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What sort of soil do you use? We regularly buy and kill basil plants at TJ’s, and I think I’ve narrowed down the issue to the fact that they give you junky soil
by gnicholas 3y ago
What sort of soil do you use? We regularly buy and kill basil plants at TJ’s, and I think I’ve narrowed down the issue to the fact that they give you junky soil that won’t sustain the plant long (regardless of watering or sunlight).
- asimpletune 3y agoYou need to break apart the basil and distribute it evenly in a larger pot. Supermarket basil has fertilizer that makes them grow super fast and look good on the shelves, but what you're buying is actually a bunch of little plants that will exhaust the nutrients unless they're broken up.
- gnicholas 3y agoInteresting — how do you break the plant apart? It appears to have one “trunk” where it goes into the soil, so do you just pull off “branches”?
- asimpletune 3y agoIf there is really one trunk then you can't break it apart further. However, most basil plants sold at the grocery store are just a bunch of small ones grown closely together. To break it up, just prepare a bigger pot, with potting soil, and then remove the basil from its store-bought container and split it apart with your hands. You want to create a few even groups to go in the new, bigger pot. Ideally, there would be one plant per group, but you don't want to break them up too much and risk tearing the roots too much. I just did four quarters and it's worked fine. I have a huge basil thing now and I did it in a long, skinny rectangular pot.