Flower festivals and craft fairs abound with the sweet fragrance of lavender. Lavender is truly a magical plant, full of sweet fragrance and therapeutic in nature. It is very easy to grow, basically requiring full sun and good drainage. Lavender is a very hardy plant and will even tolerate neglect.
The majority are very adaptable and prefer to grow in rocky soil with a high pH and preferably in drought-like conditions after getting established. Choose from a multitude of varieties, but keep in mind your growing conditions, soil and climate. Lavender oil is used primarily in perfumes and soaps.
But its uses vary from household cleaning products to deodorizers, candles and food products. It is known for its antiseptic and antibiotic properties that can kill bacteria, alleviate the effects of bee stings and migraines, heal burns and ward off moths in clothing closets. The fragrance of lavender is also used for calming horses, promoting deeper and longer sleep and balancing emotions. Aromatherapy owes its existence to lavender. Plants should be pinched back during the first year to avoid blooming so that the plant can put all of its energy into forming roots and lateral shoots.
She recommends protecting plants from both summer and winter winds to prevent damage to the spikes. This is the simplest method of propagation, although the least efficient in terms of time and number of regenerants per plant.
Woody herbs propagate by layering naturally when trailing branches grow close to the soil surface and send down roots, which create new plantlets. To propagate by layering, select a long, healthy flexible stem and remove inches of foliage, leaving inches of foliage at the tip of the branch. Pile up inches of bark under the stem section and make a shallow depression in the top of the pile. Press the stem into the indention and cover the bare section with moist soil or a sphagnum moss and perlite combination.
A U-shaped piece of wire can be used to hold the stem section firmly in place. Keep rooting sections moist and expect transferable plants within 2 weeks to 2 months depending on environmental conditions Oliver, Once rooted, cut the new plants from the mother plants and transfer to individual pots. Tissue culture syn. Tissue culture regenerants can produce disease-free, genetically identical plants from parent plants exhibiting desirable traits.
Tissue culture protocols are generally cost prohibitive to small-scale growers because of the specialized sterile laboratory equipment required. Tissue culture propagated plants can be purchased, however. Plant all species in a protected south facing location with well-drained soil within a pH range of 6. Prepare the site by mixing compost or peat moss with the top four inches of soil and preparing a raised bed.
If a good cover crop had been grown or manure was added to the field before planting, fertilization may not be necessary for several years. Young plants should be set out in early spring in rows 2 feet apart with one foot spacing between plants.
Another method of spacing is to plant 18 inches apart each way for the first year of growth, then to remove every other plant in the second year resulting in 36 inch spacing which produces optimal flower and essential oil yields. Removed plants are divided into approximately 3 plants each and replanted in new rows.
DeBaggio recommends fertilizing every three weeks during the first year of growth and irrigating once a week during dry periods. Any dead leaves or stems should be snipped off throughout the growing season. This heavy pruning stimulates growth from the base of the plant. A thick layer of mulch is recommended after the first frost.
In order to discourage fungal pathogens, good air circulation is advised and can be achieved by spacing plants feet apart and trimming the lower branches throughout the growing season.
Avoid heavy organic mulches sawdust, wood chips as they can increase both fungal pathogens and insect problems. Commercial lavender plantations are usually established by planting in single rows spaced appropriately to allow tractor access.
As plants die they are removed and replaced with healthy stock. Hardiest plants are English lavender L. English lavenders grow poorly in the hot, humid southeast, while lavandins can grow and thrive as far south as Florida.
The most common disease problem with lavender is wilt. Vascular wilts are very destructive diseases with typical symptoms characterized by rapid wilting, browning, and dying of leaves and succulent shoots of plants followed by the death of the plant. English lavender varieties are more susceptible to vascular wilts than lavandin varieties. Dark-flowered cultivars are less resistant to disease than the pale-flowered varieties. Cultivars with gray foliage are quite susceptible to infection.
If damaged plants are present, remove and destroy any infected plant material and avoid replanting with susceptible varieties. Tucker advises using one to two inches of white sand as a mulch around plants to reduce fungal pathogen infection. In addition, he found that the sand increased flower and oil production when compared to a control group of plants which were not mulched.
Few insect problems have been reported on field-grown lavender. A defoliating moth larva has been reported in Australia. Weed control is especially important during the first two years of growth as the plants become established. Mechanical cultivation and use of mulch are the primary methods of control. English lavender L. A crop harvested for dried flower purposes should be harvested when the first few florets are open.
Flower stalks are cut just under the first pair of leaves. Essential oils are accumulated in the flowers and flower stalks. For optimal ester levels, flowers are harvested starting in the second year between early blossom and maximum bloom stages early in the day before full sun conditions.
Plants are harvested from the second through the fifth year at which time some growers replant. Others report that plants may be harvested up to 30 years. Lavender is harvested mechanically in foreign countries using specially designed machinery for essential oil purposes although it is harvested by hand for cut flower production. In a study from the Egyptian Journal of Horticulture, optimal yields of aerial parts of lavender were observed following fertilization with urea at 88 lb.
It was determined that the giberellic treatments, with or without pre-freezing, significantly increased the percentage of germination and accelerated overall germination rates Aoyama, Raev et al. Preliminary testing was performed on lavender field crops to test a prototype machine designed to control weeds by flaming. The machine was mounted on a trailer and the crop rows were protected by lateral bulkheads.
The results indicated that flaming with this machine significantly reduced weeds but that the lavender plants were susceptible to damage if sufficient care was not taken Martini, Current research from the Netherlands has proven that essential oils of Lavandula angustifolia suppress sprouting in potato tubers and are also antimicrobial.
This produces a safe. The bioactivity of lavandula species against insects in India proved that the majority of the plants studied showed activity against insect pests Sharma et al. In a study on the micropropagation of Lavenders and Lavandins, a tissue culture protocol was established for the mass propagation of disease free plantlets from commercial hybrid stock plants.
When regenerants were planted in fields, quality characteristics, including essential oil concentrations, were similar to parent plants. Tissue cultured plantlets could therefore be a good source of disease-free plantlets for regeneration purposes Chambdon, An Austrian study provided evidence of sedative effects of the essential oil of lavender after inhalation.
Buchbauer et al. They proved through experimentation with mice that the essential oil of lavender did indeed facilitate falling asleep and a minimization of stressful situations. In a study on the vegetative propagation of lavender by rooting of stem sections, 1 year old wood, various mixed wood, and three-year-old wood stem sections were compared.
The highest percentage of rooting was obtained from cm long, 1-year-old cuttings in open beds in October-November Boyadzhieva et al. Researchers in Bulgaria have experimented with the reconstruction of lavender planting to wide-row spacing in regard to mechanized cultivation and harvest Tsachev, Adam, K.
Lavender as an alternative crop. Horticulture technical note. June Aoyama, E. Germination study of lavender seeds. Boyadzhieva, B. Studies on the vegetative propagation of lavender. Rasteniev dni-Nauki. Buchbauer, G. Aromatherapy: Evidence for sedative effects of the essential oil of lavender after inhalation.
Chambdon, C. In vitro morphogenetic potential of various lavandin and lavender clones: Preliminary observations on the agronomic value of the vitroplants. Agronomie Paris. Chingova-Boyadzhieva, B. Results of a comparative study of lavender varieties.
Culpeper, N. The English Physitian: or an astrologo-physical discourse of the vulgar herbs of this nation. Peter Cole, London. Yale Medical Library. Douglas, J. New Crop Development in New Zealand. In New Crops. Nowadays, the farm has over 35 miles of lavender which visitors are welcome to explore, as well as a wide range of products derived from its fields that are sold nationally and internationally. Hitchin Lavender can even count Queen Elizabeth II as a recipient after she was presented her with a bouquet of lavender and essential oil from its fields during a visit to Hitchin in her Diamond Jubilee year.
Since , the lavender fields have been run and managed under the name of Hitchin Lavender by the next generation of the Hunter family, Tim and wife Maria Noel. Visit Us Menu Basket Menu. Lavender History It is widely believed that lavender first originated from the Mediterranean, the Middle East and India, around years ago. The History of Lavender in Hitchin Hitchin can boast a unique heritage of lavender growing, owing to its rich history of cultivating this beautiful plant, dating back over hundreds of years.
Lavender Revival Hitchin was also home to the oldest independent pharmaceutical company in the UK, Ransoms.
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