Herb Experiment Update #3

[a0c8c]

Ok, so it's been a while now, and I've been succesful at keeping all but one pot alive. A Thyme plant decided to uproot itself and die The others are doing wel, atleast well enough with my unfortunately poor lighting situation. But, the good news is, the compost has made a HUGE difference. Remember, I started with a kit from Walmart that came with its own soil. The small red pots are the "kit" dirt and the other two are the kit "soil" + compost and then dirt from outside + compost. The Basil plants are doing great, can't say too much else about the others.

(Please ignore my mess behind the plants)

First up the basil plants. It's hard picking a leader between the two with compost added, but it's definately clear which is losing right now.
[img]https://i49.tinypic.com/2mgqyis.jpg[/img]

Now for the Sage plants, which are very weak and spidery which is dissapointing. I've had to add sticks to keep them upright. I blame my poor lighting, which is my fault.
[img]https://i50.tinypic.com/4hbp1d.jpg[/img]
(the one with the rock is the dirt/compost, middle is kit/compost, then kit)

Thyme. Not much to say here, except they grow extremely slow compared to the other two.
[img]https://i45.tinypic.com/20qjfwk.jpg[/img]

[rainbowgardener]

Very nice! You have shown nicely the difference compost makes. But you are right about the lighting. Your plants are all quite leggy, tall and spindly as they stretch themselves up trying to find more light. It doesn't help to feed them when there's not enough light, it will just make them even more tall and spindly. Add artificial lighting!

[a0c8c]

The basil plants and the sage plants are, with the exception of the "kit" dirt ones, are all the same height as the light now. The basil stems are finlly getting thicker but none of the others seem to want to get thicker

[top_dollar_bread]

The basil plants and the sage plants are, with the exception of the "kit" dirt ones, are all the same height as the light now. The basil stems are finlly getting thicker but none of the others seem to want to get thicker

a small fan will help with thickening the stems and some cfl florescent lights from HD or lowes work very well for indoor plants.
there like 5$
indoor growing can be awarding if you have the right amount of light, good air circulation and some quality potting soil
best of luck

[Duh_Vinci]

I remember you've mentioned your experiment in the other thread, I was actually looking forward to seeing your results - thank you for posting!

Results are very obvious, well done! Pictures speak for themselves! Big difference!

While back, when for the first time I've tried spouting seeds at home with just the "kit mixture", I was very disappointed to see very little progress on the seedlings pass the point of the first set of true leafs. And I guess it makes sense, since generally, kit "mixture" is generally free of any nutrients... So once the nutrients of the seed itself are used by the seedlings, it's growth rate slows down dramatically! And your pictures show how dramatic the difference can be!

My outdoor Basil is all gone, used the last of it this morning for some dishes, time to plant some indoor greens!

Good luck with your progress!

Regards,
D

[Gary350]

I use to grow all of plants from seeds but I have not done that since we moved to the new house 18 years ago. I am going to start all my plants from seeds again this spring. I spent $200 on plants and seeds last spring so this coming spring I intend to save $150.

I discovered that a fan blowing on the plants will keep them from getting stem rot, root rot and other weird things that kill them dead. It also makes them grow better and faster. The fan does not have to blow hard just enough to move the leaves around like a tiny breeze would outside.

I have several bags of composted cow manure that I bought from Farmers Co-op that I will use for growing my seeds starting about the end of Feb or first of March.

Try moving your plants outside in the sunlight during the day if it is warm enough for them. As long as temp is not below freezing they will be fine. Basil does not like it cold. Try putting them near a window inside the house any sun light they can get helps even if it is only a few hours a day.

Grow lights are good but if you have to pay money for lights and electricity it defeats the purpose of growing your own to save money. I use to have 1 grow light it was 100 watts I also had 1 fluorecent light 2 bulbs 4 ft long 40 watts each. Set up some 12" square mirrors around the sides of your plant area to reflect light to the sides of the plants. Be sure your lights have reflectors to direct all the light down to the plants. You can box the plants in with cardboard covered in aluminum foil this directs all the light to the plants. You can buy special reflective material to use in place of aluminum foil. Any light you can direct away from walls, floor, ceiling to the plants will help it makes your tiny light source seem like it is 50 times larger.

[a0c8c]

I use aluminum foil to help reflect light, and the plant bulb burned out so now I'm using a 100w GE bulb. I need to get somethig better, but it's the $20 in gas driving to a city that kills the price. We've had some chilly weather and some freezing so I can't put them outside right now. I'll do better next year, this was mainly to see how well I could get seeds and herbs started so I know what not to do in spring.