question about growing lemongrass

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience with lemongrass?

I had bought some lemongrass from Caputo and Son and then saw in my recipe that I should not use lemongrass which is brown. It said that I should only use the green part of the lemongrass for cooking. I ended up putting the lemongrass in water to see if I could get green shoots. Now I have green shoots and see that some roots are sprouting out. Can I grow the lemongrass in water indefinitely and harvest what I need or do I need to plant it outside?

EW

Not that I've tried, but I don't believe you can. It isn't the shoots that you want to use. What you want to do is strip away the outer leaves and use only the inner, tender parts of the bulb right near the base (though "tender" might be overselling it... we'll just say "not woody"). That pretty much destroys the plant.

Though, like I say, I've never actually grown the stuff... just used it as purchased, already cut.

Here's a page with a pretty well-photographed explanation if you find my description lacking.

I've grown store-bought lemongrass in the garden after sprouting it. I also have a pot of it right now on my porch. It multiplies by sending up side shoots from the base that become thick stems so you can harvest it without killing the main plant. Also, you can use the top, grassy part for flavored water and tea. I have a Thai cookbook that had info on how to grow lemongrass from the store. It recommends cutting the stems relatively short (about 6 in) before sprouting and waiting until the roots have the fine, hair-like roots before planting in dirt.

The winter kills it if you have it planted outside, but you can bring it in for the winter. My current pot of lemon grass is from last year. It grew faster in the garden, but I'm happy to have it be portable.

All the best,
Jen

Thanks for the information on the lemongrass. It was really helpful.

also, be sure to mound up earth around the plant to create more usable growth

folk wisdom offers that watering the lemongrass with the water left from washing your rice encourages robust growth

I received my lemongrass plant from a friend last spring, planted it where it gets plenty of sun and it's going gangbusters...the friend unearths his lemongrass and takes it indoors when the weather cools.

I planted the lemongrass outside since it looked like the bulb part was starting to rot. Hopefully it will recuperate. I did not mound the soil around the plant. I'll try to do that tomorrow. Thanks for the tip.