Have a made a mistake with my Basil?

[JJSH]

I planted some lemon corriander, basil and dill seeds in modules. Now, I've since learnt that corriander hates being transplanted and will bolt, but I've potted it on anyway as more of an experiment really.

However, my basil was comming up, and there were several seedlings per module, so I thinned them down to one per module, choosing to leave the strongest looking one. I've since been told, by a bloke down the pub, that this was a mistake and I should have left several in each module together. Was it? My logic was that a single plant per module wouldn't have to compete for resources

[zazen999]

Both are fine. Don't worry.

[trish60]

I just counted the number of stalks in my supermarket basil bought about 6 weeks ago & there s 36 so I don t think you need to worry about competition.When you use basil yo need quite a few leaves each time.
I take off the tips of the stalks & put in water until they root so I ve got another plant from that one.
I m also growing purple,cinammon,greek,,lemon & thai basil which is doing well this year.

[Jeanied]

I think you will be fine JJSH - I have even succeeded in splitting up the shop bought ones and transplanting those singly onto the lottie - during a nice warm spell. They grew fine. As soon as you get a few leaves on, start picking the top pair as your first harvest - this encourages the basil to grow side shoots and become more bushy. Pinch out the flower spikes as well, until you decide that you want the plant to set seed.

[JJSH]

Righty ho ~ that's good news then! Thanks for the tips.

[tamsin]

I'm going to pot mine up individually. Supermarkets only need the plant to look good long enough to sell and for a short period afterwards. I want the plants to last all summer so they're going to need a bit more space.

[Sheikh Yerboutti]

Im with Tamsin on that one. The supermarket pots are way overloaded and only look good because they are probably raised in clinical temp/ humidity controlled environment, theyre not meant for growing, just fresh eating really. Buy one from a nursery and see how different it looks. That said, I have however split them up and grown on for a while.

[ilikesoup]

i norm pot on 9 seedlings into individual 9cm square pots for using on a window sill, they get to a good size and bush out nicely.