Removing basil plants from mason jars

TastyErbDerbs

Hi folks,

I recently planted some basil starter plants in mason jars to make a window garden; I find that the basils are struggling a little and would like to repot them in bigger containers.

Is it possible to take the basils out of the mason jars without killing or damaging them? If so, how?

Thanks.

looksee

Did the basil plants have small fibre pots on them that you were instructed to plant, pot and all?
Do the mason jars have any drainage holes?
Is the problem that the jars go narrower round the top?
What kind of compost are they planted in?

A pic would help. How big are the plants? I would suggest you take them out of the mason jar by cutting (use a knife) round the edge of the pot the size of the narrowest part. Use a stick or a finger to ease out the spare compost until you have a rootball that can be lifted out - you will probably have to get your fingers in under the bottom of the plant.

If there does not seem to be any roots in the jar, brush off the compost till you get back to the tiny fibre container, ease off the fibre and replant.

If the plants are huge there is an outside chance they may need re-potting, but you are saying they are not doing very well, just repotting will not improve the situation.

If the pots have no drainage holes and the compost is soggy that is probably the problem. Repot into a pot with a drainage hole.

A bit more information will help us to help you!

Day Lewin

Basil can be a bit fragile indoors: they get viruses, and martyrs to whitefly.

If you have a warm spot out of the wind, fresh air outdoors sometimes helps them.

TastyErbDerbs

looksee wrote: »

Did the basil plants have small fibre pots on them that you were instructed to plant, pot and all?
Do the mason jars have any drainage holes?
Is the problem that the jars go narrower round the top?
What kind of compost are they planted in?

A pic would help. How big are the plants? I would suggest you take them out of the mason jar by cutting (use a knife) round the edge of the pot the size of the narrowest part. Use a stick or a finger to ease out the spare compost until you have a rootball that can be lifted out - you will probably have to get your fingers in under the bottom of the plant.

If there does not seem to be any roots in the jar, brush off the compost till you get back to the tiny fibre container, ease off the fibre and replant.

If the plants are huge there is an outside chance they may need re-potting, but you are saying they are not doing very well, just repotting will not improve the situation.

If the pots have no drainage holes and the compost is soggy that is probably the problem. Repot into a pot with a drainage hole.

A bit more information will help us to help you!

Thanks for that looksee! I don't have a picture at the moment as I'm not with the plants. They were some basil plants I bought from my local tesco which I divided into 4 individual plants and potted in regular mason jars (no drainage holes) with an inch of stones in the bottom of each jar, no plastic pot, just the plant, compost and stones for drainage. I'm not sure of the exact type of compost used as it was given to me by my girlfriend's father, seems to be just run of the mill all purpose compost.

They were doing quite well and I recently trimmed them back to 1 true leaf per stem (was this right? I'm a beginner so I'm not sure). The new seat of leaves haven't grown yet, it's been 4 days, should I be worried? The roots seem healthy and are reaching to the bottom of the jar, however some of the leaves have become yellow in spots.

Any more advice you have on maintaining a basil plant in a mason jar would be greatly appreciated!

TastyErbDerbs

Day Lewin wrote: »

Basil can be a bit fragile indoors: they get viruses, and martyrs to whitefly.

If you have a warm spot out of the wind, fresh air outdoors sometimes helps them.

Thanks for this! I haven't noticed any virus or whitefly yet thankfully...could they be moved outside in the jars? There is a warm spot with good coverage on our terrace.

looksee

Ah right! Buying plants from Tesco that are sold as live herbs and then planting out is a bit fraught with problems. It can work, but. Even if you had not split them they only last a few/couple of weeks then start to look sad. They have been force-grown in very specialised conditions to get that lovely head of fresh basil, you put them on your windowsill - the equivalent of making them camp out and do route marches - and they immediately start to decline.

Cutting them back may help but again, they have been grown for a purpose and may or may not regrow. And as Day Lewin says, they are very susceptible to whitefly, and general wiltyness. (I don't think that is a word!). The parsley seems to do better, basil is very fragile.

Just as a matter of interest, the reference to 'true leaves' only refers to new seedlings that produce two seed leaves then the true leaves.

If you want to grow things in Mason jars I suggest you find some plastic pots that will sit just into the neck of the jar, and plant in the pot. You can then lift the pot out occasionally to make sure the jar is not filled with water. Its not ideal though as when you water the water tends to run through the pot and is out of reach at the bottom of the jar. You really need the pot standing in a small saucer that will collect the modest amount of water that you pour on and reabsorb it fairly quickly into the compost. If you can organise this (think upside down small pot with saucer on top) then the mason jars can be ok.

Edit, if you put the mason jars outside they will fill up with rainwater. There is no end to the problems

TastyErbDerbs

looksee wrote: »

Ah right! Buying plants from Tesco that are sold as live herbs and then planting out is a bit fraught with problems. It can work, but. Even if you had not split them they only last a few/couple of weeks then start to look sad. They have been force-grown in very specialised conditions to get that lovely head of fresh basil, you put them on your windowsill - the equivalent of making them camp out and do route marches - and they immediately start to decline.

Cutting them back may help but again, they have been grown for a purpose and may or may not regrow. And as Day Lewin says, they are very susceptible to whitefly, and general wiltyness. (I don't think that is a word!). The parsley seems to do better, basil is very fragile.

Just as a matter of interest, the reference to 'true leaves' only refers to new seedlings that produce two seed leaves then the true leaves.

If you want to grow things in Mason jars I suggest you find some plastic pots that will sit just into the neck of the jar, and plant in the pot. You can then lift the pot out occasionally to make sure the jar is not filled with water. Its not ideal though as when you water the water tends to run through the pot and is out of reach at the bottom of the jar. You really need the pot standing in a small saucer that will collect the modest amount of water that you pour on and reabsorb it fairly quickly into the compost. If you can organise this (think upside down small pot with saucer on top) then the mason jars can be ok.

Edit, if you put the mason jars outside they will fill up with rainwater. There is no end to the problems

I see, I see, I knew they weren't the best quality plants when I bought them but I was hoping I could convert them into proper lovely basils...I trimmed the back aggressively so hopefully they'll come back up again; all I can do is keep watering and watch with bated breath I suppose!

I wish now that I had potted them in normal pots instead of mason jars, but hindsight is always 20/20 as they say.

One more question before I go looksee, any suggestions for liquid fertiliser for basil? Preferably something that's fairly easy to get, like Gro-Sure in Woodies maybe?

You've been so helpful, thanks a mill.

looksee

You need nitrogen for leaf growth, so look for something with a higher proportion of that. I use very little fertiliser though I probably go to the opposite extreme, so I don't know a lot about it. If you are using potting compost it already has a measure of fertiliser in it, so you should not need any more for a while. I tend to just use something all purpose like babybio for when, or if, I think of it. If you want something to establish roots though you use phosphorous.

Also think of the cost of the fertiliser against the cost of just getting a new basil plant from Tesco!

TastyErbDerbs

looksee wrote: »

You need nitrogen for leaf growth, so look for something with a higher proportion of that. I use very little fertiliser though I probably go to the opposite extreme, so I don't know a lot about it. If you are using potting compost it already has a measure of fertiliser in it, so you should not need any more for a while. I tend to just use something all purpose like babybio for when, or if, I think of it. If you want something to establish roots though you use phosphorous.

Also think of the cost of the fertiliser against the cost of just getting a new basil plant from Tesco!

Thanks I'll have a look around and do a bit of research on fertilizing.

Do you mean getting a new basil plant and dumping the others or...?

looksee

Well that's up to you! There is a challenge that you sometimes just have to see through in rescuing plants - I've done it myself often enough