"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Franz Heymann wrote:

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
".......... I have an old and sprawling rosemary which needs a serious
chop.
How much can I take off without killing it?........"

I would put in some cuttings, some don't survive the hard cutting that
they
get.

I have grown rosemary all my lengthy adult life and have never lost one
except by intent. Whenever I have had to reduce them, I have simply
followed the rule of making sure that there is at least a vestige of
green
growth left below the cut.

It is VERY dependent on the conditions. I have lost many, and the
soil here is 60% sand and only 22% clay, but there is some fungus
that causes root rot.

My first 3 decades of gardening were on the Bagshot sands.
The past 2 decades have been on good loam, very slightly on the acid side,
less than 6 inches on broken sandstone bedrock. I have never been aware of
deleterious fungal problems.

Franz