Myths and truths in caring for Rosemary plants

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I have killed a rosemary plant every year for the past 10 years and this is the longest time that I have not done so (8 months). Hopefully mine would continue to thrive even with the recent onset of heavy rains. 

Some myths that I have learned to be untrue:

1. Water them once a week only - I’ve been watering this rosemary everyday and they seem to be very happy. When my previous rosemaries are watered once a week, the leaves get really thin and sickly looking. It’s when they’re too dry that I’ve noticed that they get sick from infestations. 

2. Get them full sun - Mine gets only full sun early in the morning from 6-8am, then partial sun for the next 4 hours, and in complete shade the rest of the day. 

3. They prefer cooler weather - No, they don’t. They’re perfectly happy in tropical weather as long as you don’t leave them out in the rain. 

4. They don’t like the wind - They’re pretty hardy against strong winds and they’re planted in my balcony so they get a lot of beating from the wind all the time. 

Now the truths:

1. They don’t like being drenched with water - don’t drown them with water, but just enough to make the soil wet. Don’t leave them out during heavy rains, mine gets protected from rains. Make sure that the water gets drained fast too. 

2. Give them the right soil mix - I think this is the real secret for them to thrive. I found a great video that combines pebbles, coco husks, garden soil, perlite and compost. This allows the water to drain fast. As soon as you take them out from the plastic pots where you bought them, change the soil mix to the desired ratio as describe on the video below. 

3. Fertilize them - I use organic fertilizer made of kitchen scrap compost. I’ve already trimmed them twice, once to give cuttings to neighbors and another time to flavor my dish, and I make sure that they get some nutrients after trimming so that the leaves grow faster. 

Let’s see if these rosemaries will thrive some more in the next few months. Keeping my fingers crossed that these ones are for keeps. 

Here’s the video link for the soil mix:

https://youtu.be/DzC9co1Q1qk

***Reposted from a Facebook group post

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