15
votes
Accepted
Should I trim off flower buds on basil?
If I get your question right, should you pinch the buds of the basil plant before they flower in order to maximize leaf production?
Answer yes. If you don't trim the buds off, then they will flower, ...
- 3,639
13
votes
Is it safe to hard prune my basil plant?
I would suggest a slightly different approach:
Make cuttings from the top(s), that way you will get smaller and compact plants (that you can then prune before they get long and leggy) and with a bit ...
- 16.3k
11
votes
Accepted
"Softening" plants before they go inside?
I've never heard of the need. The issue with hardening is that you're taking a plant in a largely controlled environment with low light levels, and a steady temperature, no wind, to a highly varied ...
- 23.1k
11
votes
A dark blight is eating my Basil. What to do?
That might well be slug or snail damage - given there's lots of leaf litter laying around your plant, you've created a perfect environment for slugs to hide beneath during the day, and then appear at ...
- 132k
9
votes
Accepted
My basil is "rotting", here's all the clues I have gathered
Looks like a heavy whitefly aphid infestation - they're usually underneath the leaves and suck the sap within, causing the leaf to shrivel and die. You can't treat with pesticide because it's an ...
- 132k
8
votes
Basil: Are these aphids, whiteflies or something else?
It's nice to see a post about potential infestation and being able to calm the poster:
These are adventitious root stubs, or in other words, tiny roots starting to form. There are a number of reasons ...
- 16.3k
7
votes
"Softening" plants before they go inside?
Some plants are sensitive to light changes (such as Shark Fin Melon). I think this is partially because Shark Fin Melon is supposed to rely on light changes to know when to set fruit, but even though ...
- 18k
7
votes
Accepted
Can annuals work like perennials if you keep using cuttings?
Well, yes and no, or maybe. Annual plants have one purpose - to grow, flower, be pollinated and fertilized, set seed and die, all in a year. Then there's biennials - these form, usually, a basal clump ...
- 132k
7
votes
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How should I "free" these trapped sprouts?
Leave them be.
They will either pop open by themselves, or die.
If you try to help (well, when I used to try to help) the overall success of the operation tends to be less than just letting them be, ...
- 23.2k
7
votes
Should I try planting my plant in soil?
I've grown basil hydroponically using aquarium water for the nutrients and it looked a lot better than yours which needs a lot more sunlight. In fact most of the basil I see in the supermarket seems ...
- 23.1k
7
votes
Planting too many seeds in small pot
Your plants will have to compete with each other for light, and root space. Because they are so packed and crowded, none of the plants will grow optimal this way. If you just want basil cress, you can ...
- 13.1k
7
votes
Accepted
Is my basil plant dead
Major bummer. Your car got too hot, too much light. Over 85 degrees F the plants 'turn off'...above 90 and they start dying. Your basil is toast, literally.
Take those leaves, lay them out on a ...
- 40.2k
6
votes
Why is my basil doing poorly after I split it a month ago?
You can't actually "split" a basil plant as they grow from one stem. What you probably had is a pot of seedlings / small plants like they are sold in grocery stores or garden centers for cooking. ...
- 16.3k
6
votes
Accepted
Keeping basil fresh as long as possible....should I remove the plastic?
The basil sold in these pots are in fact a dozen or so little seedlings grown just long enough to develop a few leaves. The plastic sleeve serves two purposes: Coralling the small plants which would ...
- 16.3k
6
votes
Why are the leaves of my basil yellowing and falling off?
Basil is an annual even in the tropics. Since its flowering it wants to go to seed. Let it, then collect the seeds for the next crop of basil.
If you plant basil in a large enough pot so that plenty ...
- 6,356
6
votes
Accepted
Can I revive my basil that wasn't watered for a week?
"Worth it" is often personal taste. Of these plants (in those store-bought pots are many young plants, not one), the smaller ones with the large leaves on top will probably bounce back and grow a bit ...
- 16.3k
6
votes
Accepted
Why do people say not to overwater basil, when it grows better in standing water?
Many plants grow fine in water. That's the basis for hydroponics. The main methods are deep water culture, flood and drain, and thin film. They all have in common moving water to ensure that the ...
- 23.1k
6
votes
How close to space sweet basil?
6" tall and droopy sounds like insufficient light...
Spacing depends on your intended use/harvest strategy, IME.
Last year I did mine 9"x9" (23cm) with intention to harvest them younger than my ...
- 23.2k
6
votes
Accepted
Why is my basil plant oozing brown sap?
It looks like a scale infestation. Unfortunately, Basil, being an edible plant, isn't that easy to treat because you can't use heavy duty insecticides, so its probably best to dip a cotton bud or ...
- 132k
6
votes
Can I use ladybug larvae to get rid of aphids?
The Planet Natural's website has good information about the problem. here is some information they have on the subject.
The common ladybug or lady beetle — every school kid’s favorite insect
— ...
- 337
5
votes
Should I prune a basil plant as it's growing?
If you see flowers starting to form, you then need to remove those otherwise the energy of the plant goes into making flowers and not leaves.
It's generally recommended that you want to make your ...
- 23.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Keep plants alive and healthy, but at a reasonable size?
In the case of the Basil, it shouldn't be too difficult to keep it on a small scale by pruning off the tallest stem tips every few weeks. If you see any flowers begin to develop cut those off as well. ...
- 5,849
5
votes
Accepted
Should I try planting my plant in soil?
Definitely the plant needs nutrients (soil or fertilizers). Note there are some liquid fertilizers that can be applied on leaves.
On the other hand, I don't know if such plant will survive on ...
- 14.2k
5
votes
Should I try planting my plant in soil?
Beautiful idea using this bulb. Where did you find this incandescent bulb? An antique store?? Grins. You need to know that water roots are not at all the same as soil roots. You could easily ...
- 40.2k
5
votes
Accepted
What are these tiny reddish brown insects on basil leaves?
Looks like a large number of spider mites. There are the whitish egg cases and webs but I have not seen red spider mites before.
If you want to harvest the basil you cannot use pesticides so 5 ml ...
- 58.8k
4
votes
Accepted
What is this white speck on the leaf of my plant?
Forgetting the name of the bug, these bugs as I call simply milk bugs make these webs under the leaves to have there young. These bugs do eat the leaf so I would wipe them away and see if they return. ...
- 2,582
4
votes
Can annuals work like perennials if you keep using cuttings?
If you use a large enough pot, say 24 inches, you can just let the basil reseed itself, but it depend on the basil. Some basil grow tiny little black seeds that don't drop from the flower hips so ...
- 6,356
4
votes
How do I get rid of white flies on my basil?
I regularly bring home whiteflies on organic farm stand greens. I used to wash those greens in the kitchen sink, and the aphids would fly up to the potted herbs in my kitchen window, and so my ...
4
votes
Can I revive my basil that wasn't watered for a week?
Yes. It is very interesting to see a dry basilicum to improve within few minutes (so you see it in real time).
Basilicum is a plant who originates in dry places, so it will not die, and at first rain ...
- 14.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible