My poor basil plant

Xiomara · Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:30 pm

I just bought a basil plant today, some parts are really tall and developed and others are small and quite a few are wilting, my plant is in a pot maybe two inches in height and three or four in width... I want to know what would proper care be for my little plant? How much sunlight it should get and watering habits. Also, should I cut it down when I want to use leaves or should I just pick leaves off it?

Guest · Wed Oct 03, 2007 12:45 am

Xiomara wrote:I just bought a basil plant today, some parts are really tall and developed and others are small and quite a few are wilting, my plant is in a pot maybe two inches in height and three or four in width... I want to know what would proper care be for my little plant? How much sunlight it should get and watering habits. Also, should I cut it down when I want to use leaves or should I just pick leaves off it?

I just started indoor herbing this summer and Basil (Chia-Herb, and then the small store-bought pots) is one thing I consistently killed. Until I was informed that (a) I must NOT get any water on the leaves or stems (huh?), and (b) it is a naturally very thirsty plant. Thus spraying/misting killed it because of (a), and withholding water killed it because of (b).
- Now I have 3 (from store-bought) larger than 2 feet, and a multitude of babies from seed. I keep accidentally wetting the babies while trying to water the surrounding lettuce, chives, spinach, etc, so I'm not sure they are going to make it after all... "Next time" they will get their own separate pots which I will water only by immersing to just below the soil-line for a few seconds every few days.
- I've red that the way to harvest leaves is to "top" the larger plants, but I haven't done it long enough to see how the plants will ultimately react.
- One thing I have noticed is the apparent "wilting" (which previously caused me to mist them again and again and kill them), is actually an indication of insufficient LIGHT. My huge Large-Leaf Basil is "un-wilting" from the top down as it gets more and more (fluorescent) light exposure.

lillgardnr · Wed Oct 03, 2007 10:54 am

you need to make sure that the pot is deep enough for the roots to grow. I have a lot of potted sweet basil, that do fine with lots of sun and water. if you top the plants you wont enjoy the pretty flowers. I just pick the leave that I think look the best for cooking

[img]https://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t285/nabes1/PICT0514.jpg[/img]
this is my cinnamon basil

[img]https://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t285/nabes1/PICT0516.jpg[/img]
this is one of my sweet basils

Guest · Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:24 am

lillgardnr wrote:you need to make sure that the pot is deep enough for the roots to grow. I have a lot of potted sweet basil, that do fine with lots of sun and water. if you top the plants you wont enjoy the pretty flowers. I just pick the leave that I think look the best for cooking

I have been removing buds before they could progress to flowers because I was told they would drain energy from the plant, and the flavor would suffer drastically, if I allowed it to flower. (I need to figure out how to get more light onto plants in this upper-floor 1BR N-facing apartment)

lillgardnr · Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:15 pm

lillgardnr · Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:16 pm

I've been enjoying my plants for a while now....its been very little work and a lot of fun...they taste great, look beautiful....and when I give a gift basket with home grown veggies I always add a little sage, parsley, basil...and a little flower makes it all the more pretty

I haven't had any problems yet