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Vorguen
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Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2011 6:55 pm
Location: South Texas

Determine size of pot for plant

My question is, how do I determine the size of the pot for my plant? Specifically I'm growing Oreganos, Basils, and Parsleys. I bought these pots I found at a discount thinking they'd be perfect and my Wife said they might be too small. Theyre about 5-6 inches deep and maybe 4-5 inches in diameter.


what would be a good size pot for something like a basil / oregano / parsley? also as a rule of thumb how do you know what size pot to use for something?


also they don't have drainage holes but I figured I can drill one in with tools so thats not a problem.


and... lastly,

when do I start picking leaves out of my herbs to start using in the kitchen? I know the gist of rotating leaves between the different plants and making sure you don't leave them leafless lol, but what should the plant be looking like by the time you start plucking?


thanks :)

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Vorguen
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Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2011 6:55 pm
Location: South Texas

Anyone know? I'm stuck figuring out if these pots will work

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rainbowgardener
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You are talking about pots they will stay in, not just for seedlings that will be transplanted to the garden? If so, the size of the pot needs to relate to the mature size of the plant. Basil gets to be a fair sized little bush, 2-3 feet tall and almost that wide, maybe even taller in the right climate. So you need a good sized pot for it; I would suggest at least an 8" container, and I usually use bigger than that.

Parsley is a much smaller plant and oregano tends to be more prostrate and drape over the sides. The pots you have would probably work -- ONE plant per pot.

Re the harvest, just wait until your little plant has 6 or 8 true leaves and then you can start clipping some. Just never take more than a third of the plant at one time, and don't do it again until what you took has been replaced, probably plus a little, since you want your plant to keep growing.

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

What rainbowgardener said. :wink:

Plants usually come with distance apart to plant. Seeds come with distance apart to thin or final distance apart (not the initial seeding distance). They also come with mature height info.

"Distance Apart" is generally equivalent to diameter of the mature plant. So, these info will give you a good indication of how big a container you might want to consider, though plants in the ground will generally grow bigger than plants in containers.

Very generalized rule of thumb is not to remove more than 1/3 of the leaves/foliage. So if your basil has 6 leaves, technically, you could take the top two. Pinching off the tip growth encourages the plants to grow side shoots and branches, helping them to grow bushier. Also, if you saw Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, it creates the "Hydra Effect" -- where you had one growing shoot, you will have two, and so on.



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