Basil stop growing

I kinda ate some of my basil while it’s growing, then it just stopped there.

Is there anything I can do?

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Hi, welcome to the community!

It takes a little time for the basil to regrow. It grows much bushier if you cut off the tip and make the cut above the previous true leaves, like in this video here

once my basil became about 8" tall the leaves started to wilt.What would cause this?

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Hi @pdbowman, welcome!

Could you please provide a picture of the plant?
It would help other growers to see what is happening and possibly give useful advice.

I do not have a picture. I cut off the stems while they were still edible. The plants were very bushy as they emerged but as they grew some stems started to flop over.
When I raised the light to its tallest position, the plants started to get spindly, and more started to flop over and the leaves would get limp and then start to shrivel

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Hi, difficult to say what has caused it, but yes, if the lamp is raised too high right from the beginning, plant stems are weaker and may grow leggy, especially in Smart Garden 3. The lamp should be raised during the plant growth, accordingly.
Next time, if you need a second opinion, definitely send us a pic of your setup, we will be more than happy to help!

Hello, my basil pod is 21 days old, and it is very healthy looking and growing well. However, the tips of a few of the leaves are browned. They’re not close to touching the lamp yet - should I still raise the lamp? Thank you!

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Hi @lauraC
Sorry to hear that! Could you add a picture of the plants and the setup, so we could get a better idea of the problem :slight_smile:

Hello @Mirjam, thank you so much for your response. I’ve attached a photo of the setup and a photo of the leaves that are browning. Hope that helps!

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Hi @lauraC , thanks for adding pictures!

At three weeks basil should be a bit taller than that, could it be that is sprouted a bit later or the temperature is a bit cold for basil?

If the browning is on the first leaves (cotyledons) it is ok, first leaves may die back, that will cause not problems for the plants.

But yes, you may raise the lamp already :slight_smile:

Thanks @Mirjam for the response! I have a second pod growing two weeks behind the first one so I’m hesitant to raise the lamp until I need to. It looks like the browning is just on the first leaves, so I’ll just keep an eye on it. You mentioned that it might be too cold - is there an optimal growing temp for Basil? I live in a cold climate but it’s warm in our house, so I was hoping the lamp would help keep it warm.

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Sure, you can find all that kind of basic plant information on the product page, on the package and also on the app, either under plant catalog or plant profile once you register your plant.

Basil grows best at 18 °C–30 °C/ 65- 86 °F.

I also live in a cold climate, and sometimes it drops near 18 °C during the night. It seems that basil can manage, but needs more time to sprout and does not grow so fast as it could around 24 °C or higher or during our summer. I still get plenty of fresh leaves and that is just enough for my little family.

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Thanks for your help, @Mirjam, I really appreciate it!

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