Planting Organic Lemongrass - The Return!

[No posts at all for the whole of April! Tsk tsk...]

I had previously tried growing some organic lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus), which ended in a resounding FAIL! But then a helpful reader (A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court) suggested getting the roots going in a glass first before putting it in the ground.

So I tried it out - after a few days, the stalks started growing out


and there was some root growth


I stripped off the outer leaves


and cut the stalks back too (because someone else had told me that this would encourage root growth)


Only four days later, the results were impressive! Lots more roots


and the stalks have grown back too


I've been lazy since then and have not transferred to a pot, but I will do asap and report back :)

Organic lemongrass - FAIL!

Well, our organic lemongrass (aka Cymbopogon citratus, or serai makan) has died :(

I'm not sure why, initially it was doing great, but then started to wilt and go dry. We may have forgotten to water it, but there was rain and all. It's meant to do well in full sun too, which is what it was getting.

My guess is the soil was not drained enough, it seems like the stems just rotted away at soil level.


The soil itself was nice black soil from our compost heap, so it should have had enough nutrients, etc. A friend told me that they do better in the soil than in pots, and maybe that's because they need good drainage.

Ah well, we'll just have to try again :)

Organic lemongrass – from market to garden

Here’s another plant that you can grow from what you buy in the market :)

Lemongrass, or Cymbopogon citratus, is used in cooking in Malaysia – though not as much as in Thailand. It gives a spicy lemony flavour to food, and anyone who tried Tom Yam (the Thai seafood dish) will recognise it. It’s called serai makan in Malay (literally ‘lemongrass eat’), distinguishing it from serai wangi (‘lemongrass fragrant’) or Cymbopogon nardus, from which citronella is extracted – it’s effective in keeping mosquitoes away, but is invasive.


WW just stuck two of the stems we got from the market into the ground; actually they had been in the fridge for some days – and I was dubious about whether they would grow. But after about a week one of them started to sprout

They prefer full sun, or light shade, and a loamy soil. After 12 days the second stem was growing too. They don’t smell of anything yet though.


Eventually, it can become a largish clump of ornamental grass – for the moment it will stay in the pot until we can decide what to do with it


Here are some tips for American gardeners who want to try it; and some more advice and well as recipes.