butsiethesungo
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Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: south louisiana

basil and parsley plant--questions from a noob

At the beginning of the summer, I decided to start an herb garden. I bought some parsely, sweet basil, and thyme seeds. I have had no luck with thyme seeds (I failed twice) :oops:

Despite three months, my parsley and basil plants are still very small (the leaves of my basil plants are small like my thumbnails. :evil: ) I have seen pictures of other peoples basil plants and they are very bushy and large. How come my basil plant is so small? I do, however, have a lot of plants in one pot. Could they be small because of over crowding? And where are the flowers? I have yet to see any flowers on my basil. Is this normal?

Also, a lot of my basil leaves have turned yellow. I read online that this could be caused by over watering, so I have cut down on the watering. I do, however, use a fish oil based spray for fertilizer every two weeks.

Please help!!!

Jeremy

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mcubb
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It's def. because they're over-crowded. That's one of the most fun aspects of gardening IMO - the experiments. I grew basil from seed this summer. Some in small 1by1by like 3 cells, some in 2 in pots, and some in the ground. As expected, the ones in the ground became the largest and fullest in the shortest amount of time. All about spacing.

butsiethesungo
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Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: south louisiana

Overcrowding may be the issue. I took a picture but don't know how to upload it. Currently, I have about 12 plants or more growing in a 2-3 gallon flower pot. Is that too much? :?:

I'm thinking that because its been 3 months, transplanting them may be an issue because the roots are probably intertwined, so I may have to cut some down to the soil. What do you think :?:

Jeremy

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rainbowgardener
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I put ONE basil plant in a 2-3 gallon pot and it gets 3' tall and very bushy and big leaved. It is in potting soil that comes with fertilizer in it, which is supposed to last for the first 3 months. Other than that I never fertilize.

Your basil plants are definitely suffering from over crowding.

Instructions for posting photos are in New to Helpful Gardener, under Helpful Tips and Suggestions for New Members.

butsiethesungo
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Posts: 22
Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: south louisiana

Thank you so much for the advice and agree that overcrowding is an issue. There must be at least 20 basil plants in my pot. I figured that more was better, so I planted most of the bag. That and the seeds were hard to plant one by one :D

Anyhow, I bought some extra pots at walmart today, so I plan to transport a few to those pots and keep one or two in the BIG pot.

And I will follow your advice Marlin and back off on the fish oil fertilizer.
Jeremy



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