My Basil 7 different kinds

[FILMNET]

This is my best Basil i have ever grown inside under lights , 7 different kinds here , so what should i do with these now? Because i kill them every year before they grow up.

[kath]

Very pretty! Can't say I've ever killed basil- I don't treat them any different than any other transplant, though. What kind of death do yours seem to have suffered? I try to plant them out when all danger of frost is past and they've been hardened off. I try to disturb their roots as little as possible when putting them out and water them in with a little transplant solution. Mostly they've been worry free. The biggest chore is keeping the ends pinched so they don't go completely to seed.

[FILMNET]

I don't know if they need to grow more, before i take them out? Will 1 plant make nice plant in 1 pot? or do i put 3-5 in a pot soon? I may have moved them to pot to soon, or to many plant together?

Lime basil
Mrs Burns basil
Siam queen basil
Ferry-Morse Sweet Basil
Genovese basil
Burpee sweet basil

[kath]

A quick google about planting basil might give you the answers, although there seems to be a lot of conflicting opinion-guess it depends on the size of the pot, the type of basil, how close the plants are, how much and often you'll feed them, etc.

My experience is limited- I grow only bush basil types and tend to give them at least 10" to themselves so they're not crowded, but they might be happy with less space. I'm not familiar with all the types you are growing. I wait until they're sturdy enough and have a couple sets of true leaves before I transplant, but I've never grown so many together in the same cell as you show, as I only need a few plants.

Wish I could be more help- think you'll have to hope for a basil expert, although there appears to be a lot on-line about how to grow basil while you wait for another response.

Hope you have better luck with it this year...that's a LOT of basil!

[akgardengirl]

I don't know what I am doing with basil either but I did start some and just yesterday transplanted each individual plant into a 3 oz. dixie cup. I had a bunch of dixie cups left from several years ago so that is why I used those. I grow in pots so if these make it, I will transplant up to a bigger size.
Sue
PS Filmnet, they were the size of your seedlings.

[b54red]

Unless you have some really big pots most basil that I have grown gets way too big to have any company. If you only want one or two of each variety I would thin out what you have and leave only a couple in each container. Whenever you have days warm enough with no frost danger I would put them outside to begin hardening off. I usually let mine get a good many true leaves and harden them off some before I pot them up to regular styrofoam coffee cups. I then keep them outside as much as possible until all danger of frost is past then set them out in the garden wherever I have room. They do like full sun so if you plant them in a shady area they tend to be small and stunted. Keep the flowering buds pinched off until you are ready to let it go to seed then when the seed pods dry up just strip them off and save the seed for next year.

[FILMNET]

Should I leave them alone for a few weeks, them take maybe 5 -10 each and put into 4in pots, I use 1 gal pots for my herbs when they go outside. I put the pots around my tomato plants they liked it last year. So this is my first year growing Basil. I buy plants the last years and put the plants in a gal pot, I do not know have many plants are in the pots i buy?

[ArcherB]

I do much of my basil in hanging baskets. They seem to do as well there as they do in the ground. Being in Texas though, they have to be watered daily.

[Suze]

FILM, what I do is let the seedlings get the first set of true leaves first, then carefully take a "chunk" that may contain anywhere from 3-5 seedlings and pot that up to a 4" pot. That way I don't have to worry about damaging the little roots trying to tease them apart.

Later on when they start to crowd each other, I select for the best looking seedling by clipping the others off at soil level with small scissors or fingernails. And when that plant is big enough to be potted up to its final destination, it goes into a 2-3 gallon pot depending on the type of basil and how large it gets.

[FILMNET]

Thanks but when i buy Basil there is more than 1 plant in the pots, some times it looks like 3-5 but only 3-5 inch tall.

[tam91]

I transplanted mine last year, without a problem. They were two to a cell - I moved one of them from each cell to another cell, then later put them into the garden. They seemed to do ok.

[roper2008]

Good luck filmnet. Basil is very easy to grow. I am growing Mrs. Burns Lemon,
Genovese, Mammoth, Siam Queen and Lime Basil. The Saim Queen I grow only
for ornamental purpose, it looks really nice next to my peppers.

[nctomatoman]

Like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, once basil has its true leaves - as long as you started them in nice, light fluffy soilless mix - they are simple to tease apart into individual plants. they don't mind being separated and even if you pull the roots about a bit, they recover very quickly. The plants become large, so one plant per gallon pot - in the garden I plant the basil plants 6-8 inches apart....I've put three plants in a 5 gallon pot and it fills in nicely, though it will vary as to type - bush basil of course is smaller than the larger Genovese types.

The only time I've lost basil is in a cell that I found was sitting in standing water - the cell nearly entirely damped off.....because it never could dry out.

[FILMNET]

Thanks Craig I will try soon, i will grow some of each in plastic pots I leave these around the tomato plants in my garden. Its cooler in the bottom there, 10 hrs of clear southern sun in my garden.

[biscgolf]

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

Like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, once basil has its true leaves - as long as you started them in nice, light fluffy soilless mix - they are simple to tease apart into individual plants. they don't mind being separated and even if you pull the roots about a bit, they recover very quickly. The plants become large, so one plant per gallon pot - in the garden I plant the basil plants 6-8 inches apart....I've put three plants in a 5 gallon pot and it fills in nicely, though it will vary as to type - bush basil of course is smaller than the larger Genovese types.

The only time I've lost basil is in a cell that I found was sitting in standing water - the cell nearly entirely damped off.....because it never could dry out.

this pretty much duplicates my experience... they definitely don't mind being separated...