Another dying Rosemary

[Marb67]

The thing is I didn't overwater. The only reason the pot looks wet is because it was a last ditch attempt to revive it as it was indoors and looked to be dry and dying. I placed it outside in the rain.

[Nicos]

My gut feeling is the same as Snoop’s.
Rosemary likes, literally, just enough water to survive .

Heres an experience of mine….
My last uk allotment was right next to a large peat bog.
I planted a rosemary shrub and my experienced lotty neighbours told me it would never survive. In fact it flourished. I was very proud with the size it reached over a few years. Then we had a year of heavy rains and clearly the water table rose and the plant was dead within a matter of a couple of weeks.
The top layer of soil was very peaty and dried out quickly which it clearly enjoyed. It had set down deeper roots to try and find water and flourished, but once the whole lot got waterlogged it just died, and very quickly too.
Its a plant which will thrive in the correct environment as will most herbs.
Sorry, but I don’t think you pampered to its needs for it to survive, even though you clearly offered it a lot of care, it just wasn’t the care it truly needed.

Maybe try again but directly into your garden soil? I know you have a very limited area so that may not be possible. If not, then don’t waste your money - go for something which you know works for you.

[Snoop Puss]

Marb, I think your expectations of herbs are too high. Just because you can buy small pots of perky-looking herbs in supermarkets and garden centres all year round doesn't mean that these plants don't naturally have a down season. Plus, the one above is in much too small a pot. And too wet for rosemary.

I'm not sure if you've ever tried digging up a rosemary bush in the wild. Even a modest bush will have roots going down at least 50 cm and extending outwards in a radius of 40 cm in all directions. No-one here tries doing it by hand. Where they've taken root in almond and olive groves, only a tractor will do. Small pots like those are essentially coffins for rosemary.

Try pruning it hard, potting what's left in a bigger pot, watering it once when you pot it up and then leaving it unwatered till till after flowering is finished next year. Use soil, not potting compost. I'm not guaranteeing you a result if it really is totally dead, but you don't have much to lose.

Ideally, as JJ said, you wouldn't pot it up, you'd put it in the ground and never water it ever. UK rainfall will be plenty enough.

[Marb67]

Aaaaand yet another new Rosemary bought earlier this year died for absolutely no reason.

[Jungle Jane]

I would find somewhere in the ground for it,front or back garden,some plants root systems are longer than the height of the plant. When it has enough depth it takes care of itself,it’s very low maintenance,mine never needs watering,the tap root is deep into the soil.

[Mark Rand]

Looks like it might be leaf hopper damage. If it is then spray it if you're into chemical warfare. Use yellow sticky traps close to the plant and ruffle the leaves/branches to make the leaf hoppers jump off. Prune off the damaged branches. Cook lots of lamb etc. (might as well be you eating it instead of the pests ).

[Marb67]

Why oh why oh why does this keep happening? Another healthy rosemary going scabby just as the weather turns nice. It's south facing with plenty of sun.

[Marb67]

And yet on another thread I was told to not water Rosemary. Which is it ? Again, 2 more healthy plants bought in Waitrose and potted in good nursery grade compost. Healthy enough for a few weeks and again, brown tips on leaves (I was told due to too much water) so left pots to go dry and now yellowing of leaves with wispy, brittle pathetic shape. This photo doesn't show it bad enough as it looks with the eye. You can see the before an after when the leaves started turning brown, but still quite bushy. I give up.

[Snoop Puss]

Rosemary can become a veritable bush. In the wild, it will put out huge roots in the search for water. If you keep it in a small pot, it won't be happy. If you keep it in a small pot and barely water it, it will be doubly unhappy. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Marb. Given the conditions you have to grow in, it may be that you will just have to accept that some plants will eventually need replacing.

Rosemary won't tolerate having constantly wet roots, but they don't mind extremely wet conditions from time to time. And in my experience, they are extremely cold tolerant (surviving well into the minuses). Agree with Ameno that if you have room for a bigger pot, pot on and cover the pot in some way in the wet season so that most of the rain drains off the sides rather than into the pot. Otherwise, keep in a small pot and replace the plant when you think necessary.

[Marb67]

I have tried potting on in the past with the same result - dead. No space to plant them out

[Plot70]

I am growing them as a skinny hedge where a low fence is rotting away to save the bother of replacing said fence.
The neighbours like the scent and have let it bush out.

[Grafitti]

Mine are out at the allotment in heavy clay, no protection and they seem to be happy. I started them all from cuttings, kept them in moist compost for the first year and then into the ground, of course not all survived but probably a 60-70% rooting rate. Easy to grow a few spares to insure against any existing plants dying. I've also found that mine like to be pruned regularly like a hedge, if not they start going leggy and losing leaves except at the growing tips

[greenishfing]

I sympathise Marb as I have killed a couple in the past, but as the owner now of a couple of massive specimens growing outdoors in heavy clay soil I agree with everyone else, plant them out with plenty of room for the roots to spread and treat 'em rough.

[Jungle Jane]

They need potting on from their nursery pots to have a bit more space for their roots to continue growing. I’d try cutting off the dry dead bits & potting on now as there’s still some green,hopefully it will survive & feel comfortable.

[Marb67]

But I have only taken it indoors since it was shedding so it already went downhill in the cold greenhouse.