how to take rosemary cuttings that don't die?

How do I grow rosemary from cuttings?  Is it possible?  Mine always die.

the only place i’ve seen where it worked was a pretty tightly controlled greenhouse situation. semi-hardwood cuttings in late winter, stuck in rooting hormone (but hopefully a strong willow tea would work as well?), misted with water as frequently as every couple hours, depending on sky conditions. success rate was around 75%.

i’ve tried to approximate the conditions on my own since then a few times without success.

I have found with any of the woody herbs like rosemary, lavender , sage .... 2 things contribute to a successful cutting strike. One is to use a moon calender and pick the right time to strike a cutting... " During the Full Moon and Last Quarter phases the Moon wanes or decreases in light and sap flow in plants is more concentrated in the root area... Because Full Moon phase favours root growth, this is also an excellent phase for taking cuttings, or for aerial layering, because root growth must form to support new foliage growth. This is also the best phase for dividing plants for the same reason. .."   and two, when getting cuttings... pull  a small "branching" away and down, or away and back, from the main stem or branch you are taking a cutting from, so that you get a "heel and toe" at the end of the branching/cutting,  and sow "heel and toe" end down in your medium...alternatively put them in a jar / glass of water and wait till roots grow then plant... apparently all the hormones and whatever required for roots to form is in this little section.... It almost looks like a lady's slipper... I also prune / tip the top of the "cutting" to encourage branching right from the get go...  Smaller cuttings are easier to strike than large ones...

further beneficial info re the "right time" to take cuttings...  

Fertile and Barren Days
These are a further refinement that has been added to moon planting principles through the ages. Traditional moon planting divides the zodiacal belt into 12 equal 30° segments, each named after the constellation closest to it. Although scientists have tended the disregard this part of moon planting, I think it is related to the subtle changes in the Earth’s electro-magnetic field because seeds and plants can only absorb the minerals they need for growth as water-soluble, electrically charged ions, and each 30° segment has been given a ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ rating, and these ratings vary from those used in astrology.

Fertile days, i.e. when the Moon is in the fertile (negative) signs of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces, or the semi-fertile days of Taurus, Libra and Capricorn, are considered to be of extra help for sowing, grafting, taking cuttings, pruning to encourage growth and planting bare-rooted perennials.

Barren days, i.e. when the Moon is in the barren (positive) signs of Aries, Leo or Sagittarius, or the semi-barren signs Gemini, Virgo or Aquarius are considered to be of extra help for weeding or harvesting crops for storage. If digging is unavoidable outside Last Quarter phase, it is best to do it on barren days.

to add to that ...one doesn't need a hormone rooting powder with this method...and... dipping the "heel and toe" ends into honey for half an hour or more before putting into a medium does the same job as a rooting powder... or for any cuttings actually...

Have you considered aerial rooting for rosemary? A friend did that with her plant and managed two good plants out of 3 tries. She was *really* reliable about keeping the rooting medium damp.

I haven't tried that because the "heel and Toe" cuttings were successful whether planted into a medium, or by simply being put in a glass of water till roots grew... then potted up/ or transplanted... I have a really old "mother" bush of rosemary which expresses "aerial roots" at the lower part of the trunk ...but they are dry and stringy... can see how that would work as well tho...

If i read all the things the commenters are having to do to obtain rosemary cuttings that grow i wonder how i’ve been so lucky.
I just stick pencil width sized sticks in the soil in autumn and they will grow well mostly , when winters are soft and if spring has enough rain.
You’ve probably tried that already..
It’s not the first time people from US tell me they have difficulty growing rosemary from cuttings. Maybe some odd difficult to clone variety is dominant over there?

Hugo Morvan wrote:It’s not the first time people from US tell me they have difficulty growing rosemary from cuttings. Maybe some odd difficult to clone variety is dominant over there?

Maybe - but you've got me thinking. It may simply be climate - your France winters may be perfect for Rosemary cuttings and North America may have different wind/humidity/temperatures that simply aren't as plant-friendly.
But, what if it's something to do with the soil biology? Has anyone tried rooting - aerial or otherwise - using some of the soil from the base of a successful Rosemary plant? Even if Hugon doesn't do so, he may not *need* to do so, if the "we like Rosemary" soil microbes are endemic?

I have heard of something similar with a plant normally prolific in the southern areas of the US not surviving when grown from seed in Alaska. When someone brought an established plant in its own dirt, it did fine and dirt from near that tree added to the soil elsewhere, allowed the tree-from-seed plants to survive.  The problem with hearing such things, is that one never knows for sure if it is true or embellished.

Since rosemary likes to propagate its self, is it possible to take a limb that propagated then clip it off and dig up the new plant?

I am not interested in any new plants so I have not tried doing this.

Every so often I try to cut those limbs, pull them up and throw them in with my mulch.

True what Jay Angler says, the other way around, i’ve heard the same goes for Sequoia brought to Europe. They grew marginally until someone burried soil from usa Sequoia tree at its base. Turned out it was a specific mycorrizal fungi that teamed up with the roots of the Sequoia.
Same for blueberries that come from chemical growingstations. They grow great until the chemical fertilizer is out of the soil, but adding soil to their base from wild flourishing blueberries is said to restore the plant to a natural grow rythm.
Climate is mild here with the influence of the oceancurrents. Last year saw some heavy frost which for American standards is laughable and many cuttings died because of it. They’re Mediterranean in origin.

I have four large Rosemary plants and my cutting rate is about 50/50.
I take a cut, remove the lower needles, soak in water that I change out everyday until it grows white roots. I plant them in soil and wait and see if it lives then plant outside or give away to friends.

My rosemary is holding my bike

My best propagation method is to take my overwintered plant (that I keep indoors, they don't survive OK winters at my spot) and lay down the lower branches when I transplant into the larger summer pot.  Bury all but the tips in soil and then just treat the pot normally.  By fall all those laid-down branches have rooted and can be snipped and transplanted into their own pots with a tennis-ball-sized root ball.  

I didn't know rosemary was hard to propagate as when I actually do mine they have lived.

I've always taken a piece that is woody, yet has new green tips. Snip, then "skin" an inch or 2, dip that area in rooting hormone. Then stick in moist potting soil. 1 Spritz of water every day at the "ground" level. After a week I pull it up a hairsbreadth only once.

Most important part of this is that it can't get or be dry. And for whatever reasons, by the kitchen sink seems to be the best area for me or sometimes a shady window that gets a bit of morning sun.

Susan Boyce wrote:I have four large Rosemary plants and my cutting rate is about 50/50.
I take a cut, remove the lower needles, soak in water that I change out everyday until it grows white roots. I plant them in soil and wait and see if it lives then plant outside or give away to friends.

Exactly this worked for me last month. I've got 4 little rooted cuttings now in containers ready to give away. I used fresh growth, cuttings about 4 to 6 inches long (10-15 cm). Removed lower leaves, kept in water in bright shade indoors. Changed out the water every few days. About half them developed roots after a couple of weeks, and 4 of the 5 I then put in soil seem to have made it.

Rosemary grows great where I live (high desert, NM). It does so well here that you will see it planted all around town as a landscape plant. It's one of the only things that you can just stick in the ground here and forget about. We are in a cold Mediterranean climate, with lots of dry, well-draining soil and tons of sunshine. It truly thrives on neglect. That said, I have a lot of trouble if I try to grow it in a pot, but it could just be that I'm lazy! (I think it's actually because I water too much or not enough).

I have not taken a lot of cuttings because the one bush I have provides all the rosemary I need, but when I have propagated it, I did so by simple layering (softwood seems best).

My mother's name was Rosemary and at 72, I still manage to kill that plant every time I bring it inside for the winter.  Once, it killed the glass window on my oven.  

I had no idea that rosemary was so difficult to grow from cuttings.  Really...cutting under the light of a full moon while doing a fertility dance in a virgin meadow of sunflowers seems to be a bit much just to root an herb. (Just joking...a homeopathic doctor once said something similar when describing how organic milk from the grocery store is no better for you than regular milk and should be avoided and I thought it was entertaining when she said it that way.)

I take a whole bunch of cuttings of newer to one year growth (not the hardened wood stems) and stick them in a jar of water. Some of them grow roots and then I plant them in pots of organic potting soil.  If they don't root up, I harvest the leaves and dehydrate them in my oven and store them in glass jars.  I have one plant that's about a year old sitting on my kitchen counter.  It doesn't like to be watered very often, I let it dry completely between waterings and it's doing great, lots of branching out and good growth.

I'm so glad I didn't read this thread before I tried rooting them or I never would have tried at all.  Rosemary is my favorite herb and I use it every chance I get.

Here is a technique that works every time for me.

Strip the leaves off most of a stem, leaving leaves on only about the top 1/2 to 1 inch of the stem. By reducing the leaf surface area, you prevent the stem from drying out while its roots are growing. If you just put leaves below water they'll get slimy and moldy... not good for the plant.

Poke a small hole in a yogurt/sour cream lid with a thumb tack, then a larger object such as a pencil. Or just drill a hole. You want to make round holes in the lid without cracking the lid. Put the stem down through the lid, with the leaves above the lid. Now put the lid back on the container and fill it with water. This again ensures that most of the stem is below water, or at least in a humid environment.

The cuttings in this photo are ready to go in the ground when I get around to it.

Keep cuttings out of direct summer heat and sun. A shaded spot or indoor grow lights work well. If the water gets hot you'll literally cook the plants in hot water.

I can tell you from personal experience this technique is nearly 100% effective at rooting cuttings without losing any of them.

I have found rosemary to be one of the easier things to root in water. This is something I have usually done in late winter-spring. I haven't been very meticulous about changing the water, just making sure it stays topped up.
If you want to add rooting hormones, just put one or two pieces of wilow in the jar of water too. I haven't found this is necessary but it won't hurt and may help.

I find it works best with softwood cuttings, that as Dee says, have a "heel" from the woody stem. I've never managed to get hardwood rosemary cuttings to take.

Though I am not the best for growing anything from cuttings. My approach with growing anything  from cuttings tends to be take the cuttings (often from a branch that broke naturally), stick them in a good patch of soil, water in, and see what grows.

Good gracious!!  My rosemary never did half that well, what are you feeding that thing??  Whatever it is, great job!!

Just remove a section of bark where you want it to root, put rootone on it and put moist soil on it. Wrap it with plastic wrap. Check it every few days and add water if needed (syringe works well)   when you see the roots in the plastic Just cut off, remove plastic and plant

Hugo Morvan wrote:If i read all the things the commenters are having to do to obtain rosemary cuttings that grow i wonder how i’ve been so lucky.
I just stick pencil width sized sticks in the soil in autumn and they will grow well mostly when winters are soft and if spring has enough rain.
You’ve probably tried that already..
It’s not the first time people from US tell me they have difficulty growing rosemary from cuttings. Maybe some odd difficult to clone variety is dominant over there?

This has been my experience in Japan too. I also have a friend whose backyard is full of rosemary bushes. Her husband snaps off a branch sticking out in the roadway, sticks it unadorned in his briefcase and then jams it in the ground (no preparation at all -- he just screws the branch into the ground) when he gets home, and they grow. I don't know if they all survived. I just know that they have about seven vibrant rosemary bushes in their backyard. My starters came from them.

I find it really easy to propagate rosemary. I take soft, new growth cuttings, strip off the lower leaves and put about six round the edge of a 3 or 4 inch diameter plant pot filled with commercial multipurpose compost. I then leave them in the greenhouse for a few months and once they show signs of growth, plant them into individual pots. The previous owner of our house planted rosemary out the front (in the north of the UK) but it is too exposed, on a south facing slope, to the prevailing winds and died - luckily after I had taken cuttings.

I forgot to add, the older plants ( which are in pots) are left outdoors all year, just being moved to a sheltered spot in winter.
By the way, I can kill cacti so if I can grow rosemary, surely anybody can.

This always works for me. Rosemary is one of my easiest propagators. Use semi woody pieces, strip the bottom half of leaves and soak in water on the kitchen counter. Dipping in rooting hormone and putting them into soil gives 50/50 results. Gotta keep moist and warm. In Central FL, I can root almost year round. Our night temps don’t usually go below 70degrees. If your area gets colder, root your plants on the kitchen counter. Rosemary like heat.

I rooted them in a glass of water in my kitchen at the end of winter. Started with 4” branches and intended to keep them fresh in water. Rooted in a few weeks.

Best way I found in this hot, dry climate is to push a long branch down into the soil while it is still attached to the parent plant.  Covering it with chips helps keep it moist and it will send out roots on its own eventually.  I have tried woody cuttings put into potting mix but they usually die without rooting.  Maybe keeping it moist was the problem?  A quick way to provide moisture is to cover the whole pot and cuttings with a plastic bag that has holes poked in for ventilation. That gives a 'mini greenhouse' effect.  It has worked with other plant cuttings so it may help with rosemary.  I never thought to do that since it's such a sturdy plant and I never water the huge one that grows with total neglect in my yard. The potted rosemary is the one rooted cutting that survived.