Too Many Plants, So Little Space
I have several basil plants growing under grow lights inside the apartment. Like most people, I put several seeds per one grow sponge to make sure at least one of them germinates. Usually, you clip off the weaker seedlings and leave just one but I decided to keep all of them so I often end up crowding the small containers I put them in. The containers I use are random - plastic cups, medicine bottles, glass jars from pasta sauce, milk bottles, etc. I had a phase where I drank a lot of iced coffee in 250ml cup containers so I washed and re-used those cups to grow my plants hydroponically. Many articles online advise against using such small containers but I just use whatever I have and work with what little space I have. But working with 250ml containers means re-filling the nutrients every week and as the plant grows, especially if you have multiple ones per cup, it becomes inconvenient to re-fill the nutrients more often which beats the purpose of hydroponics for me.
Resolution Through Propagation
This didn't turn out to be a big deal when I first tried to propagate basil. In the beginning, I used a rooting hormone but when I was lazy, I just clipped the stems, removed the lower leaves (and used them in dishes), and put them directly into water. They grew roots really fast even without the rooting hormone - less than a week. This is how I started allocating one plant per cup. Once I see two or more plants have grown enough leaves in one cup, I clip them off until only one plant remains in the cup. I soak each clipping in their own respective cups and wait for them to grow roots before adding in some nutrients.
Transferring to Soil Outdoors
Our balcony looked abandoned since we moved to the apartment in autumn last year. When spring came and it got warmer, I decided to move some of the plants outside to make some space in my office which I haven't used for months because it has turned into a jungle. I bought some planters online and thought it would be nice to have a box for herbs. I transplanted the rooted basil plants to the planter with a soil mix (coco coir, perlite, rice husk, and soil).
In the first few days up to a week, I regretted this decision because it seemed like the plants weren't adjusting well with the sudden change from hydroponics to soil and indoor to outdoor. The leaves were droopy and they didn't fill the planter too well (there were some bald spots). A wise person would acclimate them slowly by exposing them outdoors for a few hours each day for some time before leaving them out completely and letting them adjust to soil indoors at first. But while that wise person is a part of me, sometimes the "what if we do this, maybe we learn something new" part of me wins and that's exactly what happened here.
After a week, I stopped regretting my decision. The leaves have some small marks on them and less than perfect compared to when it was growing indoors hydroponically but that is expected. The basil plants have adjusted to their new situation and they are thriving. I noticed that the smell of the leaves have also gotten stronger and more fragrant. In addition to the other plants I placed outside, it became more pleasant to sit outside on the balcony.
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