New to growing herbs (in pots) - running into some troubles!

[SydneyRoy]

Hey all,

First of all thanks in advance for any help you can give me

A few weeks ago I planted some herbs in pots for the first time. They are in an area that gets 3-4 hours of sun a day and I water them every 1-2 days. Things were going very well up until a couple of days ago when I started to notice a few of the plants drooping or falling over on itself. It's as if the stems are getting long and are too weak to support the plant so they fall to the side.

I did some quick googling but wasn't able to nail down the problem for sure. It may be that I need to re-pot the herbs in a bigger pot or something else that I haven't though of.

I took a few photos of my herb pot plant garden so if anyone could direct me on how to save the plants it would be greatly appreciated! The ones with the biggest problems are flat-leaf parsley, coriander and dill. The chives also seem to not be doing fantastically.

All plants:


Parsley:


Coriander:


Dill:


Chives:


Thanks!

Roy

[gumbo2176]

You don't mention where you are and how hot your temps are. I have problems growing parsley and dill this time of year with our heat. I'm in zone 9 in New Orleans and just did put my seed in pots for growing these two herbs in the fall.

Some will go in the garden and some will stay on my back porch in pots for easier access to the kitchen.

[Kisal]

If those little pots (which are cute, btw ... ) don't have drainage holes, then your plants' roots are probably rotting from waterlogged soil. Repot immediately in containers with adequate drainage. Use a good packaged potting mix, not soil from your yard.

Thin, weak stems are usually an indication of either insufficient light, or light that isn't intense enough. Move your plants to a place where they get more light each day. Depending on the weather where you are, you could even move the plants outdoors, but don't put them into direct sunlight right away. Move them so they get a little more direct sun each day. Or, leave them in their present spot and provide supplemental grow lights.

Some herbs just have a hard time indoors, but if you provide the proper lighting, soil mixture, and temperatures, they should do okay for you.

[SydneyRoy]

Ah sorry - I am from Sydney (who would've guessed), we are just coming out of our winter now. Temperatures range from 5-20 degrees Celsius.

The pots do have drainage holes (yes even the little ones heh) so I guess that isn't the issue.

They are actually already outside in our courtyard where they receive 3-4hrs of direct sunlight a day and will still be in the light for the other parts of the day.

I used a potting mix from the nursery to pot them in the first place so that probably isn't the issue either.. thanks for the suggestions though!

What else might cause thin and weak stems?

[rainbowgardener]

Two common things cause thin, weak stems:

not enough light causes stretching, called legginess. The plants start stretching out towards whatever light there is. The stems get longer and thinner, with long stem spaces between the leaves. From the picture, that doesn't really look like what is going on with your herbs.

The other would be damping off. That's a fungal condition young seedlings are vulnerable to. We just had some classic pictures of it posted here:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39404

look at the second and third pictures that show a constriction in the stem just above ground level. When plants lie flat on the soil, that's typically damping off. It is a result of soil staying too moist all the time and not enough air circulation.

Whatever is going on, 20 dC would be ok but 5 dC (41dF) would be pretty challenging for some of them, depending on what conditions they had been raised in. Did you start these from seed yourself? If they had been raised in a nice cozy greenhouse and then suddenly plunked down in 5 degrees, that could be kind of shocking. And 3-4 hrs direct sun is at the low end of what most herbs need. And watering every day or two is probably too much. Most herbs are drought tolerant and don't like too much water. Most potting soils have peat moss and hold moisture. You want to let at least the top inch or so of the soil dry out before you water again. Probably more like once a week. And yes, the pots are too small.

[jeff57]

I'd recommend more light and less water. A fan or open window that would allow the plants to sway will strengthen the stems. Also you can try turning them so they aren't constantly reaching in the same direction for light all of the time.

[TammyGCC]

I think a fan is a good idea. I am not sure about the climate there but wind will strengthen the stems on the plants. Hope this helps. Good luck. I plant herbs. It has just been so hot here in Oklahoma my dill didn't make it and also my cilantro.

[garudamon11]

I can see from the picture that you give them too much water

[Runningtrails]

Those are going to need bigger pots.