 Hi, Evan from the Nerdy Garden here. Today we'll be creating new rosemary plants cheaply by growing cuttings taken from the parent plant. The resulting plants we close off and share the same characteristics as the parent plant. The best time to take and grow cuttings from rosemary and most other plants is during spring or early summer when the plants actively growing in the weather is warm. There's a few things to consider when selecting which branches to take cuttings from. To achieve a good stroke rate, you want to take healthy young branches from plants that aren't currently flowering or producing seeds. Cuttings taken from plants that are flowering will have less energy to devote the root formation. If you'd have no other option and can't find any material without flowers, you can simply pinch off the flowers before you make the cutting. But your cuttings may not have as good a strike rate as you would get if you used material from plants that weren't in flower. Cuttings taken from older and more woody branches will take longer to root than cuttings taken from younger growth. They're more likely to dry out and die before they have a chance to form roots. So avoid taking cuttings from old woody growth. You also want to avoid taking any branches that are damaged, show signs of disease or pest infestation, or that have yellowing leaves, as all of these will reduce your chances of growing healthy new plants successfully. Avoid taking cuttings from plants that are wilting as well. If you can water the plant you're going to take cuttings from a few hours before taking your cuttings so that they aren't water stressed. All my rosemary plants are currently in flower, so I'll take a few of these healthy, newer green branches that don't have any flowers on them. If you're not planting out the cuttings straight away, it's a good idea to moisten the leaves and wrap them in plastic to keep them humid and alive until you can get home to plant them. For rosemary we're aiming to create cuttings about 3 inches or 7.5 cm long. Once you have one, you can use it to gauge the size of the rest. With your cuttings you want to cut the top at a 45 degree angle. This will help you keep track of which ends the top. If they're planted upside down, the roots won't grow correctly. It also has the added advantage of letting water run off the top of the cutting instead of pooling. If the water pools on top it may cause a rock. For the tip cuttings I like to chop off the very tip. This will encourage the young rosemary plant to put on new branches. Instead of continuing to grow straight upwards, you then want to remove about half the leaves from your cutting. For cutting through an older or woody stem you can strip half the leaves off by pulling backwards while applying pressure with your fingers and your thumb. Tip cuttings with a softer stem will be damaged if you do it this way, so instead pull the leaves upwards. Pull them downwards like before we'll scar this stem. It's important to remove these lower leaves from your cutting. If they're left on, they will rot under the soil and the rot can spread to the main stem and your cutting will end up dying. We're removing some of the leaves will also reduce the amount of water the plant needs to take up to stay alive while the roots are forming. If your cuttings are wilting and dying you're even not watering enough or you have left too many of the leaves on the cutting. We'll be cleaning the cuttons into these foresty tubes filled with potting mix. To start with you want to make a little hole with a dover or a stick. This is just another piece of rosemary. By making the hole you won't damage the end of the cutting when you try and push it into the soil which will reduce the chance of rot. The potting mix has been pretty moist. Then you want to plant your cuttings, firm them down around them. Only plant your cuttings instead of as they need to go to sit stably in the pot. If you plant the cuttings too deep they may rot. When you're planting the cutting, ensure at least one node. That's the point at which the leaves come out of the stem. It's underneath the soil and this is where the new roots will form from. By firming down around the cuttings you ensure that the base of the cutting gets a good solid connection and is able to take out water from the down mix around it. Now that all the cuttings are planted we'll water them again with a light mist and again every day thereafter for about two weeks. By two weeks time the root should have started to form and you can reduce the watering to every second day from that point. About a month you'll have a nice new strong healthy rosemary plant. We have a good strong healthy root system ready to plant out into your garden. Unfortunately not every cutting will make it so be sure to plant a few extra to account for losses.