I snagged a deal on grocery store basil. What sized pot(s) would be best to repot this into as 13 stems is a bit crowded for a 4" pot lol. Trying to keep this lil’ fella happy.
My plan is to overwinter the basil soon and then bring it back on the balcony in the spring.
Probably worth potting on once into a slightly bigger pot, the extra food should encourage some new leaf growth, but in my experience they flower and then senesce.
Don’t split them, the added stress will encourage flowering.
Might be a factor of living well north of the equator and shorter days (Scotland), but overwintering is not something that’s possible for us. It’s an annual plant: grow, flower, seed, die.
Better to sow more seed or buy another supermarket pot and pot in on straight away so it never gets a chance to be stressed by lack of nutrients.
Theyre probably a bit big to separate out now, but what about trying cuttings?
Plant this one into a pot about twice the size, and cut all the stems down to just above the third node. Each cutting should be ‘leaf node - stem - leaf node - stem’. Trim off the bottom set of leaves on each cutting, and soak them all in a jar of water, ensuring the bottom cleaned node is submerged. ( You can leave about half an inch of stem below the second node).
In about 2-3 weeks you should have loads of roots springing from each node, and in 6 weeks you should have a few healthy trays of basil plants growing in pots sized in your picture and a never ending supply of basil.
Bonus: all the leaves left after trimming have on slices of mozzarella with a drizzle of balsamic.
also take a look at companion planting – a classic trio is basil plus something from the nightshade family plus something from the onion genus – ex. basil + tomato + scallions, or basil + chilies + garlic
Well, a much larger pot for sure. One challenge on a balcony is plants dry out much faster than inside due to wind and direct sun. The extra soil will help hold enough water. Basil don’t like getting wilted. Perhaps avoid terracotta too since they dry out even faster due to being porous.
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