Lemongrass Plant Care Winter

A vigorous grass lemongrass is easy to grow with these simple plant care tips.

Lemongrass plant care winter.

Lemongrass is a great plant for an edible garden or a kitchen garden. Care for indoor lemongrass plants is easy and productive. However there are ways to help this herb survive the cold and come back healthy and vigorous in spring. The best time to prune your lemongrass is while it s dormant but not until temperatures start to warm up in the spring.

The care of lemon grass. If you care to grow it indoors or just want to move it indoors during the winter be sure to either place it in a window that gets six hours of sunlight per day or. The stalk is used for cooking and the leaves are used for teas. Pot them and bring them inside to overwinter until the next season wherein they can be replanted outside.

A delicate plant lemongrass is easily propagated via stem cuttings or as mentioned divisions. Lemongrass is a subtropical plant and cant handle freezing temperatures. Lemongrass plants that live for more than one season benefit from an annual haircut to tidy up plants and remove dead foliage. Lemongrass tea can be calming and soothe stomachs.

Milder climates still see a green plant in winter but the leaves will look a bit bedraggled. Shear your plants to about 6 inches high at the end of winter when plants are in their resting phase. In colder climates lemongrass goes dormant in the winter. Lemongrass prefers a location with full sunlight exposure for the best growth.

Quick guide to growing lemongrass. How to grow lemongrass indoors. The leaves will turn brown and you ll think the plant has died off. Space plants 24 inches apart.

Otherwise to protect plants grown directly in the garden lemongrass winter care should include dividing them prior to the onset of cold temps. Plant lemongrass in spring once all chances of frost have passed. In addition to its delicious and delicate flavor lemongrass cymbopogon citratus makes an attractive plant in the garden whether you grow it in the ground or in containers. Harvesting involves cutting it with a sharp knife flush to the surface of the soil.

For the rest of us it s a potted plant that comes indoors for the winter. How to grow and care for lemongrass in containers. Lemongrass likes it hot so grow it in an area with full sun and fertile well drained soil with a ph of 6 5 to 7 0. Ideally they want temperatures constantly above 50 f.

As a tropical plant lemongrass isn t exactly suited to the chilly temperatures of winter in much of north america. It s a perfect plant for growing in ground as you would with ornamental grasses or in containers. It grows well in plant containers and can be used fresh or dried in teas or in culinary dishes it is popular in asian cuisine. Lemongrass plants will rebound quickly and send up new shoots when warm weather returns.

When temperatures fall below 40ºf it begins to suffer.