Basil

[NattieG]

Hello all

Hope this question isn't going to cause a load of groans............I'm a complete novice gardener (this is our first year of attempting to grow our own fruit and veg) and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be asking loads of dumb questions that just infuriate all you seasoned experts out there! technical terms, therefore, also mean nothing to me!!!

Anyway - some stems on our basil plant appear to be going brown from the bottom upwards and look as if they will eventually die; what is it and how can I avoid this spreading to the healthy stems. I have a feeling it's to do with watering, but I'm pretty sure I'm not over watering the plant (we killed one doing that already!). I only water it when the leaves start to droop (read that somewhere?!) and it's positioned on a good sunny windowsill.

Also - it's gtting a bit leggy - what's the best way to harvest the leaves but also encourage it to get a bit more bushy?!

thanks in advance, and sorry if all this sounds daft!!

Nat xx

[Paulottie]

Hello Nattie
Not sure how big these plants are but it sounds like it might be a soil born disease of seedlings known as 'damping-off.' Although,with larger plants, It could be bad watering, compost should be neither dry nor sodden at any time.(only believe what you read here!) If it is the former you can water with something called cheshunt compound and transplant to fresh compost in clean pots.

To encourage bushyness pinch out tops as basil will resprout from preceeding leaf nodes.

[NattieG]

Thanks! The plant was a supermarket jobby, maybe i'll try repotting it incase the soil was diseased.

[Waffler]

Personally I never find that the supermarket herb pots last very long. That said, I know a lot of grapes propogate their basil from shop-bought plants, rather than growing from seed - which presumably is quite successful, otherwise they wouldn't do it. You might want to try dividing it up in to (don't know, how many guys??) 3 or 4 chunks and repot these separately - especially if you can contain the healthier looking stems.

[Dobby]

sounds like the same prob we had at first are you watering from the top or bottom
we was using to much water and watering from the top
now we put water in the tray and let the plant soake up the water this also encoragers a good root systom
does everyone over water at first

[valmarg]

NattieG, rather than repot the plants, and possibly transfer any disease, cut the tops off the plants and put in a bowl of water. They will form roots quite quickly. You can then pot the rooted 'cuttings' on. You can repeat this process, cutting the tops of the rooted plants, to encourage them to bush out, and rooting the tops. Should keep you going with basil all summer.

valmarg

[NattieG]

Thanks Valmarg - I'll give that a go!

thanks Dobby, I was already watering from the bottom - watering them from the top was how I managed to kill them all last year xxx

[Paulottie]

Interesting method Valmarg...got three tray of the stuff now... but will definitely try that one day. Thanks

[Flummery]

I'm just wondering how the cunning little aphids that I'm daily washing off my home-grown basil on the kitchen windowsill actually got there. There's no other plant in the house with aphids on. I think when you grow basil they just come up out of the compost or up the kitchen sink drain - or out of the air!
Interestingly, they haven't (yet) appeared on the Thai basil.

[Paulottie]

Good question-i'd assume the compost but perhaps the answer is in the name-greenFLY? i rediscovered my thai basil amongst some infested strawberry plants yesterday- no sign of aphids on them-maybe they don't like oriental food!

[Earthbabe]

Problem there Paulottie is that the majority of aphids are wingless, so maybe the winged ones operate a transport system.

[Paulottie]

I don't know- sort of EasyAphid? but they are born pregnant and give birth at a jaw dropping rate so it doesn't take too many to start a colony.

[Earthbabe]

Shame we can't find a natural contraceptive to water them with really.

[Paulottie]

Children are nature's own contraceptive aren't they? Works for us! even if we do get a bit of peace we're normally too tired!

[JazzDuke]

Dark stems on basil needn't be a problem in my experience and is merely a sign of age. But why buy supermarket basil to re-pot? Surely this is a very easy, quick herb to grow and the supermarket ones having been forced are not strong plants.

In case you do want supermarket herbs to grow on I would recommend the organic series in waitrose, I had a mint plant that lived on my windowsill for many years.