On Fri, 20 Jun 2003 00:36:58 -0500, "Rona Yuthasastrakosol"
wrote:


Both my basil and cilantro plants were from little plants (which seemed
healthy when I bought them). I'm starting to wonder if the soil I used was
not as good as it should have been. It was no-name brand potting soil, and
it had little styrofoam pellets in it. Why would it need styrofoam pellets?
I added some fertilizer to it but I may have also used the wrong kind of
fertilizer. It said it was for vegetable gardens, though, so shouldn't that
be good enough?

Probably not styrofoam but perlite. It's a volcanic mineral that
performs some of the functions of humus/compost in lightening heavy
soil and evening out moisture absorption/retention. It's used in many
potting soils. Don't worry about it.

Sometimes you can harm young plants by over-fertilizing them. Read the
Directions! This is not a case where if a little is good, more is
better. The only thing I can consistently remember about fertilizer is
that the nitrogen component (the first number in the N-P-K labels) is
for leaf growth. Others can be more specific in their recommendations.
Young, non-fruiting plants shouldn't need a lot of fertilizer to start
out with.

The most likely killer was the Roundup sprayed nearby.

As for leaving plants in little pots longer, mentioned in another
post, that's kind of an experience/judgment call. I know what *I'd*
call a basil plant ready to go into the ground, but would be hard put
to describe it. About this high, with healthy leaves about that big.
:-) Leaving some plants (tomatoes spring to mind) in too-small
starter homes makes them root-bound and unhappy. You can pretty well
figure a veg is ready to go into the ground or a big pot when roots
emerge from drainage holes. Or if you can lift it out of the pot and
see roots circling around the surface. Not that you have to wait that
long to transplant.

I completely agree with Pat about growing cilantro from seed. I bought
little dill plants for years that shot up into one spindly stalk and
went to seed within hours, it seemed. I finally sprinkled some seeds
around (in large pots) and let them take their chances. They came up
and grew plenty of fronds for cooking and went to seed in due time to
create more plants. I sometimes (SE Virginia) get 3 generations in a
season. I have less luck with cilantro, but the principle's the same
-- seed it where you want it to grow. It really doesn't take to
transplanting.