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wally_1936

Lemon Grass

wally_1936
11 years ago

I wish to thank all for suggesting planting lemon grass. I now have 2 beautiful plants which I expect to turn into more plants by next year. So far I have not used them in cooking as the amount of growth I want should reach a point where I can not only enjoy them in cooking but keep them for a continued supply. It is my first try but they seem to be quite easy to start and for those in colder area they seem to be ready for use within 100 days so most areas should be able to grow them during the summer months. I know the stalks hold up in the ref. for quite a good period of time when trimmed for use in cooking.

Comments (6)

  • joannepr1
    11 years ago

    Have u also tried other lemon fragrance plants-
    lemon balm
    lemon verbena
    lemon basil
    lemon thyme

  • eahamel
    11 years ago

    Wally, I had lemon grass that I started from plants bought at an Asian market. It made a nice large clump that lived 2-3 years until we had that ugly freeze year before last. I grow lemon basil and make tea from it.

  • wally_1936
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    joanneper1 I have tried lemon balm but it died the same year.

    eahamel, sounds like you should have harvested your lemon grass before the freeze and stored your cuttings in your ref. until after the freeze. I found they are very easy to start and they hold up well in the produce section in the stores. The ones I bought were turning brown so if you buy more then next time you expect a freeze you can harvest them and trim them to fit into your ref. until the freeze is gone.

  • fatamorgana2121
    11 years ago

    Lemon balm died, wow. I have found that it does do poorly if in a location that is too hot and too dry. Here it can still survive that but in Texas you may want to locate it some where it doesn't get the hottest heat and sun of the day. Partial sun location.

    FataMorgana

  • eahamel
    11 years ago

    Wally, I had a lot of plants to move when that freeze hit. Never even thought about the lemon grass, I'm afraid! I have some more started though and hope we don't have another horrible freeze this winter.

  • wally_1936
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    eahamel if we have a cold snap I will harvest my lemon grass and store the trimmed stems in my ref. until our cold season warms up some. I bought my starts from our local Festa store and they did not look good at all, mostly brown. But just sticking them into the soil with no effort or care they took off and every shoot became a nice plant some better than others, one was in complety in the shade, one in a very dry area where not much of anything would grow and 2 in my herb garden. Of course those in my herb garden took of but everyone no matter where I placed them did survive. I do not even have good fortune with thyme it seems to do great until it dies quickly. Basil does well, I am in the process of saving some Thai and sweet basil for seed next year. I find fresh saved seeds do so much better than store bought seeds. I find I need to keep getting rosemary starts in case it decides it wants to die suddenly. I almost killed my Greek oregano, too much shade, this from a plant that grew from a 3 inch box store pot to over 3 feet by 3 feet in a couple years. So now I know that it can only tolerate so much shade.