Indoor Rosemary Problems
I'm new to this so if I've done this improperly, please let me know. I was given a very nice Rosemary plant in a 5" pot. Beautiful and green and tasty. However, despite a sw facing window and fairly consistent watering, it is getting brown. (we live in Mass) My mother also has trouble w/ rosemary indoors.....any suggestions on fertilizer or watering habits?
The soil is very airy, when i water it a large % flows thru the bottom of the pot. I've started putting a tray under it to keep the water in the bottom, but I'm still losing green!
Please help us.
PS, is it possible to upload pics to this discussion?
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(post #12814, reply #1 of 16)
If the plant is mostly in peat moss and some white foam specks, it isn't getting much real nourishment, just moisture. It may be what one of the good gardeners here has pointed out, a grocery store plant,something you want to buy on impulse on a dreary winters day, that will fade away from lack of food, which is disappointing.
If you want to keep it, give it a larger pot and some potting soil with extra zippy stuff in it, the roots given room and watered when the top inch or so of the soil is dry, it might grow. Putting it in a spot with some window light would probably be good too.
New Mexico home organic gardener
Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience. Emerson
(post #12814, reply #4 of 16)
Thanks to you all who have responded. I got something from each! Eventho it's mid winter, I will repot in something larger w/ some better soil and give it a kick of plant food.
One last question: Should I follow my instinct and cut it way back, the browned areas, to help it recover? It'll loose its very store bought shape, but at this point i'm more concerned w/ it surviving and producing.
(post #12814, reply #5 of 16)
At this point, you need to give it some time to make sure it's alive before you do anything to it. If it is, repotting it while it's stressed can kill it. Pruning certainly can. I'd try to keep it just barely damp and keep an eye on it. Give it a light "thump" in a week or so and see if leaves fall off. If so, it's either already dead or it's very stressed and dropping its leaves in response. Unless parts of it *really* look alive right now, I'm afraid it may already be a goner. Any browning on a rosemary is usually a sign of death. They don't tend to give too many other hints that they don't feel well.
(post #12814, reply #6 of 16)
There are some very green areas. There are two major stalks and it seems one is completely browned and the other is only partially. I will feed it and monitor the water more closely before I repot. It would prob be best to repot when we have a hour more sunlight per day anyway. Thanks for the tip again.
(post #12814, reply #7 of 16)
I wouldn't feed it either. If it's shocked from too little or too much water, it doesn't need any food.
Give it some time. Even if leaves fall off the brown areas, they may grow back. Wait till you're sure parts are dead before removing them. Good luck.
(post #12814, reply #8 of 16)
Another way to monitor the rosemary plant is to scrape a spot with a finger nail, just a nick, to peel back the outer bark. If it is green, it is good. If there is brown underneath, that part has very probably died back.
New Mexico home organic gardener
Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience. Emerson
(post #12814, reply #9 of 16)
Jeana,
Is 'thump' a technical term?
(post #12814, reply #10 of 16)
It is in my book. It has some non-stereotypic terms and techniques.
(post #12814, reply #11 of 16)
'Thump' is a legitimate and sometimes life saving procedure if done by a trained individual, though it can be tricky to identify the precordium in a rosemary. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precordial_thump
North Carolina - zone 7
North Carolina - zone 7
(post #12814, reply #12 of 16)
Well, I guess some of know plants a *little* better than others.
: - P""
(post #12814, reply #14 of 16)
LOL! It's good my rosemary is healthy (lives outside all year ) and thrives on benign neglect b/c I'm not trained in 'thumping' (precordial or otherwise...).
(post #12814, reply #15 of 16)
I had a wonderful bush of Rosemary for three years in my yard. Then a tropical storm came through and the ground became pretty darn saturated: no puddles, but it was squishy with water. Within three days the rosemary was dead. It had withstood 100 degree heat in the past, neglect by its owner (me), plants dying all around it, and it still looked great, until the storm.
So, my lesson I learned is Rosemary dies if the soil is too saturated, even after only a few days of it.
(post #12814, reply #2 of 16)
If you're seeing brown on it, it may very well be too late to save it. Rosemary is pretty picky about not wanting to dry out, but will up and die if it stays too wet, when grow in a pot.
The best way to have it inside is to plan ahead. In the spring or early summer, buy a rosemary start and pot it in a quality potting soil and grow in a pot the rest of the warm season. When it cools off in the fall, bring it in and put it in a south window. At that point, you have to cut back on the watering and water it only when it feels dry as far down as one finger knuckle. If it starts wilting, you have to water it immediately. It doesn't tolerate being too dry in a pot. If it lives, it'll probably drop all its leaves. If it's growing happily in its pot when it comes in, it'll better tolerate being a little overwatered.
(post #12814, reply #3 of 16)
My rosemary plant started off as a tiny plant and I now have a two foot bush. I have done all the things that Jeana suggested and have had no problems. I have mine in a big clay pot so that it doesn't hold too much moisture and breathes. It needs lots of light and seems to prefer a cool corner. I put mine out on the deck in the summer where it gets sunny and hot. My plant keeps flowering continually and even has gone to seed as I have little baby seedlings growing around the base of the plant. And the flavour is so great, rosemary with a hint of citrus. I think that keeping it on the cooler side keeps it from drying out easily. It has lived in two old drafty houses!
Wendy
(post #12814, reply #13 of 16)
I have grown a rosemary plant in a large pot for many years now with no problems with watering. The plants like a relatively poor soil with good drainage, and plenty of light. It's always a good idea to check the soil before watering, letting it go dry before watering again. If the soil is very dry it is best to water it from below: put the pot in a washbasin of water and let the water soak up through the bottom.
You may be able to rescue the plant by cutting the dead-brown-parts off.
Good luck.
(post #12814, reply #16 of 16)
After years of problems overwintering rosemary, we finally just bring it in in the Fall and leave it on an unheated porch where it never gets colder than about 20 degrees F and gets some sun. Water if needed. On bright days, the porch gets quite hot, at night it cools off. No whitefly, no dieback, come spring out it goes. We bury the pot in the ground. Right now, it is blooming.
I think it is hard to keep rosemary in a typical heated house, where it is too dry and the bugs thrive.
We live in Maine, zone 5.