Herbs are frequently added to Indian food to enrich the flavor. There are herbs like mint, cumin, etc., that have fantastic flavor, and curry leaves have a unique flavor. Food is incomplete if it is not garnished with curry leaves; hence, it is one of the main ingredients in Indian cuisine.
Curry leaves are rich in antioxidants and also help in stabilizing blood sugar. Curry leaves can be easily found in the market, but why not have the fresh curry leaves from your garden or kitchen garden. You can easily plant curry leaf plants and can harvest them.
You don’t need many things to plant a curry leaf plant; it is not a high-maintenance thing. You can plant it in your house and require some seeds, a mixing pot, and a small pot. When the plant grows taller, you can harvest the leaves to use in your dishes and enjoy your food.
How to Plant a Curry Leaf Plant?
Here are the steps to plant a curry leaf plant. Follow these steps to grow an excellent leafy curry plant.
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Step 1: Fill a Small Pot With a Mixture of Soil and Compost
At first, you should look for a small pot that should be 4-6 inches tall and 3-4 inches wide as the plant will be small, so this pot measurement will be the perfect start for your curry leaf plant.
In the mixing pot, you should use soil and compost both. The soil composition should be 60%, and the compost should be 40%. The composition is necessary as the plant requires nutrients for its growth. The soil and the compost should be mixed properly.
Things to remember while planting:
- You should buy soil from the store and not use the soil of your yard as it can contain harmful bacteria or toxins.
- The climate and weather also affect the growth. If you stay in an area with a temperature below 32 degrees Fahrenheit or doesn’t fall below that range, you can plant the curry leaf plant in the ground. If so, you must take care of the soil to ensure it has proper nutrients.
- If you wish to have more than one curry leaf plant, you can do the same preparation with multiple pots for each plant.
Step 2: In the Potting Soil, Bury a Curry Leaf Plant Seed
After potting, you should use the seeds in the soil. Now you should make a hole in the pot’s soil using your thumb. It would be best if you pushed your thumb into the centre of the soil by which a hole can be made. Make sure the hole is a half-inch deep.
Now you should carefully take the seed, drop it in the hole, and apply some potting soil so the seeds get covered. Do this with slight hands and gently, so the seed gets pressed with the soil.
Things to take note of before buying the seed of the curry leaf plant:
If you have trouble looking for curry plant seeds in the market, you can buy them online to ensure that the seeds are fresh and have a chance of sprouting.
Step 3: Water the Soil Thoroughly and Properly
Watering is considered to be an easy task; however, one should not overwater the soil. After the seed has been placed in the soil, you must water it so the seed becomes activated and the roots come out of it. You must ensure that when you water the pot, the water should come out of the drainage holes. It is necessary as standing water doesn’t let the seed grow into a plant.
The standing water should be absorbed by the soil deeply before adding more water. It would help if you stopped watering when it came out of the drainage hole.
Things to take note of while watering:
- The pot should be kept in a shallow container as the soil needs to absorb the water that drains out from the pot below the bottom.
- Don’t overwater the seeds as these seeds don’t sprout and don’t grow well if there is too much water. The seed needs proper moisture, nutrients, and everything in balanced order and optimization.
Step 4: Set the Plant in a Spot That Receives 6 Hours of Sunlight Daily
After watering the seeds, you must ensure that the pot also needs sunlight so the seeds can get moisture to sprout. You should set your curry leaf plant in a north-facing window to ensure excess sunlight can reach it throughout the day.
You should also consider the weather condition; if the temperature is above 32 °F (0 °C), you can keep the pot outside the house for the plant to grow. You should ensure that the plant gets full sunlight for 6-8 hours during the day for the proper growth of shoots and leaves that should grow strong under good sunlight.
It is often observed that a baby curry leaf plant sprouts from the soil within a week.
Things to take note of while keeping the plant in the proper direction and light:
- You must keep the plant where there is access to proper sunlight.
- If the temperature doesn’t drop below 32 °F (0 °C) until the evening, then you should keep your plant outside during the day, and at night you should bring the plant inside so that it doesn’t freeze or die.
How to Care for The Curry Leaf Plant?
After planting, here’s how you take care of your curry leaf plant.
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Step 1: Water Your Curry Plant When The Soil has Just Partially Dried Out
You should keep checking the soil of the curry leaf plant pot every day to see if it’s dry. After touching it with your finger, you can understand if it’s dry or moist. If the plant is dry, water it using a watering can, ensuring the water drains out the drainage hole at the bottom of the pot.
Overwatering the plant can lead to weaker leaves and shoot; this also affects productivity and growth as it can lead to fewer leaves production.
Step 2: Keep the Plant in a Sunny Spot All Day
For the proper development of the plant, you should put it in a space where it can get ample sunlight for 6-8 hours daily. Keep the pot outside at the temperature of 32 °F, or the best thing you can do is keep it near a south-facing window to continue its growth.
Direct sunlight ensures the healthy growth of leaves and the plant. If the sunlight is not direct or improper throughout the day, the leaves grow weak and fall, and the plant can become weak.
Step 3: Prune the Top 3–4 Inches of the Plant Yearly
You should always keep checking the plant during the spring; you could also see the growth if it has become tall vertically or has more growth of leaves. You can also use gardening tools to prune the plant by using gardening snips to remove the top 3 inches below the nodes where the leaves connect.
To prevent the plant from beginning to decay on its stem, cutting at a 45-degree angle would be beneficial. Pruning the plant makes the size reasonable and helps grow healthy leaves, stems, etc. You can also remove the yellowed leaves and weak, broken, wilted stems to ensure the more healthy growth of your curry leaf plant.
Step 4: Move the Plant Into a New Pot or Re-pot Each Year to Promote Healthy Growth
The Curry leaf plant has rapid growth once it attains a good height. It would be best if you kept the curry leaf plant re-potting to ensure the size fits into the container at every stage when the plant grows. The result is effective if the pot is switched every year.
While re-potting, you must carefully grab the plant’s stem to remove it from the old pot. Then fit it into a pot twice the size of the older one, ensuring the root ball size of the plant. Again fill the pot with compost and soil and mix it with a mixing pot. The composition of the potting soil should be 60% potting and 40% compost.
You must break the dirty clumps to ensure the plant’s root is safe and fit it into a new pot. Then water the plant again gently. You should wear gardening gloves while working with your plant to avoid allergic reactions to the sap. If the plant is stuck, you should keep a shovel handy to help the pot loosen with the help of it.
Conclusion
Follow the given steps and know how to grow curry leaf plants at home. It will help you grow a healthy plant easily. These tips and tricks will give you better results. Stay tuned for more such gardening updates!