How to Propagate Rosemary From Cuttings and Store Bought Sprigs

Rosemary is an easy herb to propagate with cuttings purchased at your supermarket or by planting cuttings yourself. Once established, its hardy evergreen shrub form provides texture, color and fragrance to beds, borders, containers and kitchen gardens alike.

To successfully start rosemary from cuttings, several items will be required: growing medium (such as potting mix with coir fiber and perlite or sand), plastic baggies or an opaque humidity dome and rooting hormone powder.

Taking Cuttings

Rosemary cuttings are an easy and efficient way to expand your garden or herb patch. Soft-stemmed herbs like lavender and thyme, as well as woody-stemmed ones like rosemary, are easy to propagate by cutting off stems of plants like they would with soft stems like lavender and thyme, for instance. When taking cuttings use clean gardening shears or snips and strip away lower leaves before cutting bare stem below leaf nodes in the morning when plants have had time to absorb moisture; for best results consider using rooting hormone powder when taking stem cuttings from woody stemmed herbs like rosemary as it encourages new roots to form quickly!

Water or sand will suffice when it comes to cultivating rosemary cuttings, with the latter typically producing healthier roots that will thrive once transplanted to soil.

Fill a small pot or container with coarse sand such as paver or playground sand from any hardware store, moisten the surface, ensuring that every cutting sits above its level, insert the stem’s angled tip into the sand, and water it after.

Keep the sand pot in a sunny window, out of direct sunlight, and water it regularly. When its contents begin to dry out, remove old water before replacing with fresh.

Keeping Cuttings in Water

Simon Akeroyd recently uploaded a TikTok video detailing how he grows entire rosemary plants from supermarket clippings. First he removes lower leaves on each stem before using scissors to snip off two leaf nodes (buds) at their tops with scissors. Once severed stems have taken root they’re placed in water before eventually being planted into small pots or put into gardens or kitchen windows.

This method for propagating rosemary is easy and quick; however, I would caution those living in areas with extreme winter weather as the rosemary will need to overwinter indoors or in a greenhouse for optimal success.

An alternative way of propagating rosemary is placing cuttings in a solid rooting medium. A bagged, sterile potting mix made specifically for starting seeds would be the ideal choice, and should contain peat moss or coir fiber as well as perlite or vermiculite with clear labels that indicate its sterility. You could also opt for coarse sand such as paver sand available at most hardware stores as an alternative source.

Before placing cuttings into sand, ensure to thoroughly rinse and sterilize both your container and any additional materials you plan on using (e.g. a clean plastic baggie or clear humidity dome). Pour 1 cup of sand into your container and insert each stem so it is securely pressed down; make sure the sand remains damp but not wet, cover it with your bag or dome and set on a windowsill in a bright room for optimal growth results.

Keeping Cuttings in Sand

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is one of the more straightforward perennial herbs to propagate from grocery store sprigs or seeds, making propagation even for beginning gardeners easy and entertaining. Once roots form in solid growing media like potting soil or sand, watching it establish itself into full-grown plant forms is truly fascinating! Watching one or more rosemary cuttings develop roots on its own will only adds to its delight; watch it transform into a fully grown plant over time is truly rewarding and delightfully entertaining as one sees one or more emerge!

The easiest method of propagating rosemary is keeping its stems submerged in water until they take root. To do this, you’ll need several small glass or plastic containers free from contaminants (like an empty spice shaker), filled with tap or filtered water from either tap or filter system (it’s important that these materials be free of bacteria because any contact could lead to fungal infection in rosemary), along with some rooting hormone and some potting mix (not play sand!).

Once the sand or potting mix is ready, prepare the rosemary cuttings for their new home. With your fingers running along each stem to remove any tiny buds or leaves that have formed before piercing the tip with a sharp knife and applying rooting hormone. Finally place in container of water under bright sunny windows while watering frequently without overdoing it as this could harm roots formation.

Transplanting Cuttings

Rosemary is an easy perennial herb to propagate using stem cuttings. Within weeks, you can have new rosemary plants for your kitchen garden or as gifts to friends and family – it’s really rewarding watching small snippets grow into full grown mature plants you can harvest for cooking!

Rosemary stem cuttings should ideally be taken in spring when its fresh green leaves have just emerged and it is at its most flexible. This time of year will help it root quickly without breaking, although in mild winter climates rosemary cuttings may also be taken and rooted during fall.

Rosemary can be planted either in water or solid growing media such as potting mix, sand or vermiculite. Both methods will work effectively – you just have to select the one which best fits your situation and needs.

To prepare rosemary stems for rooting, start by removing any lower leaves and stripping the angled tips of each stem. Place them all into separate jars filled with water with at least several inches of their stem submerged; store in a warm spot out of direct sunlight for at least a week – at which point small roots should begin appearing on each sprig!