Rosemary, with the twig trick you can multiply it infinitely at no cost
There is a trick to multiply rosemary and always have it on hand indefinitely, year after year.
During our lunches and dinners it has occurred to us more than once to season our dishes with aromatic herbs that make them tastier and even more fragrant.
We have many options available, from parsley to thyme, bay leaf , sage and many others , but specifically one of the most common, especially combined with chicken and potatoes, is rosemary.
Rosemary: characteristics
Sage rosmarinus Schield , this is its scientific name, grows spontaneously in the Mediterranean air throughout the Tyrrhenian and Ionian areas and is widespread throughout the peninsula, especially from the Adriatic coast to Molise and in the parts They border Garda.
The plant itself is evergreen and can reach a height of about 50 to 300 cm with long, persistent leaves of 2 to 3 cm that give off a particular and characteristic smell.
Its maintenance requires that this plant be exposed in sunny areas and not in cold areas since it does not resist rain and harsh winter climates and if it is kept on the balcony of the house it should be grown with soil mixed with sand.
Rosemary multiplication, how does it happen?
Its multiplication can be done through cuttings, that is, a piece of plant that is cut from the mother plant and regenerated in the soil, making it cultivate and grow to give life to a new plant specimen.
And it is thanks to this method that we can get more rosemary plants by multiplying them infinitely without having to buy a new plant from the retailer.
Plants born from cuttings mature faster than the mother plant born from a seed, since rosemary plants have quite long germination times.
Otherwise, a rosemary plant obtained through cuttings will grow to a useful size for use after a few months from the time the cutting was potted.
This is very important since the clone plant will be identical to the mother and will have the same flavor and characteristics as the one born from the seed, with the same strength of resistance and smell.
The technique of cutting cuttings.
Furthermore, removing a piece of the plant from the main one does not harm it in any way, since removing a small piece does not create any problems for the rosemary plant and we could fill our balcony or windowsill with as many cloned plants as we want.
To do it in the most optimal way, it is always better to cut the young, green and fresh stems that are usually found at the base of the plant, avoiding the browner and woodier ones that can be insidious both when cutting and for growth.
To remove these twigs, use very sharp scissors and the chosen stem must be at least 10 cm long. It is always better to cut more than one if the chosen one is not very green or does not take root.
Once the twig has been removed, remove the rosemary needles from the bottom and then place it in hot water in a warm location, possibly without direct sunlight.
The water carries oxygen and must be changed every two days and tends not to deteriorate the cuttings that will give life to the new rosemary plants. After about 4-8 weeks, if our cuttings have survived, we will see roots on each stem.
In this case, you must transplant them to a larger pot with sandy soil and, making a hole in the ground, insert the cutting, exposing it to direct light for at least 6-8 hours a day.
Once it has grown and reached the size of about 15 centimeters, the plant can be used and eventually new cuttings can be cut to generate others, however without harvesting 1/3 of the plant, since it grows slowly.
If, on the other hand, our cuttings are brown and the needles are easily removed, it means that the cutting has not survived and we will need to take another one to multiply our rosemary plant.