Post by philrz on Dec 6, 2020 15:20:21 GMT -5
I bought some seed pods directly from Aerogarden back in May, 2020 including some of what's supposed to be Genovese Basil. As it started to grow, however, I noticed it looked somewhat different from the ones I've successfully grown in the Aerogarden in the past. Specifically, the leaves seemed very tiny and grew in very dense. I briefly wondered if I had been "over-pruning" it (if that's even a thing), but now that it's had several months to grow out, it seems quite clear that it's just not the kind of plant I was expecting. Doing a little research on the Internet, it seems highly likely that it's actually "bush basil" or some similar variety, though I can't find any record of Aerogarden explicitly selling pods for "bush basil".
What I'm unsure if is if this is expected or perhaps was some kind of mistake at the factory on Aerogarden's part. Has anyone else had their Genovese Basil plants end up looking like this? Knowing they tend to be growing in smaller amounts of space, I could understand if Aerogarden might tend toward more "dwarf"-like plants, though considering how many videos and images there are out there of Geneovese Basil plants growing in Aerogardens that look more like the traditional "big leaf" variety, mine still seems odd. As it turns out, it tastes pretty much fine, though it's a little disappointing that the small leaves make for so many stems. So if I want to make pesto or something, I either need to spend a ton of time picking off tiny leaves or resolving myself to eating lots of pureed stems.
I've already tried the "Contact Us" route at Aerogarden, but no response yet, so I figured I'd check in here to see what others have to say. Here's some pictures of what it looks like at the moment. The left 2/3 of the garden-wide shot is all this one giant bush-like "Genovese Basil" (the right 1/3 is Oregano... unrelated to this post). The second post is a close-up so you can see just how dense and small the leaves are.
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Phil
What I'm unsure if is if this is expected or perhaps was some kind of mistake at the factory on Aerogarden's part. Has anyone else had their Genovese Basil plants end up looking like this? Knowing they tend to be growing in smaller amounts of space, I could understand if Aerogarden might tend toward more "dwarf"-like plants, though considering how many videos and images there are out there of Geneovese Basil plants growing in Aerogardens that look more like the traditional "big leaf" variety, mine still seems odd. As it turns out, it tastes pretty much fine, though it's a little disappointing that the small leaves make for so many stems. So if I want to make pesto or something, I either need to spend a ton of time picking off tiny leaves or resolving myself to eating lots of pureed stems.
I've already tried the "Contact Us" route at Aerogarden, but no response yet, so I figured I'd check in here to see what others have to say. Here's some pictures of what it looks like at the moment. The left 2/3 of the garden-wide shot is all this one giant bush-like "Genovese Basil" (the right 1/3 is Oregano... unrelated to this post). The second post is a close-up so you can see just how dense and small the leaves are.
--
Phil