What is wrong with my Rosemary and Sage ?

[Marb67]

Here I go again with failure after failure and money wasted. I bought a very healthy Rosemary from Aldi last year and potted it on in the required mix of compost. It has been a mild winter and to be fair, it was showing these signs late summer.

The Sage my mum gave me a few years ago (purple and normal) in the same pot with soil from her garden in the pot as she has very good soil. That too was very healthy. Have taken it in greenhouse in winters except the last one which was mild. Again, showing these signs before winter so that isn't the issue.

For the life of me I absolutely have no idea why things happen like this to most plants I grow or buy with few exceptions :-(

[Alison]

My herbs look ropey in winter too, even a mild winter isn't what they're be expecting. It's normal from Autumn through. They're in pots so will need feeding or even repotting come spring for them to take off again, the fact that your mum has good soil is irrelevant after a few weeks as the plant will have used the nutrients. Also worth noting that both types can get quite woody over the years anyway so it's not a bad idea to take cuttings.

[elleme]

I'd agree with the above but with the rosemary also check for any signs of rosemary beetle, just in case. They will also go on other herbs such as sage but rosemary and lavender seem to be their favourites. If you don't see the iridescent beetles there might be grey larvae near the damaged foliage.

In the case of the sage it's not a long lived plant anyway and tends to normally get quite leggy over time so definitely take some cuttings later in spring once it's come back into growth.

[mothhawk]

I don't see anything wrong with your rosemary, except maybe over use. You mustn't cut off and eat every single shoot it produces, or how will it grow? Come spring it will start into growth again. Let it get BIG before cutting any. Likewise with the sage. If you take every good leaf it has no way of feeding itself.

Keep them moist, and feed and water both when they start to grow.

And remove the weeds and moss from the pot.

[lottie dolly]

Have not got rosemary now,only sage in the open ground,they grow more into a woody shrub,dead in the middle and spindly outside,did not know about taking cuttings,but aprox every 3 or 4 years,needs replacing with a younger plant,but that is only my opinion.

PS all my herbs go to ground,or look really scruffy,from what i can see of yours,they are normal,would be of any help to you,if some of us posted some pics of ours,like ease you mind.

[Marb67]

I will take cuttings from them now a I have just got this rooting powder from Aldi. The Rosemaryto be fair hasn't been used at all. I just snipped off the very tips today that looked bad. Just gor some blood fish and bone so will fed with that too.

[cptncrackoff]

Hi,

You would be better off taking the cuttings in a few weeks when spring arrives, and the Rosemary bush throws new shoots, new growth would be the best bet for cuttings.

I took a couple from a neighbour up the allotment last summer, just popped them into a glass of water for a week or so to develop a root then potted up, both look really good.

I've always struggled to get sage through winter, it just doesn't seem to happen for me!

[Marb67]

Thanks, I will try in a week or two.

[lolie]

Are you over-watering/over-feeding them?

The woody herbs seem to thrive in conditions we tend to think of as "poor" and I've lost a few to over-watering and being unable to resist the temptation to fertilise.

When they're looking all spindly is a good time to prune away the old dead wood which you won't be able to find easily once they take off again. It seems counter-intuitive to prune them back hard when they're looking fragile but it encourages fresh growth as well as keeping them a manageable size.

I find that with bushy herbs like rosemary and sage I have to pot up quite often - so definitely take cuttings if you want to keep plants in fairly small pots.

[bramble]

I have a large tub of Rosemary on the step in my back garden. I never do much with it but I have it growing in gravelly compost to give it good drainage as it is a Mediterranian plant. It is flowering right now.

[donnakebab]

They do both get leggy after a few years. I think the trick is to trim them back now and again to new growth, like Lavender. It makes them bush up, sending out new shoots.

I had good results growing sage from seed last year. Gave some away to family and mine are looking a bit bedraggled now, but they have been left out all winter. Hoping they will pick up in a month or two.

[planetologist]

I would join the later posters in contradicting the earlier posters. Rosemary and sage are long-lived bushes in nature. Yes, they will produce dead wood in the centre, this is their way of shading out the competition. If you want to keep them small, a yearly prune is sufficient. I don't know about feeding: mine are in open soil and grow faster than I can eat them, so they don't get fed.