Hey,

Ok, I'm a novice gardener living in Costa Rica, Guanacaste to be more precise, where it is hot and dry for half the year, rainy and sunny for most of the rest of the year, and really rainy for a month or two. We are two months into the dry season now.

I've had luck with tomatoes and peppers, but what I really want to grow is basil. It starts and then stops and then dies. I've started it every which way. It sprouts easily but just grows a couple leaves, half an inch or so, and peters out. I've overcome damping off, but it still dies. I moved it out of the intense sunlight. Dead.

The seeds were sent from up North- exotic varieties. Is it possible that they just don't grow here? It's supposed to like it hot, right? A guy said that maybe they expect more hours of light (here it's pretty much twelve and twelve all year round) and I should shine a flashlight on them at night. Could that be it?

I've had no problem cloning the local variety. It's good but I want to try other kinds.

Has anyone had this problem? Please help.

Yours,

Joff