From my perspective as a Greek oregano plant, the most common reason I become leggy is a simple, desperate need for more light. I am a sun-worshipping Mediterranean herb, evolved to thrive under the intense, direct sunlight of my native hillsides. My stems grow long and spindly as I literally stretch myself toward any available light source in a process called etiolation. This rapid, weak growth prioritizes height over leaf production to escape shade and reach the energy I need for photosynthesis. If I don't receive a minimum of 6-8 hours of direct, unfiltered sunlight daily, I will become leggy, with large gaps between my leaf sets and weak stems that cannot support a bushy form.
You may see it as harvesting for your kitchen, but to me, it is essential, life-saving pruning. If you are not regularly cutting my stems, you are missing a critical opportunity to direct my growth. My natural instinct is to grow vertically to flower and set seed. By consistently pinching or cutting off my stem tips, you are disrupting the apical dominance—the hormone (auxin) that tells the top bud to grow upward. When you remove that top bud, the signal is broken. This forces me to redirect my energy into growing two new side shoots from the leaf nodes below the cut. Each time you do this, you double the number of growing tips, creating a much denser, bushier plant from my base upwards, rather than one single, lanky stem.
While your intentions to nourish me are appreciated, too much fertilizer, especially high-nitrogen varieties, can ironically weaken my structure. An excess of nitrogen encourages me to produce rapid, soft, succulent green growth at the expense of developing strong, sturdy cell walls. This fast growth exacerbates the leggy appearance and makes me more susceptible to pests and diseases. Similarly, soil that is kept constantly wet does not provide the well-drained, almost dry conditions my roots are adapted to. Soggy roots are stressed roots, and a stressed plant cannot allocate energy efficiently for compact, healthy growth. I prefer my soil to dry out considerably between deep waterings.
It is also part of my natural life cycle for my lower stems to become woody and leafless over time. This is a normal process of maturation where older growth lignifies (becomes wood) to provide stronger support. However, this can contribute to an overall leggy look if not managed. This is why the preventative measure of consistent tip-pruning from a young age is so vital. It encourages me to produce foliage lower down on the plant, covering the older stems and creating a fuller silhouette. If I have become excessively woody and leggy, more aggressive pruning or even propagation from healthy stem cuttings may be necessary to rejuvenate me.
