Has anyone tried starting rosemary from fresh herb cuttings in packages from the grocery store? I looked for info on the net and read rosemary can be rooted in water, but I also remember reading somewhere that rosemary can be tricky to root.

Althea,

I think that was the first way I got rosemary - rooting a cutting that is. However, I see it SOOOOO cheap in recent years compared to the old days (I'm really sounding old), that I tell people to simply get one in a produce market (I see them every spring about 8" tall for $3.95 - probably costs that much for a container of it!) or somewhere like that, and they will save a lot of time rooting and growing it to that size. Will take a few years to get to the size where you can cut it without thinking about the amount, but it is easy, once it gets established.

Where you live you will probably have to keep it in a BIG pot, to bring in when cold. When I used to do that it would get rootbound after just 2 or 3 years in a 3 gal pot. Now I leave it out, and just cover it with a tarp and stick a lamp inside for the cold spell!

Dave

Pepperhead, could you repost your comment? For some reason what you posted doesn't show up.

I have rooted Oregano from packages of herbs at the grocery store. What I did, which should work for Rosemary too...bring them home, tear off the 1st 3-4 sets of leaves next to where they were cut. Put the stems in water until they look refreshed. Then use root tone/rooting hormone. dip them in the rooting hormone then put the stems in the soil up to just below the 1st set of leaves that were left on. Put a plastic bag over these to allow the plants time to root without drying out. They should start root in a couple of weeks. That's how I have done it. You can pull the bag off of them within a week most times... But give them time
like a month to 6 weeks before you try to put them where you plan for them to grow.

Thanks for your comments. Wasrabbity, one of the sources I read said rooting hormone was strongly recommended. In that case, I think Dave's advice is best, get an established plant instead! The Farmer' Market will be open in about the same time it would take to root a cutting. I'll be able to get an established plant for about the same amount of money from my favorite herb grower as I would spend on rooting hormone.

Althea,

I guess it must have posted by now...I wonder what happened?

Dave

Dave, it is a mystery. I have had two posts not show up. The first time it happened I wrote to Scott who said if I wanted, he would have a tech person look into it. I decided to just re-post instead. The second time I didn't bother either writing to Scott or re-posting. Unlike your post, mine didn't show up eventually.