Hi,

I am growing lavender from seed and have a quick question. After the seedling grew to 4 or 5 inches it couldn't stay upright anymore. It laid down and curved around. Now there is a new chute growing from the base straight up. In my pic, the toothpick is the original top of the plant. Should I trim off the original part of the plant just leaving the new chute going straight up from the base? Hope that makes sense.

Thanks!

Good work. Took me a while to figure out that picture, but I think I understand. I'm of two minds: I usually try to leave young seedlings alone to develop as many early leaves as possible for robustness, then pinch later when better established. I also could see pinching it just after that vertical growth to the right of the toothpick...maybe in a couple weeks or so.

However, I wonder why your lavender is so floppy. If you're fertilizing it, cut way back or stop entirely if that potting mix has fertilizer in it. Can you give it more light?

@dcward1
@NMoasis

Like Zoë , I think your lavender is growing so "softly" because it could use more light. It's otherwise looking healthy, no problems.

Because lavender is usually grown as an herbaceous perennial in cold zones, it's not necessary for it to have a straight, upright "trunk". It's better not to cut back any now because, as Zoë indicated, those leaves and stems all contribute to the plant's growth.

If you cover the stems that are laying on the surface, including covering the base of the new shoot, and the base of the original shoot, it will encourage new roots to grow from those stems which in turn will help expand the clump. About 1/2" of the potting mix would be about right. It looks like a nice loose coarse mix, just the kind of well-aerated mix lavender does well in. Looks to me like a successful effort. 👍🏻

Pat

I wouldn't trim anything.
If you want to grow it as a standard (single trunk) form, perhaps try staking, pruning and training it early, but not THIS early.
Lavender naturally grows in bush form, so I'd leave all its new branches.

NMoasis said: However, I wonder why your lavender is so floppy. If you're fertilizing it, cut way back or stop entirely if that potting mix has fertilizer in it. Can you give it more light?

I think you are right about the light. In the beginning I thought 12-14 hours would be sufficient. What confuses me about that is when plants grow in the wild, aren't they getting significantly less light in the early stages of their growth?

Hortaholic said: @dcward1
@NMoasis

If you cover the stems that are laying on the surface, including covering the base of the new shoot, and the base of the original shoot, it will encourage new roots to grow from those stems which in turn will help expand the clump. About 1/2" of the potting mix would be about right. It looks like a nice loose coarse mix, just the kind of well-aerated mix lavender does well in. Looks to me like a successful effort. 👍🏻

Pat

I have two plants that are like this. I am going to try your suggestion with one and let the other grow as is. Thanks!

kenisaac said: I wouldn't trim anything.
If you want to grow it as a standard (single trunk) form, perhaps try staking, pruning and training it early, but not THIS early.
Lavender naturally grows in bush form, so I'd leave all its new branches.

I guess this was really the point of me asking the question. In my head I was thinking lavender should be grown as a single trunk. In reality, I have no clue.

Thanks for all of the replies.

dcward1 said: I think you are right about the light. In the beginning I thought 12-14 hours would be sufficient. What confuses me about that is when plants grow in the wild, aren't they getting significantly less light in the early stages of their growth?

Are you growing indoors and/or under lights? If so, I can't advise except to say that natural sunlight outdoors is more intense than indoor light (even coming through a glass window) even on overcast days. Replicating "in the wild" conditions is a challenge using potting soil, pots, lights, fertilizer etc.

NMoasis said: Are you growing indoors and/or under lights? If so, I can't advise except to say that natural sunlight outdoors is more intense than indoor light (even coming through a glass window) even on overcast days. Replicating "in the wild" conditions is a challenge using potting soil, pots, lights, fertilizer etc.

Yes, I am starting these indoors under light. I agree, natural sunlight is probably far superior.

Thank you.

Lavender 'grown as a standard' is really popular right now...
But it's carefully pruned and trained to become that way.

I've circled the usual lavender form, on the bottom of this screenshot- The top pics in the screenshot shows lavender grown in a "standard form," but the usual form is low, bushy, and super-well branched. Your lavender appears to be growing like mother nature programmed it.

If you want it to look differently, go for it!

kenisaac said: Lavender 'grown as a standard' is really popular right now...
But it's carefully pruned and trained to become that way.

I've circled the usual lavender form, on the bottom of this screenshot- The top pics in the screenshot shows lavender grown in a "standard form," but the usual form is low, bushy, and super-well branched. Your lavender appears to be growing like mother nature programmed it.

If you want it to look differently, go for it!

Thanks. The standard form does look pretty cool.