Herbs Best Practices Question

[delgar]

In the official Aerogarden Herb Guide, it says this about the initial stages of growing:

You do not need to thin your
plants as the AeroGarden
can support multiple plants
in each Seed Pod.

From what I have read, it may be best long term to just leave one stalk growing.

Right now I'm on day 13 and my basil has 5 stalks.  Lavender, mint and dill have more than one stalk but too small to prune (basil always grows quickly I found)

I think I should trim the basil stalks so only one is growing in each pod.  Is that the best practice for long term growth and to not get overwhelmed by basil and to keep it healthy for a while?

[Rialle]

I’m still new to the AG life but I thinned mine (Basil). The other plants in the same pods had brown leaves and were dying because all three had bigger ‘main’ stalks and weren’t letting the smaller ones have any light. So I pruned to one per and they all grow so fast and plentiful that I don’t expect it to be an issue. 

Just my my two cents.

Edit: clarification. 

[Shawn]

delgar,  Most of us here thin the basil down to one plant.  As you may be finding they are getting too bushy to handle.  I have left two ONCE.  It was too crowded. 

Me personally have also thinned my cilantro, parsley, thyme, rosemary.

I have never dill, mint or lavender.  Corinne recently grew lavender, you may want to check out her garden and I believe someone has recently grown mint.

[spideybry]

Aug 7, 2018 4:53:03 GMT -5 Shawn said:

delgar,  Most of us here thin the basil down to one plant.  As you may be finding they are getting too bushy to handle.  I have left two ONCE.  It was too crowded. 

Me personally have also thinned my cilantro, parsley, thyme, rosemary.

I have never dill, mint or lavender.  Corinne recently grew lavender, you may want to check out her garden and I believe someone has recently grown mint.

I know I should be able to find more info on this somewhere either on this forum or google, but is there a best practice for pruning with your AG? There was something in the instructions that mention to keep it from overshadowing other plants.

So pruning and harvesting are two different things? Pruning being the trimming back of leaves and harvesting taking the leaves for use. Should I be plucking certain areas to maximize regrowth?

[Shawn]

You can check the general form for the AG tips and tricks section. There are videos in that thread.

I have picked off just certain leaves without pruningp so the plant does not overshadow others. If that helps.

other than that always ask somebody's bound to assist 😉

[MaryL]

Hi delgar,

I too only leave 1 plant per pod. In fact things can ultimately get so bushy that I usually plant only 3-4 herb pods in the whole deck.  But that’s me. Shawn, for instance, always stays on top of her herbs and so can fit more plants in the machine comfortably.  I typically only grow basil, parsley and cilantro so I don’t know if my experience is applicable to the others.

spydeybry you are correct about pruning and harvesting. And there is definitely a way to prune basil to make it more bushy. The first topping is important, but those that follow will produce more shoots too.  Here is a link to a pruning guide. (Ag guide here

[MaryL]

That’s perfect, thanks Shawn. I had been looking for that under Tips and Tricks but couldn’t find it.

[joe645]

Any suggestions as to why my Parsley edges look a little brown?

[Shawn]

Feb 21, 2019 17:02:39 GMT -5 joe645 said:

Any suggestions as to why my Parsley edges look a little brown?

Do you happen to have a picture?

How much nutes are you giving the garden?  It can be a result of too many nutes.  Or sometimes while harvesting you can rub against new growth and it will turn brown.  I have had both happen to me.

[joe645]

In anticipation to plant cherry tomatoes, I have reduced the (6 pod) garden down to 3 plants, basil, thyme and the parsley. I remember the last time I added nutes I used the original formula of 2 cap fulls. I should probably reduced that down to one.

[clumsythumbs]

I am still new...but I did thin my basil down.  I did a mini experiment with the two basils I had in my recent garden.  One I thinned down to two relatively early, and then once one of them got several inches tall, I eliminated the smaller one.  The second basil, I thinned early.  38 days in and they are relatively the same, although the one I thinned earliest, seems to be the most healthy and has a sturdy root-stem.  My Dill and Parsley never germinated.  I did not thin my Thyme, and now sort of wishing I did, because it is a wild bush (although I love how fecund it looks!). My mint was really slow to sprout (like....almost a month) and did not thin, and it is doing ok, but several germinated late without me noticing and now it is going in odd directions. 

Based on my limited experience, I would say thinning will still leave you with plenty of plant in the end and causes less space issues over time.  I yet to really harvest my herbs, but I have bit pick off large leaves of Basil to garnish here or there are add a kick to my morning smoothie...just to get those huge leaves from blocking its baby siblings underneath.  

Given two of my pods did not germinate, I also took one of the Basils I thinned and stuck it in one of the non-germinated pods, just for kicks. And it has taken off and is doing well.  Oh yes, I also have chives, which I did not thin but have been the fasted and most productive of my herbs. It grows about 2" - 3" a day, some days. 

Sorry this post is rambling.