Oregano

An Intro to Oregano

MY STATUS: Grown Successfully to Harvest from Cutting

Oregano is a perennial herb native to western and southwestern Europe and Asia and belonging to the mint family. There are many different varieties, some of which can grow as tall as two feet, but most often the plant spreads out and stays low to the ground. The more common cultivars typically have small leaves that can be even more aromatic when dried than when fresh. Like mint, the plant will send out runners and re-propagate itself as long as it has room to expand. Along with basil, oregano is used heavily in Italian cuisine, particularly in the New World.

SEEDS OR CUTTINGS

Oregano can be propagated with seeds or by cuttings from the plant. The latter is faster and easier.

ONCE AGAIN, SUNNY & DRY

Like most of the common herbs, oregano thrives in full sun. It also does not like to be wet. Keep it out of Pohnpei's heavy rains. Water sparingly.

MEDIUM TO POOR SOIL IS FINE
Oregano doesn't need fertile soil. In fact, the flavor will be better if the soil has few nutrients. Use 70% plain garden soil and 30% sand. It does best when the soil pH is just a bit on the alkaline side. It does fine in pots, but the ground will work, too, if your spot is relatively protected from Pohnpei's rain. It does spread, however. It should not be planted in a container with other herbs, as it can sometimes smother them.

TOMATO COMPANION?

Many people claim that planting oregano around your tomato plants improves their flavor and makes them less susceptible to whiteflies and other pests. I haven't tested this theory yet, but it is fact that the oils produced by the plant have anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-parasitic, and anti-bacterial properties.

CROSS-POLLINATION ALERT

If you are growing multiple varieties of oregano in close proximity, they can cross-pollinate and result in strange hybrids.

What I Did

DAY 1 - SEEDING

I purchased Ferry-Morse seeds from Home Depot in California in early winter and sowed them in paper egg cups on Pohnpei about a week later. Nothing fancy. I sprinkled the seeds on the soil in several cups and spread some more soil over them. Everything was kept moist, but not wet--as always. I put the cups in full sun whenever possible and kept them indoors overnight.

DAY 4 - GERMINATION

Sprouts began to poke up early in the morning. There are a lot, but they're small.

DAYS 5-14

Nothing much happening. At least, nothing good. The seedlings grew to a height of about a quarter inch and then stopped. If I put them in the sun, they wilt and shrivel up. If I water them, they wilt and shrivel up. If I refrain from watering, they wilt and shrivel up. It's looking like they might not make it.

DAY 15 - A LAST ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE LITTLE GUYS

My seedlings continue to languish with no growth in more than a week. Other people have told me they've had problems like this with oregano on Pohnpei. Could it be there isn't enough sun? They look more or less as they did when they first germinated--but droopy. Even though they aren't big enough to normally qualify for transplantation, desperation has set in and I think I'll plant them. Maybe more room and new soil will revive them.  Since everything looks fragile, I'll cut the egg cups right out of the carton and plant them in my pot without pricking out any seedlings.

 DAY 17 - DEAD

The little oregano seedlings, which looked like they might recover yesterday, are now pretty much dead. Not sure what happened. :(

ROUND 2 . . .

DAY 1 - PLANTING

Short-cut. I found a friend who had a ton of oregano that had been growing for years and was very well established. We took a cutting, dipped the cut end in rooting hormone, and planted it in a medium-sized pot with a 70% garden soil and 30% sand mixture. It will be faster this way anyways.

DAY 18 - TOPPING

My oregano cutting seems well established now and has put out several small sets of leaves close to the stem. Since my cutting was quite long, I chopped it off a third of the way from the top. Shortening up the main stem will force the plant to devote more energy to its secondary branches and leaves.

DAY 28

Since topping the plant, I've seen an explosion of new growth. Secondary branches have developed where leaves were previously. There's also a major branch forming right at the soil level. The leaves are green and healthy-looking. Yippee!

DAY 42

It's really kind of amazing how quickly this little piece of plant has turned into something bushy.  My strategy has been to let a branch develop until there are two pairs of leaves and then snip the top, eliminating that branch's potential to lengthen and prompting the main stem to put out more new branches. So far it's working pretty fantastically. It doesn't look anything like it did a month ago. This is absolutely the way to propagate oregano on Pohnpei! Why agonize over fragile seedlings when you can have a mature plant from a cutting in a little over a month?

Oh, and yes: so far it seems true that whiteflies are not down with the oregano. They definitely enjoy sucking on tomatoes, sweet basil, and sweet peppers (don't we all?), but I never, never find them on the oregano. But would growing oregano around a tomato plant really repel whiteflies? I have my doubts, but maybe I'll experiment.

DAY 63

The oregano growth is pretty much off the charts. It has essentially doubled in size and the number of leaves in the last 20 days.

DAY 83

Yep, that's the same plant that started out as a scrawny 4-inch long branch!  Since this one has expanded so quickly, I figured I might as well start some more. I took three cuttings and planted them in a large, shallow container. This time, as an experiment, I used no rooting hormone on the cuttings. I want to see if it's really essential to successful propagation.

DAY 136

I don't know that there's much more I can say about this plant. Once established, it has become very hardy, requires little attention, and grows at a rapid rate. It can handle water, but on the other hand, it does fine if it doesn't get any for a long time. Here's what it looks like 53 days after the last photo (below).

DAY 276 (12/12)  - TRANSPLANTATION

My oregano has done great every since it was established and no weather conditions seem to adversely affect it. It tolerated the unusual heat of the summer and fall and seems to be able to handle cool, wet, cloudy weather just as well. The container, however, was getting a little crowded, so I transplanted into a larger one, giving it about 3 times the room. It was amazing to see how huge the root structure was. It really was pot-bound. Since transplantation, it has had a huge revival of growth. The new container is getting full already just a couple of weeks after transplant.