Living herb plants

[fantasybookworm]

I bought one of those "living plants", a basil one. I have it in a vase for right now, and it's been in dechlor freshwater since I got it. I pulled a bunch of the leaves off to dry for my greens powder, but I was wondering if it would be safe to pop the whole plant into my freshwater bowl? I know the crabs will probably tear it up & such, but I don't mind if they enjoy it & get to eat some fresh leaves at the same time. I just wanted to double check before I put it in, if it would mess with the water too much or something.

Also, is the whole plant for mint plants safe? I know the food list says the whole basil plant is fine, but just says "mint". One of the stores closer to me has whole living mint plants similar to the basil one I got & I was considering switching them up if I do continue getting them to put in the water. The store where I got the basil has living watercress too, so that'd be another option.

[meg_and_the_zoo]

I'm interested to see if anyone has experience or advice on this. I was thinking of doing something similar once I move mine to a larger tank.


Zoo mom of 3 cats, a dog, a fish and 3 crabs

[CallaLily]

I somehow missed this post. Sorry.

Basil is safe and you could probably plant it in the crabitat. I don't know how well it would do just floating in the fw. (I've never heard of growing herbs in just water - but I'm not the greatest gardener ). It might dirty the water pretty quickly as it starts to die. Planted it might last a little longer....depending on how quickly your crabs destroy it.

I think the whole mint plant is safe. My crabs love watercress! So that would probably go over well.

[fantasybookworm]

I forgot about this post, thanks for bringing it back up, Meg! And thanks for the answer, Calla. I'm definitely going to try out having basil or mint in the water dish at least once & see what happens. If it doesn't work out well, I'll stick with planting them instead & try the watercress in the freshwater bowl instead. I'll let you guys know how it goes when I get a chance to try it! It'll have to wait until I'm moved, I think.

[meg_and_the_zoo]

I saw a few things about alfalfa and chia growing in the substrate and it got me thinking about other plants so I'll be excited to see how they work out for you


Zoo mom of 3 cats, a dog, a fish and 3 crabs

[fantasybookworm]

I have chia seeds to try as well! Celery seed too, but not sure if I have any others right now.