reviving shop bought basil plants

t14cy_t

 i rescued 7 basil plants from being composted yesterday from my olio lady. they look very sad. any tips to revive them please? if all else fails i will use what i can for pesto. 

fatbelly

Are they sad for lack of water? Or too much? Or being root bound?

As long as they are not completely dead, they should recover if given reasonable growing conditions

elsien

I would repot and split the plants and throw  away the really dead bits. They always cram in too many plants into those supermarket ones. 

-taff

good soak, split, replant, soak again.

RAS

Reduce any spindly bits to one node above the cotyledons, and long growths to say 3-4 nodes. That create a lot of new stronger growth and retard flowering.

myrrh

Basil are very thirsty plants and prefer to be watered from the bottom. I fill the saucers with water everyday for mine.

Savvy_Sue

myrrh said:

Basil are very thirsty plants and prefer to be watered from the bottom. I fill the saucers with water everyday for mine.

I read that they actually like sitting in a saucer of water all the time, if they get the chance! So I do likewise, only mine is in a fairly deep dish. 

I came home from 10 days away to find my plants outside looking a bit sad: one tomato plant in particular looked almost terminal! However, a lot of water later and it's looking almost perky. 

twopenny

Any plant in dry soil which has probably happened to supermarket ones, dunki n a bowl of water so the water covers the pots..
You will see bubbles where air pockets have been in the soil around the roots, Keep dunked until the bubbles stop then put to drain. 
If you just stand them in water it doesn't get rid of the air pockets around the roots and they will die or be poor health 

This works for plant pots too. If big pots sit them in an old washing up bowl and pour a lot of water to the rim. You may need to do this two or three times but you can reuse the water that drains into the bowl which saves time and effort 

t14cy_t

thankyou all, ive been missing in action due to no compouter as got a virus on it!! i cut dead bits off and have watered and left, hoping they will make a recovery!!

aintreemaid

Savvy_Sue said:

myrrh said:

Basil are very thirsty plants and prefer to be watered from the bottom. I fill the saucers with water everyday for mine.

I read that they actually like sitting in a saucer of water all the time, if they get the chance! So I do likewise, only mine is in a fairly deep dish. 

I came home from 10 days away to find my plants outside looking a bit sad: one tomato plant in particular looked almost terminal! However, a lot of water later and it's looking almost perky. 

I love the idea of you sitting in a saucer of water, Savvy Sue!