Anyone growing Cymbopogon lemon grass as an indoor plant? If so, how is it doing?

I'm also wondering how many have tried this outdoors as an ornamental in warmer zones (or even as a tender perennial in colder zones)?

It is a frost tender perennial that can withstand temperatures of 10° to 20° with very heavy mulching, and it can be grown in the ground or in containers. In fact, it makes for a very good container plant. Plant it in full sun with excellent drainage. It can be cut back during early winter, but be sure to mulch heavily. It is thought to be native to India/Tropical Asia. It is a clumping fountain grass which grows to 3’ to 5’. They say flowering is rare, but I know that all of mine flower every year. It likes moist, well-drained soil and prefers full sun, but it can take some dapple sunlight. The blades are sharp so be careful, and always rub upward and not downward.

I grow lemongrass here in south Texas as a year-round clump of "grass". Lots of people grow pampas grass and other ornamental grasses for landscaping, but I like lemongrass the best because it looks good, and it is a culinary herb. Mine grow to about 5' and put out flowers every year. I have a large yard, and I have two planted up against the fence. I also have several growing in pots in my greenhouse. They make nice presents for my "herbie friends"!

If you are going to grow it indoors, just make sure it gets direct, full sun and make sure it is in a well drained potting medium.

thanks and regards, dick

seems like lemon grass should be limited to outdoor containers and, like suggested, brought in to overwinter possibly. I had pictured it growing in a pot in the kitchen with window light, but I guess thats not too realistic...lol

unfortunately it gets just cold enough where i am to cut its winter survival odds to slim.

Why not give it a try, i.e. plant one in the ground in a well protected area if you have one? I have friends that live in zone 8a that grow it outside. They just mulch it very heavily. Sometimes it makes it, sometimes not. But unless there is an extended cold period, it should come back from the roots.

daisy,

My lemon grass has been doing great planted directly in the ground, even with our extended drought here in south Texas. I occasionally water mine, and there is lots of humidity down here, but they don't get any extra water.

I wonder why they do so good down here.

I'm not going to give up on growing in the kitchen either.

Many herbs will grow in a pot if they have always been in a pot but some just don't like being potted after growing in the ground.

My lemon grass has not bloomed yet. But you can get lemon grass seeds from Richters.

narcnh

I'd put it in a big pot - if grown in a container.

In Asian Vgetables/vietnames vegetables there has been some discusion on this, as avietnames vegetable.

I have learned a few thing there,and how to grow it.
I would think that you have to be in zone 7 or higher to grow it outside.(Maybe z6 too ?)

Anyway, many lemon grass planting starts from root division or cutting rooted in water and then planted.
Best and easiest option is to go an Asian market and buy lemon grass sold for cooking. They usually come as wrapped in clear wrap to prevent from drying, and maybe to prevent losing aroma, or both.
When you are buying them, look for the bunch that part of the root is intact. In other words, if it is cut above the root bulb the chances are that it will not root. I found out by experience. The first buch that I bough had been cut about the root knokle. I kept it in water for weeks but did not root. The other day I went to a diiferent Asisan market, I saw ALMOST the same thing but (1) they had rot bulb(joint/knokle) (2) Some of them already had started to root inside the wrap. I was so exited and grabed a bunch with the most roots an biger bulbs.
Afew days ago I planted one of them in a container outside, while 3 others left in the water for the their roots get longer ang bigger. I will find out if planting direct in the pot works or not.

So you heard it from a novice lemon grass enthusiast.

Cyrus

thanks,

I thing that one seed will produce one stem.
As the outer leaves gro bigger more inner leaves will emerge. Theoretically, this can go on for ever. That is how a palm/date tree grows too. Eventually it should look like some ornamental grass such as pom pon.
Also, when the plant gets bigger, it will grow many new side shoots (root division) attached to the mother plant.
One of my rootings alreay is growing a baby next to the mama(hehe).

Starting from rootings is much faster. My rootings are already growing leaves that are about half of an inch wide.

Pictures of lemon balm

Round leaves? Sounds like lemon balm not grass.

FataMorgana

That is ( was?) huge.
couln't you just give it a solder's haircut?
How many year did it take to grow that big?

I am tempted to get some, but the local plant shop is charging over $6 for a small pot, and I am in zone 6...

Is it worth it?

I get very little sun, and it would be displacing other possibilities.

:o/

About the size:

AS we have learned on this thread, it can grow very fast, very big. Obviously young plants are small, especially if grown from seed.

Zone 6 ?
Kepp it at the sunniest spot you have.
You can bring it in and winter it, either in your kitchen, if you have sunligh and room for it. Or, keep it in your basement or garage semi-dormant. Cut it all the way down before winterizing. Chop the good stems, leaves and freez them for winter use. Then take a spoonful at a time to flavor your cooking. I got the idea from Asian Market, wher they sell frozen chopped LG. I bough a iar. Bcause my LG plant is not ready yet (Grin)

About Price:
$6.00 is not a lot for an exotic herb like LG. Ordinary herbs are sold for about the same price. Upon arival, triple the size of your pot and get ready for the show!

Lemongrass is most often used in Asian cooking. If you don't do a lot of Asian cooking, then you can do without it, and use something like lemon balm instead.

If you buy some fresh lemongrass from your supermarket, you can use that to propagate from. Not guaranteed if the roots have been chopped off, of course, but even then it's worth a try.

Remember - it's a tropical plant, and won't do so well in a cooler climate. It fairly laps up the sun and the heat.

As far as $6 for a potted plant...Not a bad price. Remember it will have to winter inside. Might be a good patio plant.

FataMorgana

Now to see if there's any left for sale....

:o)

Maybe I could wave sheaths of it at mosquitoes....

:o)

I over-winter it in my garage.Its cool but doesn't freeze.
I water it occasionally but not too much.
I learned that you can buy a stalk of it from your Asian grocer and plant it.It's only about a dollar for a stalk.

I was surprised to see that, among those left, the stems were already about twice as thick, and all but one middle shoot are now leaning sideways, desperate to get out of their tiny three inch pot. Do these ever lay over to spread?

00

Anyway, in choosing a pot, it would help to know how deep the roots usually go. Also, what is the best type of soil to use? I usually mix my own from my own clay, plus purchased humus and sand.

Thanks for all the good info.

LG is amazingly aromatic. even the dead part left out there in the garden
still have some of that sweet nice aroma. It is excellent in cooking, making tea or addin to any tea and in pickling.
I am thinking about flavoring my wine with it too.

Yes, the ones sold here are woody too. So you use it to flavor not to eat.
Only the core of the sprigs are soft. But as far as the flavor goes every part of it is good.
Yes, you can trim, they will grow back, just like grass.

One of our Chinese restaurants has a shrimp dish that is so good! They use sticks of lemon grass in it and it's tender and I eat it along with everything else in the dish. I like to peel the shrimp and take a bite of the grass along with the shrimp. It's so good that way. It's definitely lemon grass cut in shoestring sticks and it's very tender, with some strings in it, but they are not tough. Please tell me, if you know, what part of the lemon grass is that? Is it tender new stalks? Thanks so much, noss

My lemongrass survived the winter, but it got smaller, sadder looking and browned a little. I gave it a hair cut (used the cutting for tea) and it seems to be recovering now, even though we had a very cold spring (cold for us that is). When it is at its largest it is not too big, probably because it does not get all the water it would like in this desert climate of ours. I do water it (I have to water everything but the cacti!) but not a whole lot.

My favorite use is in tea (yerba de limon) but I also use it in Thai cooking. I sautee the cut stalks in coconut cream, add kaffir lime leaves, sugar, salt, lots of garlic and hot peppers, and add different vegetables, broth, more coconut milk. I leave the stalks large so they can be picked out of the food. I think though, that you can make a green curry paste consisting mostly of ground up young lemon grass stalks (and other ingredients), but I have not done that yet.

I also have lemon balm, lemon verbena, lemon thyme, and two kinds of lemon trees (Meyers and Eureka). They are all lemony, but they are also all very different one from another. I love them all.

I got some lemongrass from our Asian grocery nearby about six days ago and stuck several of the stalks into a little bucket out front under the fig tree and when I changed the water this evening, I saw it had already started putting out roots on almost all the stalks! I haven't dared putting it where the sun can get to it because it would boil the water, being so blasted hot and dry here lately.

Starting the lemongrass from some bought at the Asian grocery is one good way to make sure you get the kind that is edible.

I bought a lemongrass plant at a local nursery, but it doesn't seem to be the right kind. Looks pretty growing in the terra cotta colored pot, though.

I'll be able to try different dishes with it now.

Vivian

You're somewhat warmer than I am in Alexandria, LA but I just wanted to share. Some of our herb society members successfully overwintered their LG by cutting it down to a few inches and putting several inches of mulch on top, as I see is discussed above. Even tho' we had 15 degrees F for 3 nights in a row last winter their LG survived. I wasn't as smart & lost mine.