Tips for growing rosemary in your apartment

How to provide a comfortable environment

If the conditions of keeping and caring for the plant do not meet the requirements, it degenerates, or too stretched. Of the several types of rosemary, only the medicinal variety (fragrant) is suitable for growing in an apartment. A winter garden is an ideal place to grow a crop, but at home it can be grown in a container or flower pot.

If you decide to plant a spice in an apartment, choose a bright room for this - light plays a big role in the formation of the crown. Potted rosemary can overgrow and develop into a real tree over time. To grow a compact and healthy plant, it must be replanted every 1-2 years, while removing single roots and shoots. Before replanting the bush, you must completely replace the soil in the pot and add some potash fertilizers.

Rosemary is very picky about moisture. Sometimes it happens that in indoor conditions the plant begins to hurt: a spider mite or white bloom appears on it. The appearance of a tick indicates that the air in the room is too dry. To prevent the emergence of pests, rosemary should be periodically removed to fresh air, and the greens should be sprayed regularly. In case of significant damage, insecticide treatment is carried out.

If white spots appear on the leaves and stems, this means that the moisture in the soil or air is excessively high. In this case, care consists in placing the plant in a warm, sunny place and temporarily reducing watering.

Despite being capricious and difficult to care for, rosemary gets along well with other plants. It can even be planted in one container with parsley, dill, thyme, basil, laurel. Such a composition will become a real fragrant decoration in the house.

What you need to know video

Informational video with helpful tips.

Temperature regime

Rosemary loves warmth and light. For normal growth of an adult plant at home, it is necessary to maintain the temperature in the range of 15-25 ° C, and avoid sudden temperature changes. If the plant is placed on a windowsill, the window should be opened as little as possible, or the pot should be removed while airing, since a sudden change in degree can lead to leaf fall.

Although rosemary is a thermophilic plant, it easily tolerates low temperatures. In autumn, the spice can be grown on the balcony, but the temperature should not be lower than 12 ° C. However, a lower degree will also not harm the plant, but, on the contrary, activates flowering and shoot growth. Paradoxical as it sounds, to make the shrub bloom at home, it must be temporarily placed in a cool room.

Soil and pot

To grow a spicy bush in an apartment, you must, first of all, choose the right pot. Considering the significant branching of the plant roots, the container should be chosen spacious (wide), medium-sized (15-20 cm in diameter), from a porous natural material, since the roots must "breathe". The ideal option in this case would be a clay flower pot. Planting rosemary is carried out in specially prepared soil. The soil for plants should be loose, permeable, with neutral or slightly alkaline acidity. The most suitable is an already processed lime-based crushed stone mixture, which can be purchased at a flower shop.

If a "universal" soil mixture is used for growing spices, then peat and sand must be added to it. You can also prepare the soil for planting rosemary at home. To do this, you need to mix the following components: leafy soil (2 parts), sod soil cleared of roots (2 hours), river sand (1 hour), peat (1 hour), humus (1 hour). Before planting plants, the prepared soil must be well moistened.

Lighting and care

Light is extremely important for rosemary. It belongs to those plants that feel more comfortable in direct sunlight than in partial shade. In winter, it is better to put a pot of spice on the windowsill of a window facing south. In summer, the bush should be taken out to the balcony or veranda, since it loves fresh air no less than light and warmth.

To grow rosemary at home in winter, you need extra lighting at least once a day. Experienced gardeners argue that the intensity of the aroma of rosemary is directly dependent on the light: the more light hits the plant, the more fragrant its aroma. The main care for rosemary is timely and regular watering. Moreover, it is very important to determine the measure, or the line between waterlogging and drying out of the soil. Thanks to a well-developed root system, the plant tolerates short drought well. In turn, excessive soil moisture can lead to leaf fall, root rot, and, as a result, plant death.

In the cold season, watering rosemary is carried out 1 time / 3 days. In the summer, the soil dries faster, and watering should be increased up to 5 times / week. At temperatures above 25 ° C, watering and spraying of foliage is carried out daily. In addition to watering, caring for rosemary includes feeding. During the period of intensive growth, the plant needs to be fed with organic matter or mineral mixtures 1 time / 2 weeks, in winter, fertilizers are applied 1 time / 1-1.5 months.

How to propagate rosemary

Rosemary propagates in two ways: by cuttings and planting seeds. The first method is preferable, since rosemary seeds do not differ in good germination - out of 10 planted seeds, only 1-2 germinate, and it is easier, faster to grow a bush from a cutting, and it is easier to care for the sprouts. Young annual shoots are used as a cutting. The cut twig must be placed in a special disinfecting and root-growth-stimulating solution. After 2-3 weeks, the roots will sprout, and after that they are planted in prepared soil. Further care is carried out as for an adult plant.

Planting from seeds is a more troublesome task, since in this case a preparatory stage, patience and more serious care are required. The preparation of seeds consists in soaking the seed for several days, then they need to be spread on the surface, and moistened with a spray bottle for several more days. Next, punctures are made in the seed film for air flow. Then the prepared seeds are planted in the soil to a depth of 1-2 cm. If the preparation is carried out correctly, seedlings will appear in about 2 weeks.

Plant care video

Demonstration video about rosemary.