Basil Early

12 years ago

I've posted this in the herb forum but maybe people here have more experience with what I'm experimenting with.

Sometime back in December I decided to try growing basil indoors under grow lights/south window. They have actually done fairly well. Been able to harvest 20-30 leaves about 4 times per week to add to salads. The sweet basil, fino verde and siam queen are reasonably tasty the lime less so.

Anyways if I don't run out of space in my grow light area, which is a real possibility, I was thinking of keeping these basil plants going. Maybe just keep 2 of each variety as mother plants and harvest the rest. Then when the time comes I could take cuttings and rapidly increase the amount of plants. Theoretically these will be mostly sold at the plant sales.

Is this reasonable expectations? Am I setting myself up for cuttings that rapidly want to flower?

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Comments (3)

myfamilysfarm
12 years ago
I don't do cuttings, it's just so easy to start basil from seed.

I have seen/heard people keep basil year around in the window sill in Indiana, zone 5.
seysonn
12 years ago
You can cut back by about 1/3 to manage under grow light.

Starting Basil:

1 - I have started some from seeds. Yesterday I separated and planted them in more pots. Now I have six 4 1/2" pots, each has about 6.

2 - Two weeks ago I bough a bunch of fresh Thai basil and started rooting in water. Now they have roots. I will pot them also into 4 1/2" pots, maybe 2 per pot. The ones started from seed are also Thai (Siames Queen) I will find out which method is better.
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barrie2m_(6a, central PA)
12 years ago
It does start so easy from seed and I think a younger plant has more market appeal. They devide easy also but I often leave 3-4 plants together in many pots and market customers choose the multiple plant pots first. My problem with the 200 cell flats is that I'm watering twice daily until I can transplant all.