thomas.r.silverman
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Joined: Fri Jun 07, 2013 1:50 pm

Two questions on basil and mint.

Hello there,

I have two basil plants growing indoors on my windowsill, they seem to be doing well, apart from some of the stems at the very bottom are a brown colour, is this normal? Or is there something I should be doing differently?

My second question is, the basil plants and the mint plant next to it are flowering, should I remove these flowers? My neighbour said I should but I just wanted to check.

Many thanks,

Thomas.

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rainbowgardener
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Location: TN/GA 7b

Both basil and mint tend to get woody at the bottom as the plants age. Window sill sounds like they are in pretty small pots. For the summer, you will get a lot more "product" if you plant them in to larger pots and put them outside. When winter is coming you can take a cutting and put it back in window sill size pots.

Yes to keep the plants producing, you want to cut off flower spikes, cutting just above a leaf node. The plant will branch out at the cut point, causing it to get bushier and produce more leaves.

thomas.r.silverman
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Joined: Fri Jun 07, 2013 1:50 pm

Thanks a lot for that. I originally had the basil outside, but it was prone to getting eaten my a lot of little small white flies, I treated the plants with some bug killer and it seems to have worked, but will this generally stop more flies eating the plants, or just kill them off when they do?

Also my outdoor space gets very little direct sunlight, especially compared to the windowsill where they are, do you think this will be a problem?

Thanks,

Thomas.



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