UPDATE 2018 – HERBS WORKSHOPS IN LIQUID and SOIL BASED

 

 

Grow fresh herbs at home in containers
Thyme in Liquid Base

2016 – SOIL BASED

Ms. Erin Lee started with 2 pots of thyme 🙂

Like many of us in Singapore, Thyme is a difficult herb to cultivate in our humid weather. More times than not, they died very quickly. Erin Lee said she failed many times too. But she kept on trying and finally she learned how to propagate thyme and grew them very well. 🙂

 

How to root thyme
Erin Lee expanding thyme garden 🙂

 

From 2 pots, her thyme expanded to 14 pots of healthy Thyme, which she harvested often for cooking or packed for the freezer.

I can just imagine the scent of fresh herbs along this corridor!

 

How to grow thyme well in Singapore
2015 November 1 – 14 pots of thyme!!!

 

ERIN LEE’s AERIAL ROOTING

 

STEP 1 – Cut Thyme stems that showed aerial roots

 

How to choose thyme stem cutting for propagation

 

STEP 2 – Plant roots side into pre-moist soil

 

Grow thyme

 

 

STEP 3 – Place pot in a shaded cool environment until new shoots grow

 

 

How to root thyme

TIP – Maximum 1 hour of morning sun for just planted seedlings

 

How to grow thyme

 

3 days after being separated from the parent plant. New stem look liked its dying

 

Multiply thyme from rooting

A sign of recovery is when new leaves showed.

 

Erin Lee said as long as we see new young leaves on the stem, that is the sign that they are recovering and with care, this herb will continue to thrive. After 3 to 4 weeks, a full recovery sign is when the newly planted herb has more standing upright stems.

 

Growing thyme

Thyme can grow in a sprawling manner.

 

How to grow thyme
This is how her thyme expanded to 14 pots!

 

To keep thyme growing well, pruning was done often. Unused herbs could be frozen.

 

How to grow thyme
Thyme harvest

 

Tips to grow thyme
Chef Donny Tan’s thyme garden from the same rooting method

 

FROM SEEDS 

Not only from aerial roots propagation, we can also start thyme from seeds. Here were tips from Ms. Anupriya in 2016 –

Germinate Thyme from seeds
June 16 2016 – 2 months old Thyme seedlings

 

Due to high humidity in Singapore, germinating thyme can be quite challenging, however “not impossible” according to Anupriya.

Her soil is a mixture of Aromax soil with homemade compost and lots of crushed eggshells.

She mist spray her soil once every 2 – 3 days and a deep watering soak (see how to in the rosemary post) for her pot once a week.

Her thyme seedlings enjoyed 2 hours of morning sun every day and about 70% of her seedlings survived.

 

 

PROPAGATE IN WATER

 

The easiest cutting to root would be from living plants.

However, if this is not available, we can use store-bought thyme.

 

Grow thyme from supermarket cutting
Supermarket Thyme cutting

Rooting in Water

To root a cutting, simply chose thicker woody stems in the pack, trimmed away lower leaves before setting it in a netcup similar to this plant. Only 1 cm of the root is submerged in water for roots to show after 4 – 10 days in water. Some cuttings may take longer to root.

Grow Thyme from seeds or cutting in Singapore

 

Grow fresh herbs indoor
Support stem in net – cup

 

In netcup and sponge method, access to stagnant water in the reservoir is totally sealed. Thus, there is zero mosquitoes breeding risk.

 

Grow fresh herbs from seeds or cutting indoor
Sealed access

 

2018 – HYDRO THYME (KRATKY method )

 

Having failed many times in soil, from seeds or aerial rooting, we finally succeeded in growing this beautiful herb in KRATKY (non-circulating) hydroponic method.

WORKSHOPS are available to learn how to grow this way.

Learn how to turn a rooted cutting into a mini-bush!

 

Grow thyme from seeds or cutting in Singapore
Rooted Cutting

 

Grow Harvest Fresh Herbs indoors
2018 October 15

 

Rooted Thyme may be available for sale

 

Grow thyme from cutting in Singapore
Rooting in progress

 

HYDRO Thyme can be transplanted to soil

 

Propagate Thyme from cutting or seeds in Singapore
2019 January 09

 

Propagate Thyme from cutting or seeds in Singapore
2019 February 23

 

Propagate Thyme from cutting or seeds in Singapore
2019 April 15

 

Cooking with Thyme –

Having fresh thyme that we can harvest as needed, is wonderful. The scent of this herb is not heavy in roasts but it does add an extra aroma, and goes very well with lemon, garlic and butter!

How to cook with thyme
Erin Lee’s roast chicken

 

Using thyme in cooking
Chef Donny Tan’s egg cocotte with thyme

 

I love my fresh herbs garden along this windows. What made them special for us is that they are all “potted” in recyclable materials.

 

Grow fresh herbs indoors
2018 Vertical Herbs Gardens

 

 

Grow Harvest Fresh herbs indoors
2018 December 14

 

Finally  we can harvest as much thyme as we need, whenever we like to!

 

Grow thyme well from cutting in Singapore
THYME mini bush

 

3 thoughts on “How to Propagate Thyme”

  1. Hi

    Can I get in touch with Ms Erin Lee? I keep having problems with my lemon thyme plant….i feel so bad killing them. Yet, i can’t resist buying them and trying to grow them

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