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socks12345

I'm growing sorrel!

socks
15 years ago

I spotted a sorrel plant at a nursery and decided to try it this summer. I'd never even heard of it, to be honest. Planted it in good, well-mulched soil, but something was just eating it up. Probably slugs, but I just could not seem to get the problem under control, so I transferred the plant to a pot. It's doing well, and I like the lemony taste of the leaves, but I don't have many ways to use it.

Anyway, will it outgrow the pot (about an 8" pot), and is this a perennial?

Comments (14)

  • ksrogers
    15 years ago

    If slugs get to it, sprinkle some diatomatious earth around it. Slugs hate that stuff. Maybe a web search for the words 'sorrel recipes'??

  • flora_uk
    15 years ago

    Here's a link to a recent article on sorrel. In my garden there are hundreds of slugs and snails but they don'e go for the sorrel. Maybe your culprit was something else. It will self seed if you allow it to flower.

    Here is a link that might be useful: sorrel recipes

  • socks
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    It could have been something other than slugs, because when I moved it to the pot, the damage continued for a couple weeks. But, somehow, now the new growth is unaffected by whatever it was. Thanks for the link, Flora.

  • fatamorgana2121
    15 years ago

    Some things for me are garden munchies - I munch them while out in the garden working. Sorrel is one of them.

    I included a Plants for a Future link to sorrel that might have some interesting bits for you.

    FataMorgana

    Here is a link that might be useful: PFAF - Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)

  • countrykitty
    15 years ago

    LOL, was the plant where deer could get to it? I have deer crossing my yard regularly here and they LOVE it! Had to move it into the fenced in portion of the yard where my dogs are to prevent the deer from eating it all (The dogs have a lot of trees to 'mark' so the herbs are safe.)

    It is a perennial by the way--I started out with one small plant in '06. It came back in '07--with 4 'crowns', which I divided into 4 plants. This year it came back again and I separated it into several more, so I now have about 10, looking a little like green hostas.

  • susaneden
    15 years ago

    I have wood sorrel growing all over the place in my yard/garden/flower beds. I do love snacking on it, and use it in soups and salads where I want a lemony flavor, and did season chicken with it a few times, but mostly it is just a munch outside thing for me.

    Because it is actually considered a "weed" here, I have never done anything to protect it and the pests leave it alone (probably because hey are sick of the aste lol).

  • flora_uk
    15 years ago

    Just to be clear for the OP, wood sorrel and culinary sorrel are not related. The common name is shared because they have a simiar astringent taste. Wood sorrel is an Oxalis while the culinary sorrels are Rumex.

  • User
    15 years ago

    In Classic French Cooking, Sorrel is used for sauce for fish, but I use it in salads, on Pizza, basically as a salad green. If you use it for a sauce, blanch it first to set the color, or it will have an olive drab color and not be bright green for as long.

  • MariposaTraicionera
    15 years ago

    I was curious about this topic, so looked up for "Sorrel" as it's called in the Caribbean. While travelling there a few years ago, we had a drink from "sorrel" and it was lovely. Is this the same plant you are growing?

    Here is a link that might be useful: Sorrel

  • fatamorgana2121
    15 years ago

    No, not related at all. Jamaican Sorrel is the Hibiscus sabdariffa plant. The fleshy calyces of the H. sabdariffa flowers are a common ingredient in herbal teas. They add flavor, color, and if I recall correctly vitamin C. It does make a very tasty tea!

    FataMorgana

  • anoid1
    15 years ago

    I too planted sorrel for the first time this year, hoping to enjoy it in salads, and something is attacking it. The leaves look as if they were shot with #7 pellets. The same is now happening to the rhubarb nearby. At first I thought it was slugs also, and sprinkled dried blood around the plant and wood ashes on the leaves. It didn't help. Now I think it may be ants and I really don't want to resort to rotenone on something I'll eat. Any ideas.

  • ksrogers
    15 years ago

    Leaf minors.. Spray with neem oil. The bugs eat the leaves with the neem spray and soon starve. Ants do not chew on leaves. My horseradish also has little holes on the lower leaves, so I spray those leaves too. It usually stops the damages any further within a few days.

  • anoid1
    15 years ago

    I don't think it's leaf miner. There are no eggs on the underside of the leaves, nor are there the little green hatched larva that do the damage. Also there isn't the typical gray blotch around the hole. I also thought it could be flea beetles, but the wood ash should have discouraged them and didn't. The holes are about 1/16 inch in diameter, clean, and cover the entire leaf, just like pellet shot.

  • ksrogers
    15 years ago

    There are many types of leaf miners, Some produce the shot holes, and some produce small trails of surface damages on leaves, a Bt spray on the foliage can help for the worms/caterpillers, and a Pyrethrin oil spray for the flies that land there and lay eggs. Additionally, Japanese beetles are quite destructive to, and care not what they chew on. As a second measure, the 'infamous' Neem oil is also great for control.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Photo of a leafminer FLY

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