Lemongrass is a popular plant to grow for its culinary possibilities. A common ingredient in Southeast Asian cuisine, it’s very easy to grow at home. And what’s more, you don’t even have to grow it from seed or buy plants at a nursery. Lemongrass propagates with a very high success rate from the cuttings you can buy at the grocery store. Keep reading to learn more about propagating a lemongrass plant and regrowing lemongrass plants in water.
Lemongrass Propagation in Water
Propagating a lemongrass plant is as easy as placing the stalks in a glass of water and hoping for the best. Lemongrass can be found in most Asian grocery stores as well as some larger supermarkets.
When buying lemongrass for propagation, pick stalks that have as much of the bottom bulb still intact. There’s a chance there may be some roots still attached – and this is even better.
Rooting Lemongrass in Water
To encourage your lemongrass stalks to grow new roots, place them bulb down in a jar with an inch (2.5 cm.) of water in the bottom.
Rooting lemongrass in water may take as long as three weeks. Over the course of that time, the tops of the stalks should start to grow new leaves, and the bottoms of the bulbs should start to sprout new roots.
To prevent the growth of fungus, change the water in the jar every day or two. After two or three weeks, your lemongrass roots should be an inch or two (2.5 to 5 cm.) long. Now you can transplant them to your garden or a container of rich, loamy soil.
Lemongrass prefers full sun. It can’t tolerate frost, so if you experience cold winters, you’ll either have to grow it in a container or treat it as an outdoor annual.
Lemongrass is a popular plant to grow for its culinary possibilities. A common ingredient in Southeast Asian cuisine, it’s very easy to grow at home. And what’s more, you don’t even have to grow it from seed or buy plants at a nursery. Lemongrass propagates with a very high success rate from the cuttings you can buy at the grocery store. Keep reading to learn more about propagating a lemongrass plant and regrowing lemongrass plants in water.
Lemongrass Propagation in Water
Propagating a lemongrass plant is as easy as placing the stalks in a glass of water and hoping for the best. Lemongrass can be found in most Asian grocery stores as well as some larger supermarkets.
When buying lemongrass for propagation, pick stalks that have as much of the bottom bulb still intact. There’s a chance there may be some roots still attached – and this is even better.
Rooting Lemongrass in Water
To encourage your lemongrass stalks to grow new roots, place them bulb down in a jar with an inch (2.5 cm.) of water in the bottom.
Rooting lemongrass in water may take as long as three weeks. Over the course of that time, the tops of the stalks should start to grow new leaves, and the bottoms of the bulbs should start to sprout new roots.
To prevent the growth of fungus, change the water in the jar every day or two. After two or three weeks, your lemongrass roots should be an inch or two (2.5 to 5 cm.) long. Now you can transplant them to your garden or a container of rich, loamy soil.
Lemongrass prefers full sun. It can’t tolerate frost, so if you experience cold winters, you’ll either have to grow it in a container or treat it as an outdoor annual.