Indoor Gardening

minirhyder

Hello green thumbs!

I'm trying to get a little indoor herb garden going.
I've tried a few times already but my basil plants kept dying :?

Today I purchased basil, cilantro, and parsley plants in small plastic pots. I'm going to put them into a sunny location in my apartment. What else can/should I do?

I have a couple of bigger pots around the house, should I transplant them or keep them in their current pots?
I also have a couple of scallion in a mason jar with water. They've sprouted some roots and are growing and look healthy. Should I plant them in some soil or leave them be?
What are some general best practices wrt indoor herbs and keeping them alive and healthy?

Iruka

Whats your lighting situation? Ate they trying to live off window sun, or do you supplement with lamps?

minirhyder

I'm trying to work with the sun, the living room has two windows and gets a lot of sunlight from morning to around 4-5pm. I'm not sure if that's enough though, so I'm certainly open to supplementing with lamps.

The basil plants that perished before looked quite healthy for a while, before drying up and dying eventually. So I'm not really sure how to interpret that in terms of whether I have sufficient sunlight.

Darkewolfe

While it looks like you get lots of light through the window, the glass drastically reduces the light's value to the plants. That may well be the problem.

Usually, though, you're just over watering. That's the answer to like ninety nine percent of these questions.

amateurhour

just out of curiosity, and only cause you named basil, cilantro, and parsley specifically, did you get that little three plastic pot deal from Dollar General for like $6?

Iruka

I got this thing: https://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-JSV2-2-Foot-Start-System/dp/B0006856EQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1422307189&sr=8-2&keywords=sunlite+garden&pebp=1422307225784&peasin=B0006856EQ

when I was sprouting herbs inside and it worked pretty well. I put it on a timer. Its bright as all hell, so I stopped using it since we dont have a good corner for it anymore.

My basil seems to love the sun, and in fact gets a little leggy on the balcony because it doesn't seem to get enough hours. I think I could grow a bushier plant if I kept it under the light.

minirhyder

amateurhour wrote: »

just out of curiosity, and only cause you named basil, cilantro, and parsley specifically, did you get that little three plastic pot deal from Dollar General for like $6?

I got it at a local farmer's market, but they were indeed $6 for the three of them.

amateurhour

I had trouble with that kit.

I had a ton of basil sprouts which suddenly died and I had to move the cilantro and parsley outside before it would sprout.

Dwolfe had it right though, if you're having trouble you may be over watering. With herbs you can use a mister or spray bottle more easily than a watering cup.

Fiendishrabbit

1. Get a grow light and set it on an automatic timer to activate for a few hours every evening. Basil needs its sunlight.
2. Mist the plant. It doesn't do well with too much water, but it really doesn't like being too dry either. Set your pots on a pebblebed and pour water between the pebbles. Natural evaporation will increase the moisture in the air while keeping the air slightly cooler during the height of the day.
3. It needs good earth with lots of nutrients. Add nutrients to your water every other week or the basil plant will leech the soil. Also. Let your water sit for a while before you water your plant to keep the water room temperature and increasing bacterial growth in the water.

minirhyder

What sort of nutrients should I be adding? Are we talking about something like this?

Fiendishrabbit

minirhyder wrote: »

What sort of nutrients should I be adding? Are we talking about something like this?

No. Not those. Too high in sulfur and phosphor (as are most nutrient solutions aimed at flowering plants). They're not what your plant needs and will also push it to flower early (which isn't what you're trying for).
You need Calcium, Potassium, a lot of nitrogen and a bit of magnesium while still keeping the pH somewhat acidic(pH 6 is ideal).

P.S: NPK balance should be an even 1:1:1 multiple (but not too high. A 4:4:4 is probably ideal) and make sure that it has plenty of trace minerals with a focus on Mg.
P.P.S: While I don't like promoting any sort of specific product, this one seems fine.

minirhyder

So an update. The basil and parsley plants are doing well. I got a lamp, I'm watering them from the bottom, they're sprouting new leaves and everything.

In the same span of time, I've killed two cilantro plants. In about a week's time it wilts and dies. I can't figure out why. I've tried watering it less and watering it more. It's getting the same level of light as the basil and parsley, and since they're doing well I assume the amount of light is sufficient? I've read that cilantro prefers cooler temperatures, but my apartment tends to be on the cool side, so I'm not really sure what the problem could be.

Any cilantro tips? Is it just not as hardy of a plant and doesn't do well indoors?