A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 Pinching back herbs

I see many suggestions to pinch back herbs...not being a seasoned gardener, this is a pretty scary notion.

I have noticed in the last week or so, my sage and sweet basil starting to look 'leggy' and I guess this is because I haven't pinched them back.

So, now I have sage that is about a foot tall, leaves start at about the 5 inch high mark, but there are only a few leaves between the 5-8 inch area of the plant, and then the head.

The basil is shorter, but I see a similar pattern starting.

How far back can I pinch the plants and not kill them? How many leaves should remain on them so they can still soak up the sun?

And, my final question for now, can I use Miracle Grow on them?

Thanks in advance.

Hi I've never grown sage but I have sweet basil. The pinching back is just taking the two top leaves and pinching them off. that way 4 leaves grow out of that spot and it gets bushier. Then as it develops branches do the same thing to the end set of leaves on those. My basil got 2 feet tall and about 3 feet wide and I was able to harvest 6 inch pieces without a problem.

TK,

You are right, that principle will work for many herbs. I snip mine.



You can use the MG.

HTH

So is it already too late to control the leggy-ness? If I just pinch back the 2 leaves and 4 leaves grow in its place, there will still be a long, mostly barren, stem.

You could do what I do when I let my dill get too long, let it go to seed...

Or are there lower areas that have a lot of leaves? You can cut the leggy parts all the way down to where the leaves are full.

HTH