- Regular Harvesting Technique: One approach to growing potted basil involves regular harvesting of the larger, lower leaves. This method allows for continuous production and encourages new growth while maintaining the vitality of the plant. Small, weak plants are removed to promote the health of stronger ones.
- Pruning for Bushier Growth: Another method involves pruning the top of the basil plants to encourage the growth of side shoots from the lower part of the stem. This technique leads to a bushier plant and potentially more harvests, although it requires careful management of plant spacing to avoid overcrowding.
- Repotting and Thinning Out: The third technique involves repotting and thinning out the basil plants. By dividing the root ball into smaller bunches or removing the weakest plants, this method aims to provide more space and resources for the remaining plants to thrive.
- Long-Term Care and Maintenance: In addition to the initial planting techniques, the video discusses the importance of providing basil plants with adequate light, moisture, and nutrients. Regular feeding and appropriate watering are crucial for sustaining growth and ensuring plentiful harvests.
- Observational Follow-Up: After several weeks, a follow-up on the plants shows varying results based on the initial treatment. Plants that were regularly pruned or adequately spaced typically exhibited healthier growth and more substantial yields compared to those that were not managed as attentively.
Video source: Charles Dowding / Youtube
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I also buy them in the beginning of season and plant them out in my green house they become enormous
That's really useful 👍🏽I've had great results with transplanting potted basil to an outdoor tub, splitting the root ball and removing shoots and big leaves, discarding smaller plants. It's given me abundant healthy and tasty basil all summer. 😊 what to do when it gets colder? Just fleece the tub?
For the past 10 years, I've been getting basil in pots here in California, Bay Area, from Trader Joe's (I think its an Aldi relative, but dont quote me on that). Regardless, they have pretty big plants (8") in a decently big pot (maybe 5-6" diameter?). When I'm potting up my tomatoes into their final pot, say, early June, I buy a pot of this, and break it up quite harshly into groups of 3-4 plants each, sometimes just one – depends on how the rootball falls apart really, and how much patience I have. Even with about 1-2 cubic inches of bare roots, the plants will take off and thrive within weeks. You really dont have to worry about these plants at all, even though they seem delicate because of the big, juicy leaves. I do like to take the tops off the plants though when I'm done, which means basically reducing the height by half. Which leaves 2, even three nodes where sideshoots can come from. I give them a water, and that's it. In a month's time, I have 2-foot-high plants that are only limited at that point by sharing a pot with a tomato plant. Essentially, they look like the plants you have in the greenhouse. My only problem is that I dont pick them often enough to maximize their yield. Ideally, one would grow the sideshoots a couple of inches until you can then take the tops out leaving now 4 sideshoots, and so on, continually taking out the tops and totally bushing out the plants. But as I say, I dont use enough, so it often starts flowering, which of course the bees love. And then I dont have the heart to cut the flowers off to deprive them. I have found though that you can pick the flower spikes and pull all the flower buds, flowers and spent flowers off like you would take the leaves off thyme, and then simply sprinkle that as you would the chopped leaves – just as much flavor and less chopping! Better, in some ways. This is closest to your method three, except I take less care, and they get divided even more and go into bigger pots. I dont bother to take out the smaller plants – I dont think its genetics, just they germinated a bit later and the bigger plants had built bigger roots, so they're always the runt of the litter. I have planted these up separately and they did just fine – they dont have as big a setback as the bigger plants. But you generally get like 50 plants per pot, so there's no need to. Being California, of course, I grow them outside, which is a great help. Being in bigger pots helps too, because they rarely go limp from underwatering, even when the soil gets dry. In short, I'd recommend going this route for your greenhouse crop also. It's very cost-effective (and labor effective). These plants really are resilient if given the space. I never really get huge leaves though, as when they came, but that's because like you, the only feeding they get most of the time is the compost they are in. The pot over here costs more like $4 though.
I think my preferred method is taking cuttings and filling one of those rectangular planters with cuttings from one plant. It takes a few weeks before you get a crop but they keep cropping all year from one plant. There is plenty for our personal use. That being said, they are pretty weak. A hint of frost and the supermarket herbs are gone from my experience.
Hi, I actually don't finish your video yet, and Im not that good at english, but I wanted to ask you some questions,
I planting some basils both in my yard and my home garden(pot), it actually different variety with basil that usually i eat, i brought it online and it has wider leave… Some that i grow in my yard grow so good, but somethat i grow in the pot has burned leaves. Soil that i used in my pot actually came from my yard, i treat them same, i gave them organic liquid fertilizer once a week, and also NPK(16-16-16) also once a week (at different day). Idk why, but its really confusing. Its rainy season always in my city because I live in the mountain, my yard grow basil get more water then pot grow basil. Is that affect my basil?
Thanks
I originally came across the idea of using supermarket basil to grow more basil from this video, he however makes cuttings to propagate instead (that could be an option 4 for your video!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byoEBdVoVpM
I instead this summer spent the same 47p on a small pot of basil, I separated each of the 23 seedlings out, potted them up, and remarkably all survived. I've had 4 months of harvesting from them, and for 2p a plant, that's good value! Many of them were in old 2 litre juice bottles and just too many to feed, as such some were starting to die off so I harvested what I could and am drying them for winter storage. I've kept 3 plants in 5 gallon containers and feed those, hoping to have a smaller number of viable bushes. Have taken cuttings as well to hedge my bets over winter.
For the price, that's easier than from seed, as only thinning needed.
We grew way too much basil this year. 🙂 Grew Sweet Genovese from seed and they lived in the conservatory the whole time. We had one plant per 4 inch pot. It seemed to work well. Thanks for the brilliant video. I was unsure about how best to pick so this was very helpful. I've cooked with shop bought basil in the past but this is my first time growing it. I noticed ours seems to have a liquorice/aniseed smell to it when we pick it and the flavour seems odd/strong. Have you come across this before? I don't know what to make of it. I don't remember noticing that from basil we've bought and cooked with in the past. It has me almost wondering about growing it again… All the best Charles!
That was great fun! Thank you.
Great video. What’s the commercial name of the compost?
The Empirical Gardener! I love Genevese because of the small leaves. Saves chopping time.
I split some 3 months ago still producing let the producer do the propagation did not work for coriander
The other day I bought a basil plant like this and thought, hmm who did I watch, a while ago, do an experiment with bought basil. Sure enough, I was delighted to remember it was you (hence quality and no hype)!! So now I know what to do with my plant -division it is. Just to say the session was better than an episode of Miss Marple. The scene is set, the plot thickens, tension builds and then yay – the winner is (without the murder). All done with such ease and natural communication that I feel quite restored to equanimity. Better check out some other of your spring time videos, given its spring here in NZ.
thanks for posting.
❤️❤️❤️From Bulgaria
Thank you! We use a LOT of basil in our home. Pesto is eaten almost weekly. I was just mulling how best to sow and pot up for early summer planting in my garden (southern Ontario Canada). You've given my tired brain a rest. I know what to do now. 😁
That was amazing As I learned something new once again Charles.
You could sit the basil cuttings you pull in water and they'll grow new roots 🙂👍 had to do it when my indoor grown basil had fungal gnat issues
Thanks for doing the Basil plant dividing it for us to see. Your video's are amazing even though I watch them many times. I see different things each time. I started seeds in my house in a sunny window and with in a week they were 2 inches tall. I think it is to cold to put them outside so I planted them in gallon jugs, by cutting off top of jug and using poting soil, and replacing jug top and putting packing tape around the cut jug then put them outside, hopefully they keep growing.
I'm an Englishman, now living in the US, I've been here 2 years, You would never find a pot of Basil for the equivalent of 49p. This would cost around 4 or 5 dollars. Pricing here in supermarkets is absolutely through the roof.
Thank you for taking the time to show us, explain and do the trial! So interesting and helpful.
I tried using supermarket basil this year and potted each sapling on about two months ago. (There were a lot in the £1 pot I bought). I'm now getting about 80g of basil every two weeks. Thank you very much for the suggestion, it's been much easier than growing ~15 plants from seed!
Might try this as I’m really into making my own pesto. No conservatory but some nice sunny windows. I think its a Mediterranean crop and difficult to nurture in the British climate though, particularly as far north as Edinburgh. Love all the content on Charles’s channel and am a no dig convert though, I’ve built raised beds in my garden close to centre of Edinburgh.
I grow basil and followed the advice of a gardener who told me to always water at the base and not above on the surface as the bottom of the stems will go brown, hard and leggy. He also said not to place basil in strong sunlight.
Unfortunately every single basil plant I've ever bought has died on me! I leave it on the windowsill and it dies within days. I've also separated the plants and they die within days too!
I once saw a Danish gardener on telly divide a small flat from a supermarket to fill the ground around her tomatoes in a small greenhouse. She even planted the smallest underdeveloped ones and they all took off. She gave each plant 20 centimetres. I wonder how many grams she harvested from those plants. It must have been a LOT!
interesting… I thought burrying the stems of adult plants could make them rot… is it not a problem with some plant?
Great to know. BTW Charles. The purple basil I let go to seed, dry out in it's pot outside last fall, I saved the dried stems to see if I could get seeds from them. I kept in a small paper bag. Success. 100 seeds. My spouse started 5 in the house and all came up. Exciting for me because I don't have the "green thumb" and I am not allowed to weed the garden. lol. True.
Compost tea. Last fall we made some for the seedling my spouse started from seeds this year. Zone 6b. They are beautiful. I'm checking your channel. Did you do a video on making compost tea? We used rain water and compost tied in a tee shirt. Swirl and squeeze. Saved in gallon glass jugs I recycled. Thank you Charles.
@Charles, have you ever grown Dwarf Greek Basil?