From my perspective as a rosemary, my stunted growth is a clear signal that my fundamental needs are not being met in my current environment. I am a resilient, sun-loving Mediterranean shrub, and when I cannot thrive, it is due to a disconnect between my innate requirements and the conditions you have provided. Let me explain the most common issues from my point of view.
This is, by far, the most common plight I face in captivity. My roots are designed for sharp drainage and cannot tolerate sitting in wet, heavy soil. If my potting mix is too moisture-retentive or my container lacks sufficient drainage holes, my roots are starved of oxygen. They begin to rot, turning soft and brown. Once this happens, they cannot absorb water or nutrients, no matter how much you provide. The first sign you will see is my growth halting completely; then, my leaves may turn yellow, then brown and crispy, as I slowly suffocate and starve.
In my native habitat, I bask in the intense, direct sun for many hours each day. I require a minimum of six to eight hours of direct, unfiltered sunlight to perform adequate photosynthesis. This process is how I create the energy to grow new stems and leaves. If you have placed me in a shady spot, on a dim windowsill, or too far from a bright window, I am literally energy-starved. I will become leggy, stretching weakly toward any light source, and my growth will be extremely slow as I enter a state of survival, unable to muster the resources for new development.
You may not think about the chemistry of my soil, but I must. I absolutely require a neutral to slightly alkaline soil pH. If the soil is too acidic, it chemically locks up key nutrients, especially iron, making them unavailable for my roots to absorb. Even if you fertilize me, I cannot access the nutrients within the acidic environment. This leads to nutrient deficiencies, evident in pale green or even yellowing leaves, and of course, a complete cessation of growth as I lack the building blocks for new cells.
These are two opposite but equally problematic extremes. If I have been in the same container for too long, my roots may have exhausted the available space and nutrients. They become a tight, circling mass unable to effectively gather resources, severely stunting my growth above the soil. Conversely, if you are giving me too much fertilizer, especially a high-nitrogen blend, you are chemically burning my delicate root system. This fertilizer burn damages my roots' ability to function, halting growth and often causing leaf tip burn and drop.
I am a woody perennial built for warm, sunny climates. My internal processes slow down dramatically when temperatures drop. If I am outdoors in consistently cool weather (below 50°F or 10°C) or placed near a cold draft indoors, I will enter a state of dormancy. In this state, I divert all energy to core survival and will not put forth any new growth until I sense consistently warmer conditions. This is not a problem but a natural response; however, if combined with wet soil, it can quickly lead to fatal root rot.
