who started this thread. Sorry for the confusion.
(post #12811, reply #6 of 14)
Rosemary can be a little fussy about bring brought inside. The big thing is to not overwater it. To help with powdery mildew, see if you can put a small fan a good 6' away from it to keep the air circulalting around it. You can also get some ultrafine oil spray and give it a spritzing with it once a week.
(post #12811, reply #8 of 14)
Thanks Jeana. I will let a fan blow some air on it when it's inside. I just brought it back outside since the temperature is still mild.
Best,
spizzichina