Pruning An Oregano Plant: A Perennial Herb With Soft Woody Stems
2 Materials
10 Minutes
Easy
Oregano is a perennial herb (in many climates) which grows very fast once the weather warms up. Pruning an oregano plant is important because it grows densely & you want to cut away the old growth to make way for the tender, tasty new growth. Here's how to do it.
I live in Tucson, AZ & did this pruning towards the end of January. In colder climates it’s best to wait until spring when the danger of a freeze has passed. You don’t want to force out all that new growth & then have it hit.
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This isn’t 1 of those finesse pruning jobs. You’re basically chopping off all the old growth to make way for the new.
Make sure your pruners are clean & sharp. It’ll make the job so much easier. I used 2 pruners – Felcos for the big pruning & my Fiskar Floral Snips for the “finesse” work at the end.
I made my way around the plant cutting it all the way back to 2-3″. That’s when you can really start to see the new growth that’s hiding underneath if your oregano is as dense as this 1. Yes, it’s what you call a hard pruning but this is what your oregano really needs.
The 2nd much lighter pruning was to remove some of those dead woody stems & leggy softer stems. I like to do this because it makes the plant look a little better. You can skip this step if you’d like but I prefer to clean things up as much as possible. Let’s be real, your oregano isn’t pretty at this point & will look like it’s been scalped for a month or so!
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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