Growing Lavender in Cambodia

If you want to know about growing lavender in Cambodia I have two answers for you. 

The quick answer is lavender is pretty damn hard to grow out here and I don't recommend it unless you are super committed to taking care of it. In fact, you almost need scientific anal retentive accuracy to manage all the variables.

If you're still interested then the long answer is that I can tell you what I've tried, but it's tricky to grow out here because of the heat, humidity, and rain. I've tried to grow lavender a few times but have yet to keep it alive for more than a couple months.

First off, you need to get seeds for the right variety. Most lavender plants grow in places much cooler than Cambodia. In fact, in cooler climates lavender is supposed to be a perennial plant which will show the most growth in the springtime when temperatures start to climb after the winter.  Supposedly Spanish lavender is the best type for growing in the tropics and even that may not last a full year. I have yet to try that particular variety, but now that I’m thinking about it I may add those seeds to my shopping list for the next time I go to the US.

Once you’ve gotten seeds you probably don’t want to just stick them straight into the dirt though.  In order to get the seeds to sprout you may want to store them in a refrigerator for a few days or up to a week and then scarify the seeds (crack the outer shells) in order to get them to germinate properly.  Once you’ve done that plant just a couple seeds in individual small planters that you can transplant to larger pots once they sprout.  You can’t just toss a bunch of lavender seeds in a pot because lavender plants need to be spaced apart and generally won’t grow in tight bunches, especially here in the tropics.

The next issue is that it doesn't like too much water but loves sunshine. So you need to have someplace covered but still with plenty of sunlight and it needs to be in well draining soil. Battambang soil is pretty heavy with clay so don't just plant in the ground, grow it in a pot with a good mix of dirt and other stuff, preferably with a layer of rocks at the bottom of the pot to aid in drainage. A lot of the plant shops in the area sell bags of potting dirt that has a mix of burnt rice husk and chicken manure that should be ideal. I usually start seeds in that mix before potting plants in a mix of dirt, compost, and rice husk. If your soil holds too much water it'll just look really muddy when wet so I'd suggest adding a few handfuls of sand to the mix and maybe some regular rice husk to get it to drain better. Lavender likes hot and dry so you want soil that's just slightly damp under the surface most of the time. It's also an odd plant in that it prefers soil without too many nutrients so be sparing with compost and/or manure.

The last major problem is the humidity. Unless you plan to keep it in a room where the AC never turns off its unlikely you'll be able to keep it very long. Your best bet is to plant seeds right at the end of the rainy season so that you at least can grow it through the dry months. Once the humidity ratchets up it'll start getting mildewy and becomes more susceptible to root rot unless you can manage to keep the humidity at bay.  The solutions I’ve looked into generally include spacing plants further apart and putting pea gravel into the potting mix with mature plants to increase drainage.  Also possibly try treating it with a mild fungicide or compost tea as funguses generally thrive when the humidity goes up.

So, if you’ve got the time and ability to pay ultra close attention to all the details you can grow lavender, but given the complications it may be more cost effective to get ahold of dried lavender and store it someplace dry in your kitchen.