Thursday, April 26, 2012

moldy basil. now that's appetizing.

I was going to write this post about how awesome my plants are doing (2 basil plants + 2 cherry tomato plants + a generic IKEA houseplant that I resent because I wanted a succulent and Aaron said no). But last night I realized that the terracotta pots my basil plants are in are coated in a thin film of white mold. WHITE MOLD. It's disgusting. I'm actually getting pretty awesome at using bleach to solve all my problems, but I can't help but think that might be a bad idea to use on a pot that contains plants I plan to ingest? I actually dreamed about this last night, except in my dream I stuck a fan near the plants to improve the air circulation. Imagine my disappointment when I woke up and realized we don't own a fan. An emergency IKEA run for new pots might be in order instead...darn. I hate it when I just have to go to IKEA by myself so I can spend all the time I want in that huge building full of Swedish home goodness.

Lesson learned: no more terracotta.

4 comments:

Laura C said...

Oh I miss our IKEA runs :) I could spend all day in that store.

amanda said...

Ew! Our plants from last summer ended the same. Gross. Also, I really want some succulents! And I learned in my environmental health class that bleach doesn't get rid of mold? Like it cleans it obviously but I can't remember all the details of this lecture. You probably know more than I do. Anyways, have fun at Ikea! I was just there... Lovely as always!!

Sara said...

Ugh I'm sorry! I hope that new pots help.
I'm sure you've probably looked all this up, but if not:
http://extension.psu.edu/herbs/all-herbs/basil-sweet
http://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/htm/vegetables_herbs/basil

Jen Jones said...

i had this same problem last year. i heard its not really mold but actually salt deposits. i've also heard you can use vinegar and water spray. i just watered them less and put them in a sunnier window.