TITLE: Propagating basil
DATE: 2020-10-10
AUTHOR: John L. Godlee
====================================================================
We have a basil plant in the kitchen, bought from a supermarket.
They always die, but we use a lot of basil in our cooking and I
dislike having to buy a new plant every few weeks. Over time these
store-bought basil plants tend to get leggy and thin out. I looked
around and found a good video on Youtube which demonstrates how to
take cuttings from basil.
[good video on Youtube]:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byoEBdVoVpM
The key is to cut just below a stem node, to take advantage of the
lateral meristem tissue found there to promote root growth.
I suspended the cuttings plants in water for two weeks on a
windowsill, but didn't add any rooting hormone or use growth lamps
as the video suggested. After two weeks there was a good amount of
root growth on most of the cuttings, ~2-4 cm. Out of 10 cuttings,
two died, mainly because they weren't suspended properly in the
water and drowned.
Each cutting was planted in its own tin can, with holes punched in
the bottom for drainage. One problem with the store-bought basil
plants is that they group multiple plants together in the same pot
to give the illusion of a lush, full plant. But this overcrowding
promotes the leggy growth and eventual death.
