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Vent: my basil died in a plastic pot but the same plant thrived in a cheap fabric grow bag
I kept wondering why my basil kept yellowing and dying on the balcony, and it turned out the roots were drowning in a plastic pot with no air flow. Swapped it into a $4 fabric grow bag from the hardware store on 5th, and the same plant bounced back in about 10 days with new leaves everywhere. The fabric lets water drain and air hit the roots, which the plastic just traps and rots. I lost two rounds of seedlings before I caught on. Has anyone else had luck with grow bags on a small balcony, or is there something even better for herbs in tight spots?
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ryan_flores9d ago
I mean, the fabric bag probably helped, but it's not really the air hitting the roots that saved your basil. Roots don't breathe air from outside, they take in oxygen from the tiny air pockets in the soil, so what the fabric bag actually does is let the soil dry out faster and keep those pockets from getting waterlogged. Plastic traps moisture way longer, which is why your roots were rotting. So yeah, the bag works, but it's more about drainage and drying out than air reaching the roots directly. Bottom watering helps a ton too if you tend to overwater, since the plant only drinks what it needs.
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