How to Propagate a Lavender Plant
Lavender is a very versatile, underappreciated plant. Its flowers add beauty to your garden and smell wonderful in your home. Dried lavender makes wonderful wreaths, and lavender is a delicious ingredient in foods from shortbread to chocolate. Lavender is also a wonderful ingredient in bath oils and home scents. You can propagate some types of lavender from seeds, but other types, such as the Lavandins and Spike lavenders, must be propagated from plants. Propagating from plants is also the best way to make sure your lavender plant will have the appearance you're looking for. Properly propagating lavender is a great way to get you on the right track for enjoying lavender in your own garden. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Small pots with drain holes in the bottom
- Water
- Peat moss
- Vermiculite or sand
- Root stimulator
- Small stick
- Slow-release fertilizer
- Sharp knife
Instructions
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1
Mix 3 parts peat moss and 1 part sand or vermiculite to create a well-draining soil. Dampen.
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2
Fill the pot with the soil mixture.
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3
Poke a hole with the stick in the middle of the soil, about 1 to 1 ½ inches deep.
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4
Find a small, soft, nonwoody shoot from the bottom half of a healthy, mature plant. Pull the shoot down and away from the stem until it comes off. The cutting should be about 3 to 5 inches long; you can trim it with a sharp knife if it is too long.
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5
Remove the bottom two leaves from the cutting, and dip the bottom of the cutting in the root stimulator.
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6
Insert the bottom of the cutting into the hole in the soil, and gently close the hole around the cutting.
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Water thoroughly, and keep the soil damp for about the first 2 weeks.
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After the first 2 weeks, water only when the soil starts to get dry, but before the plant becomes water-stressed.
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Dig a hole about 6 weeks after you plant the lavender in the pot. The hole should be about 1 foot wide and 8 inches deep.
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10
Fill the hole with a mixture of sand, peat moss and native soil, high enough so that you can set the plant on top and it will be at the proper level with the ground.
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11
Put a small amount of slow-release fertilizer in the hole.
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12
Remove the plant from the pot, apply a little root stimulator to the roots, put the plant on top of the soil in the hole, and fill the rest of the way with soil.
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1
Tips & Warnings
The best time to take clippings from a lavender plant is in the springtime, before it blooms.
Expect beautiful, fragrant blooms from your new plant the year after propagation.
Don't use commercial compost or potting soil that could contain wood chips, because this can put your lavender at risk for fungal infection.
Be careful not to overwater your plant after the first 2 weeks in the pot---this can kill the plant.
