How to Propagate Oregano by Division, Cuttings and Layering

Why you should not raise a good plant from seed

Oregano crosses freely and seedlings vary enormously in scent. Sow seed from a strongly flavored plant and a good number of the offspring will be mild, and some will be almost scentless. There is no way to tell which is which until they are big enough to taste, which wastes most of a season.

If you already have a plant you like, propagate it vegetatively. Division, cuttings and layering all produce plants identical to the parent, so the flavor you selected for is carried forward exactly. Keep seed for the case where you are starting from nothing and are happy to select among the seedlings.

Division: the method to use for most plants

An oregano clump older than two years usually has a bare woody center with the living growth pushed out into a ring around the edge. Division solves this and multiplies the plant in the same operation: you throw the exhausted middle away and replant the vigorous outer sections.

Do it in early spring as the first new shoots appear, when the plant has the whole season ahead of it to re-establish. Autumn division is possible in mild areas but the divisions go into winter with small root systems and losses are much higher.

1. Lift the whole clump Push a fork in a hand's width outside the foliage all round and lever the plant out with as much root as you can. Shake the loose soil off so you can see what you are working with.
2. Discard the woody center The old middle has few active roots and will never make a good plant. Cut it out and compost it. Keep only the outer sections that have young shoots and pale new roots.
3. Split into fist-sized pieces Pull the clump apart with your hands, or cut it with a knife if the crown is tough. Each piece needs several shoots and a decent handful of roots. Smaller pieces will grow but take an extra season.
4. Trim the top by half before replanting Reducing the foliage balances the root loss so the divisions do not wilt. It also forces dense low regrowth rather than a few long stems.
5. Replant at the same depth and water once Set the divisions no deeper than they were growing, firm them in and water thoroughly. Then leave them alone. Kept constantly damp, new divisions rot at the crown.

Divide every two to three years whether or not you want more plants. It is the maintenance that keeps oregano dense and well flavored, and an undivided clump declines steadily from the third year.

Cuttings when you cannot lift the plant

Cuttings are the way to take a plant from someone else's garden, or to rescue material from a plant that is failing at the root. Oregano roots readily from soft young growth in late spring and early summer, before the stems harden and while the plant is growing fast.

Take shoot tips about four inches (10 cm) long from growth that has not flowered. Flowering shoots root poorly because the plant's energy has gone into the buds rather than into the stem.

1. Cut just below a leaf pair Roots form most readily at the node. Take four inches (10 cm) of non-flowering tip and trim the base cleanly immediately below a pair of leaves.
2. Strip the lower half Remove all leaves from the bottom two inches (5 cm). Any leaf buried in the mix rots and takes the stem with it.
3. Insert into a gritty mix Half compost, half perlite or sharp sand. Push the cuttings in around the edge of a small pot, five or six to a pot, water once and let the surface dry between waterings.
4. Bright shade, no cover Unlike many cuttings, oregano does not want a sealed bag or propagator. The humidity rots the stems. Bright indirect light and open air is right.
5. Check for roots at three weeks A gentle tug that meets resistance means roots. Pot them up individually into three and a half inch (9 cm) pots once they are growing away.

Cuttings will also root in a glass of water on a windowsill, but water roots are brittle and often fail at potting up. Rooting straight into a gritty mix gives a stronger plant.

Layering: the method that never fails

Oregano stems root wherever they touch damp soil, and layering simply uses that on purpose. Because the shoot stays attached to the parent plant while it roots, it cannot dry out or wilt, which makes this the most reliable method of all and the one to use if you have failed with cuttings.

Choose a long low stem around the outside of the plant, pin it down to the soil, and leave it. Lift it as an independent plant once it has roots. You will often find the plant has already layered itself where outer stems have flopped onto the ground, and those can simply be cut free and lifted.

1. Pick a flexible outer stem One long enough to reach the ground with four inches (10 cm) to spare, from this year's growth rather than old wood.
2. Strip leaves and pin it down Clear the leaves from the section that will touch the soil and pin it with a wire staple or a stone, so it stays in firm contact with damp earth.
3. Cover with an inch of gritty soil Leave the growing tip sticking out. Water once so the covering settles, then leave it to normal rainfall.
4. Sever after two months Scrape gently and check for roots. Once rooted, cut the stem on the parent side, wait two weeks for the new plant to adjust, then lift and move it.

Keep track of which plant came from which

Once you propagate vegetatively, every plant from the same parent tastes the same, and the differences you notice between plants in the garden are down to position rather than genetics. Record which parent each division or cutting came from and where it was planted, because that is what lets you tell the two apart.

Note the date you divided or took cuttings and how many of each survived. Oregano cuttings taken a fortnight too late, after the stems begin to harden, root markedly less well, and after two seasons of records you will know the right week for your own garden rather than a general rule.