Growing My Own Curry Leaves

About 15 years ago I was thrilled to find a small curry leaf plant for sale in an Indian grocery store. I have been growing my own ever since.

We had a large curry leaf plant in our yard in South India. It was, in fact, more like a shrub or a tree. But here, in North Carolina, I have to bring my plants indoors for the winter, so they obviously live out their lives in pots.

Sometimes small sucker plants will spring up from the roots around the plants. These clones can be separated from the mother plant and repotted as new plants. If done carefully, usually, both mother plant and clone survive the trauma of separation. I have lost a few plants over the years but now have 5 healthy plants and 3 sucker plants which I will transplant in the spring.

In the past, when I harvested a few sprigs of curry leaves, I removed some of the lowest branches, but that resulted in a plant with a long trunk with a cluster of leaf fronds at the top. Ends up looking like a palm tree. A recent conversation with another grower has convinced me to take a different approach and harvest from the top of the plant, thereby forcing it to branch out and become bushier. I have long been familiar with that concept and have used it with many other types of plants. Not sure why it didn’t occur to me to do it with the curry leaf plant.

Here’s to bushier curry leaf plants and more bountiful harvests!

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