Last updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 08:39 pm
Sage is easy to propagate and complements the kitchen and home pharmacy with its aroma. With these tips, we’ll show you how to safely propagate sage.
Sage is a popular kitchen herb. With its Mediterranean aroma, it enhances dishes and drinks. As a medicinal plant, it is also a time-honored household remedy for cold symptoms.
To grow the herb, you don’t necessarily have to start sowing. We give you ten tips on how to propagate sage with cuttings.
Contents
What you need to propagate sage
To propagate sage, you will need these utensils:
- kitchen scissors
- a sharp knife
- growing soil (for example from Avocadostore**)
- water
- a flower pot
- a large glass or an air-permeable foil cover (for example, plastic bag)
Propagate sage with cuttings: How it works
Propagating sage is so complicated. With these tips you will succeed:
- The best time to propagate sage with cuttings is between April and June.
- Cut off the herbaceous shoot tips that grow above the woody underside. Shorten to about ten inches.
- When pruning, make sure you only ever cut off the green shoots. Sage belongs to the semi-shrubs. This means that the young shoots become woody in the following year and fresh shoots can grow from them again. Therefore, you should not prune the woody lower part. In another article you will find more tips on how to prune sage.
- Carefully strip the lower leaves of the shoots with your hands. Leave only the top two pairs of leaves on the stem.
- Cut the cuttings at the bottom at an angle with a knife.
- Cut the leaves in half. This increases the chances of growing by reducing the evaporation area.
- Now put the finished cuttings up to the leaf base in a pot with growing soil. Water the plants extensively to establish good soil contact.
- Cover the cuttings with a glass cover or, if you don’t have one, with an air-permeable foil hood.
- Place the flower pot in a warm, bright place and air the cuttings regularly. Otherwise they may become moldy.
- If you can see fresh shoots, the young plants have taken root and you can transplant them to larger pots or the garden.
- See another article for tips on how to plant and care for sage.
How to use sage
Sage can be used in many ways.
- Sage is a time-honored remedy for cold symptoms. Especially for sore throats and coughs, sage candies have a soothing effect. In another utopia article we explain how you can make sage candies yourself.
- Just like honey, sage has an anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effect. Our recipe for sage honey is particularly pain-relieving and offers a good alternative to conventional cough syrups.
- Sage is also versatile in the home kitchen. When cooking, it adds a Mediterranean flavor to dishes. Try it for yourself with this recipe for sage butter.
- Sage is said to have a cleansing effect. Use it in your home: you can hang dried sage on a cord and use it as natural decoration, or use the bundles for incense.