Problems With Indoor Rosemary

Problems With Indoor Rosemary

If you brought the rosemary plant you grew over the summer into the house for the winter, you might be seeing a few problems at the end of the winter. Here are some of the issues to look for, and what to do about them.

Most rosemary puts on new growth during the winter, but the stems are usually thin and leggy as the plant reaches for more light. Make it a habit to clip these off to use in cooking during the winter. The plant will produce additional sturdy growth in the summer, but in the meantime you’ll get to use these fragrant, fresh leaves in your meals.

Rosemary dries really quickly when it’s growing in a pot indoors. Although this plant is very drought tolerant when grown outside, where the roots can go deep into the soil, in the house you’ll need to water the plant regularly. Check the soil surface every three or four days if the plant is growing in a southern-facing window and water it deeply when it’s dry.

Rosemary is prone to powdery mildew indoors, especially if the room is cool. Watch for signs of mildew forming, and spray with Green Cure or Revitalize (both organic fungicides) right away. It’s easiest to stop PM if you spray early in the infestation.

This plant was grown as a standard – it’s a creeping rosemary variety on a single stem. Clip any rambling stems and use the leaves for cooking.
This shows the weak, tall growth that this plant often produces in the winter. This photo also shows a plant that is thirsty! Those weak stems are bending over because the plant is dry.
Normal, healthy rosemary foliage is green inside…if you start to see light gray patches or a powdery coating on the leaves, that’s powdery mildew.
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