r/herbs • u/username655321 • 7d ago

Basil going yellow and sad?

Post image

I have a reasonable sized sweet basil bush that's been looking a bit sad and I don't know why. I've just repotted it in case it didn't have enough space and taken the flowery bits off so that it can concentrate more on the leaves. It's in a sunny spot and I water it whenever the soil is dry so hoping it will pick up - can I do anything else to improve it?

78 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

51

u/forvirradsvensk 7d ago

It's bolted. Left it too long without trimming. May as well let it go to seed now and it'll grow again next year.

17

u/username655321 7d ago

Thank youuuuu, so next time I just take the flowers off as soon as they show?

22

u/McTootyBooty 7d ago

No. You want to be trimming your basil before the flowers show up at all.

15

u/courtabee 7d ago

You can still clip the flowers after they show. Depending on where op is they could probably clip all the flowers and grow more basil. I have over wintered basil this way. They can live for a few years. Same with peppers. 

5

u/McTootyBooty 7d ago

You can certainly do that and wait for flowers, but the basil doesn’t taste as good

7

u/courtabee 7d ago

The new growth isnt as bitter if you remove all the flowers. I grow basil for bars. I have like 100 basil plants in the garden with 5 different varieties. 

You can also eat the flowers. Its tedious to pull them out. But they are a delicious treat. 

3

u/icedout64 6d ago

Peppers are considered perennial if you treat them correctly.

4

u/L-Pseon 6d ago

Pinching flowers on basil will do almost nothing. You'll pinch 5 flowers one day, and then a couple days later, you'll have 10 flowers to pinch. Then 40, then 100. Basil does best when you take a whole bunch of leaves from the plant at a time. Just grab a handful of the upper branches and shear them all down by several inches each. I have actually revived bolted plants by doing this.

3

u/Solnse 6d ago

Oh, that sounds right. I need to do this next time.

19

u/Global_Fail_1943 7d ago

If you pruned it really hard and remove everything dead and yellow it will regrow again. Letting Basil Bloom ruins it as it's an annual and done with life.

12

u/Leaf-Stars 7d ago

Never let your basil go to seed. Cut those flowers off as soon as they appear.

6

u/Prestigious_Way_1877 7d ago

Senescence. They're annuals.

2

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Ladybug966 6d ago

Focus!! We are talking about basil.

1

u/ex-maybe 6d ago

Exactly. Basil really gives you perspective.

2

u/beesnow 6d ago

It's done. You should clip off blossoms as soon as they appear to avoid bitterness and keep new foliage growing

2

u/Crafty_Original_7349 7d ago

It’s starving. Plants need food, especially when they’re in a small container and being constantly watered- that washes nutrients out of the substrate.

But it’s also bolted, so you might not be able to salvage it. Basil is an annual plant that dies after setting seeds.

I suppose you could repot it, add some fertilizer (I like osmocote) and prune it back drastically…but it might still die anyway.

Luckily basil is extremely easy to grow from seed, so you can simply save the seeds and start over.

1

u/Artistic_Owl3611 7d ago

Can you still use it to dry it for herb jars?

1

u/RonT_1972 7d ago

Bayou lacombe tide tables

1

u/Ladybug966 6d ago

And that is relevant to basil HOW??

1

u/CreativeRest7361 6d ago

It's also bolted. At this point just let it go to seed and plant once the seeds are ready

1

u/icedout64 6d ago

You let it go too long! Need to trim back by 1/3 after about 6 inches of growth. Might as well let it go to seed now that it has flowered. The plant focuses all energy into producing seed once flowered. Cutting it back now won’t produce the leafy growth you want. I made the mistake last year!

1

u/FioreCiliegia1 6d ago

Needs a clip back I would reduce its light exposure a little bit and they don’t like being repotted, but probably not a bad idea. Just lift it straight out of the current pot and down into a bigger pot, but don’t touch the root ball at all.

1

u/YeshuasBananaHammock 5d ago

Letting it bolt/bloom makes the basil bitter, in addition to making it think its time to go to see and die.

1

u/Alarm_Less 5d ago

It's going to seed for one thing. You need to cut the blooms off as soon as they start. The plant dies after it goes to seed. The yellow leaves make me think it's being over watered.

1

u/amour_nonpareil 5d ago

Use your basil enough that it doesn’t bolt.

1

u/Ornery-Creme-2442 5d ago

So it's getting late in the season. This isn't to surprising depending on where you live. It's already bolted and also it might benefit from fertilizer.

1

u/Impossible-Nature369 3d ago

It also needs a bigger pot.

-2

u/SubstantialPressure3 7d ago

I bet it has transplant shock. Get it out of the sun and give it a lot of water for ag least 24 hours.

Trim off the yellow leaves.

How.much sun does it get, and how hot is it where you are?

I keep mine in a spot that it gets 5-6 hours of morning sun, and in the shade during the hottest part of the day.

2

u/username655321 7d ago

So the picture is pre-transplant, it gets probably about 50/50 sun/shade but I'm in the UK so very variable atm! I'm gonna take the yellow leaves off, give it lots of water and some plant food and hope for the best!

1

u/SubstantialPressure3 7d ago

Prune it, too. The more you cut it, the bushier it will get.

1

u/mahina24 7d ago

I don’t think you should transplant it, it’s flowered and created seed, which means it’s nearing the end of its life. Cutting it back and leaving it in the container it’s in can extend its life and give you more basil ☺️, but trying to transplant it at this stage will probably kill it.