If your garden neighbor admires the olive herb and asks you for a plant, you can easily fulfill his request. Because anyone who knows how effortlessly the Mediterranean plant can be propagated will not shy away from the promise. We will tell you possible methods. Choose which one you like!
How can olive herb be propagated successfully?
The olive herb can be propagated using four promising propagation methods: cuttings, division, seeds and planters. Depending on the method, you will need young shoots, mother plants capable of division, collected or purchased seeds or flexible shoots for lowering.
Four successful propagation methods
At the end of many paths there is a young olive herb waiting. Because its reproduction is possible through:
- Cuttings
- Division
- Seeds
- Lowers
Propagation by cuttings
In spring, olive herb can be propagated by slightly woody, not yet flowering cuttings:
- Cut 15 to 20 cm long shoots from the mother plant
- remove the leaves from the lower half of each case
- Get cultivation pots with drainage holes (€10.00 on Amazon)
- fill with nutrient-poor soil, add some sand
- Put 3-4 shoots in each growing pot
- warm and bright
- After approx. 14 days, transplant rooted young plants into their own pots
A young olive herb has to hibernate warmly in the house until next spring. Meanwhile, its substrate is kept slightly moist at all times, but not fertilized. You can plant the olive herb in the bed on a frost-free day in spring.
Division of the robust shrub
If the olive herb has received a sunny location and modest care as desired, it will continue to grow in size. This gives us the easiest way to reproduce: division.
- Dig up the mother plant in spring
- divide with a spade
- At least one shoot must remain on each part
- remove damaged roots
- Sprinkle wood ash on wound areas
- plant and water in a new location
Tip
When planting, keep at least 30 cm away from new plants. After rooting, the plant will quickly grow in width again. A compost donation at the start of your new existence has proven itself.
Sowing purchased or collected seeds
Santolina viridis, as its botanical name is, forms seeds after flowering. After drying, store them until February, when sowing starts. Trade also offers seeds of this herb.
- Put seeds in a bag filled with sand
- stratify at 5 to 7 °C for approx. 4 weeks
- either in the fridge or outside
- then sow in potting soil
- do not cover with soil, just press lightly
- Prick out young seedlings
- plant out as soon as the plants are strong enough
Lowering as a fourth alternative
Saintwort, also a common name for olive herb, can be propagated as follows if flexible shoots are present.
- Score the shoot with a knife
- then bend flat to the ground
- cover with soil, the tip should stick out
- Fix the shoot with stones if necessary
- wait until rooting is done
- Separate the young plant from the mother plant and transplant it
