My Crappy First Attempt with Dry Sticks
Kept trying to root basil cuttings in plain dirt like everyone says. Dug holes, stuck ’em in, watered every day. Watched ’em turn brown and flop over after like, three days. Felt so mad wasting all those supermarket herbs.
Heard About Wet Guys & Gave It A Shot
Saw some old gardener dude on a forum talking about “wet guys”. Sounded stupid honestly—just soggy paper towels? But my plants were dying anyway so whatever. Grabbed stuff around the house:
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Stuff I used:
- Clear plastic takeout container (washed the noodles out first, obviously)
- Paper towels – the cheap scratchy kind
- Tap water (didn’t even let it sit)
- More sad basil stems from grocery store salad
Here’s how it went down step-by-step:
- Tore off like four big paper towel sheets. Stacked ’em messy.
- Poured water straight from the tap onto the pile till it was dripping.
- Squished out just enough water so it wasn’t a puddle but stayed dark & soaked.
- Chucked this wet blob into the takeout container. Looked like a soggy ghost.
- Cut fresh basil stems with kitchen scissors – snipped off the bottoms again.
- Stuck ’em sideways right into that wet paper towel mess. Shoved the lid on.
- Left it on my windowsill like an ugly science experiment.
Forgot About Them (Classic)
Work got busy. Didn’t touch it for four whole days. Figured they were dead when I finally remembered. Peeled back the lid ready to toss it… Saw little white bumps popping out near the stems! Couldn’t believe my eyes. Roots! Tiny fuzzy white strings!
Left the lid cracked open a tiny bit for air that day. Two days later, roots were longer and actually looking like roots, not just bumps.
Took The Plunge & Planted Them
Got nervous. Didn’t wanna kill my success story. Filled yogurt cups with potting mix. Made a hole. Gently pulled the stems out of the gross, slimy paper towel. They actually held together! Dropped each into its cup, covered roots with dirt. Watered gently.
Checked after two days – still standing. A week later, they grew actual new leaves. Not dead!
Real Talk Results
Tried this wet guy thing with supermarket herbs maybe 10 times now? Basil works best, mint sometimes gets moldy if too wet. Normal dirt method gave me maybe 1 survivor out of 10 tries? Pathetic. With wet guys in the trash tub? Like 7 or 8 actually grow roots. Still cheap. Still lazy. Still works.
Just don’t make soup outta that paper towel. Gross.
