Parsley and Chervil: Dried Spots on Leaves
Answered by: Inge Poot
Question from: Helen French
Posted on: April 17, 2007

I’m lucky enough to live in an apartment with what my sister calls "the magic window". I’m on the 11th floor and the window takes up most of the wall and faces west (with a mild southerly tilt). I get enough light that I have a 3-year-old rosemary plant that’s ecstatically happy without ever having been outdoors.

Last summer I had some parsley and chervil living in my magic window, and they often developed dried spots on the leaves. (Small 1-2 mm spots on the interior of the leaf.) The leaves were also much paler than the dark green I see at the supermarket. Someone suggested they might be getting too much light. It’s possible I also wasn’t watering enough (since the other magic window residents like things dry). Also, I live in DC, USA so things get hot in the summer (I try to keep the air conditioning to a minimum).

I’m starting some more parsley and chervil plants from seed this year, and am hoping for nice dark green (and ideally super-flavorful) leaves without any spots. What do you suggest?

It sounds to me like too much sun and heat. Place the plants a little back of the others and water them more -that too will keep them cooler.

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