I’ve posted this on another sub and im trying my luck here. It’s been less than a week since ive been with my basil. It’s from a friend and I realy don’t want to disappoint her in taking care of my basil. I live in the Philippines. It gets pretty hot in here and I though watering it daily will be okay. Since it’s been only a week, i thought placing it in indirect sunlight would be enough for now to avoid shock since it’s a change of environment. But leaves are wilting and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. When I check on the soil every morning, it feels dry but cold. I don’t know if thats enough to know that it isnt under watered or overwatered. The way I water it is i water the top soil until it gets absorbed and then do it again. Draining is fine. any insight will be greatly appreciated.
by rimirusensei
12 Comments
Those brown leaves indicate over watering, which is consistent with your daily watering. I suggest easing on the watering and make sure the pot drains properly.
It might be worth repotting it as well to space them out.
This is going to be challenging, I’m very unfamiliar with the sun and humidity of Philippines
Basil should be exposed to a fair bit of sunlight, but I see burn marks so maybe the sun is too scorching and it might be more appropriate to leave it where it gets only morning of evening sun
Watering it every day feels like an overkill, but you say the soil is dry every day? Could it be that the soil is not properly absorbing water and has become hydrophobic? Try this, weight the plant before watering, then weigh again 1/2h after, does the weight significantly increase (an amount that is compatible to the water you poured on it)? If not its hydrophobic soil
Also I water my basil when you touch the leaves on the tallest branch and feel like they’re becoming soft instead of plump
It doesn’t look like your basil is massively suffering in my opinion, just a bit burned or overwatered
Side note, basil benefits from pruning, so when you have tall and leggy branches just cut yourself some basil right above the joint, it’ll grow 2 leaves from there. You can use that basil for cooking or propagate it in water and it’ll root and be plantable again within 2 weeks usually
I agree that it’s over watering. Those are not burn marks.
You can wait to water, the leaves will droop a little bit and let you know it’s time. They bounce back very easily from being underwatered.
Im from ph so im able to help you 🙂 first shade them during noon time and water them during noon too especially if the soil is dry it will help them recover. In my experience basil is able to take extreme heat provided they are old enough and the soil stays moist. Basil is a heat loving plant and humidity loving plant. They are native in south east asia so they are resilient in our climate. Hope this helps 🙂
You have multiple plants in that pot. They are competing for space, nutrients and water. Ideally they would be separated.
You’re definitely over watering. Water until it’s running freely out of the bottom of the pot. The pot should feel heavy after. Wait to water again until the pot is noticeably light and the soil is dry.
You can pinch the stems back to a pair of leaves and the plant will become bushier as it grows back in.
Maybe the soil is too dense and/or is hydrophobic? It shouldn’t feel dry if you’re watering that often. I’m also from the Philippines but even during the hottest parts of summer I don’t need to water my plants everyday, including those by the window. You can also try putting it a little distance from a bright window or under a grow light (the Sansi grow lights are pretty affordable on Shp/Lzd).
I livr in Brazil and here is very humid and hot. It seems that your soil is too compact, that suffocates the roots that need a well aerated soil to breathe oxygen. If not they start dying and to compensate for the lack of water intake it starts shedding leaves. Try buying a ready pot mix, or you can try mixing some sand to the soil that you already have.
Don’t mind people saying is overwatering, you just can’t overwater basil, I propagate mine in water and leave them there for weeks before potting. Also I can tell you can have multiple plants in the same pot with no worries.
Let her hang out till that soil is dry at lease 2 inches down
You might want to put something to airate your soil
Too much water- not enough sun
You’re overwatering the plant. Try to pick up the pot that you just watered and see how heavy it is. Next time you want to water the plant, pick it up. If it’s still weighing roughly the same, don’t water. Next day, do it again, and when you feel the pot is lighter, give the plant some water, ideally until it starts flowing out from the bottom.
That’s one way to figure out when to water the plant.
Basil needs 6-8 hours of direct sun per day. Indirect sunlight isn’t enough, and you’re overwatering it because it isn’t getting enough sun to need daily watering.
Start acclimating it to full sun by putting it outside for a short time and increasing its light exposure over a couple weeks and reduce watering for now to only when the soil dries out a bit.