Marley
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Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:10 pm

Parsley help

Hi All
I am a South Australian newbie and posted details in the intro.

I bought a 'herb starter,' this is a rectangular pot about 18" x 10" with some herb potting mix. I have planted 3 varieties of mint and a curly leaf parsley about 2 months ago. The mint looks as it went in, but the parsley is dying off and I have no idea why because apparently these are the easiest herbs to grow.

The pot is in the afternoon sun and I keep it watered but not wet (drowning). The pot has a drainage slit to prevent over watering. I asked the nursery and they have no idea - does anybody?

Thanks
Marley

pepperhead212
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Location: Woodbury NJ Zone 7a/7b

Welcome to the forum!

How deep is the pot? Did the parsley start out well, but then start wilting, and does it come back briefly, after watering? Or is it just dying off totally, as you stated? I ask because parsley, esp. flat leaf, but curly, too, can get root bound very quickly. I had this happen in some windowsill boxes, and the plants each had about 6 qts of soil. They would perk up after watering, but wilt within several hours. And usually parsley is resistant to a little drying out, so this didn't make sense, until I turned the plants out of the pots, and found that solid block of roots!

Other than that, I can't imagine what it would be, since the soil mix comes with something specifically for herbs, and the mint is doing well.

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

Welcome! One other possibility I can think of is that parsley is actually a biennial and only live for two years. If the parsley you bought (this spring) was a well started specimen with rather big and coarse leaves or are the leaves all small and tender? If larger and coarse, it’s possible that it is already in its 2nd year of life. Is it maintaining its rosette form or is it trying to send up flowerstalks?

...I have to admit I haven’t grown Curley parsley in a couple of years, tending to grow flat, so I could be mis-remembering their particular characteristics, though.

imafan26
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Well, the mints will eventually take over the pots, but unless the stem of the parsley starts to get thick it probably is not that old. If this is a self watering planter with a drainage slit, that might be the problem. Parsley does like water, but it will rot if the soil is too wet. I have problem with self killing pots myself so I don't use them.

pepperhead212
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Posts: 2844
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:52 pm
Location: Woodbury NJ Zone 7a/7b

I had a parsley plant in a SIP this season, and it got huge. This is just one plant! Swallowtail caterpillars loved this late in the season.
ImageDSCF0342 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Moist all the time, but well drained, with a lot of air in the soil, from the perlite in the mix. Maybe that's what the mix in that herb starter needs?



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