lemon grass

[ericmcginn5]

I am considering planting lemon grass all around my chicken coop becouse of rat snakkes I had 2 in the coop just today. Will the chickens eat lemon grass. I heared snakes hate the smell.

 

[UrbanFarmOC]

I don't know. My pullets have not touched my lemongrass at all. Not sure if it's because they haven't explores eating it yet, or because there are yummier things in my yard, like kale, lettuces and clovers. In fact, I have no lettuce this season because they ate and killed the plants before then had more than 4 full leaves. Next project: chicken-proofing my veggie beds.

 

[ericmcginn5]

Does the lemon grass really help with snakes? And were do you buy it alreaddy growwing?

 

[UrbanFarmOC]

Don't know if it helps with snakes, but like lavender and rosemary, it's a natural insect repellant. In fact, citronella is harvested from lemongrass. Your local nursery might sell them, but I grew mine the cheapie way: go to local Asian grocery store and buy a few stalks of lemongrass. They cost $0.30-$0.50 per stalk. Then soak the stem part in about 1/2" of water and change water everyday. The lemongrass should root within about a week. Then plant! Enjoy!

Btw, they are fairly drought-tolerant, but regular watering really make it grow big and take off after plant has been established.

 

[ericmcginn5]

Do you keep yours in full sun? Or is shade fine? I have heared that snakes hate the smell of lemon grass.

 

[UrbanFarmOC]

Lemongrass need sun and like heat. You can grow it in a container too. In my old place, my lemongrass grew in an area that only got sun a few hours a day. It grew, but slowly and was on the small side. When I moved to this house 1.5 years ago, to pulled stalks from my old house and planted it. It was neglected for about 1 year (rarely watering it), until I installed drip irrigation early spring and it exploded it's growth. The current bush is about 4' - 5' tall. I plan on dividing it and putting some near the coop as well, to help shade the run a little and to control bug/ mosquito population near the back of the coop/run.

 

[ericmcginn5]

My coop is in all shade I think. I could put it in a pot so I can move it to the sun every ones in a while?

 

[UrbanFarmOC]

Yeah. I suppose you can do that. You can have a few pots and just rotate them everyday or every other day. If you have cold winters, you'll want to consider moving them in a greenhouse. Mine do fine in Southern California, but our winters rarely even dip below 40F.