EASY WAYS TO PROPOGATE BASIL
Basil being one of the most loved herbs for home gardeners is easy to grow and regrow giving you more of your favourite herb. This herb is widely used for its spicy clove flavour and essentially used in pastas, pizza, pesto, andsauces.Growing your own herbs is easy, rewarding, and economical too.Basil can be grown by sowing seeds or transplanting seedlings into their garden beds or containers or by cutting.
SOWING SEEDS
Basil can be easily propagated from seeds with proper care and attention.germination, soak them overnight in 1/4 cup of lukewarm water.To help them with germination, you soak them overnight in 1/4 cup of lukewarm water.Sow seeds lightly on top of the soil and cover with one-half inch of soil.Basil doesn’t need light to germinate, but it does need warmth so you can wrap plastic over the top of your pot to keep the soil warm and moist.Once it is germinated, the seedlings will need at least six hours of light each day because it mostly prefers heat.Water gently and keep the soil moist but not wet.
PROPAGATING VIA CUTTING
Basil can be grown from cuttings by the process known as vegetative propagation. Propagating simply means producing a plant that is identical (genetically speaking) to its parent by means of dividing, taking cuttings, etc. Growing basil from cuttings, cuts the growing time by about half. It takes a few weeks to root but once the roots emerge, the plants quickly push out fresh growth for harvesting
Things you would need:
· Pot or containers
· Herb snips or scissors
· Moistened Potting mix (can preferably be soil mixed with manure or compost)
· Basil cuttings
· Clear plastic bag
So to start off with you will need a basil cutting and you can consider
· Purchasing from a nursery for a single piece
· a grocery store for fresh herbs
· or maybe asking a friend who has some healthy basil plants
Take a 4-inch basil cutting right below a leaf node. Remove the leaves off the basil cutting about 2 inches from the end so as prevent the leaves getting rotten. Make sure the basil cutting is a piece that has not yet flowered. Place the basil cutting in a glass of water near the windowside where it can get good sunlight. You can use a clear glass so as to watch your basil propagation grow roots. Change the water every few days until you see root growth.In about 5 to 7 days you should start to see tiny roots forming on the stem of the cuttings. Let the little white roots grow until they’re about 2-inches in length. The entire growing process will take about 14 to 21 days.Once roots are 2-inches, they are now ready to be planted, you can plant your cuttings either indoors in pots or outdoors in a sunny area that has good drainage. Pamper the planted cuttings for the first few days. Keep the plants protected from intense sun for a week or so until they get established. Once they adjust, the little plants will start growing new leaves and shoots. Before you know it, you’ll have an abundance of fresh basil!
PROPAGATING BASIL IN SOIL
Another way that you can propagate basil is by planting the cuttings directly into a potting medium. With this propagation process, you’ll be bypassing the process of letting cuttings root in water.
In both propagating processes, you can use a growth hormone, which is completely optional, that helps the cuttings to root faster.The active ingredient in rooting powder is Indole-3-butyric acid, a chemical otherwise known as chemical auxins.Sprinkle a bit of the powder onto a piece of newspaper. Then just dip the end of the cutting into the rooting powder before planting into the pots. You can go chemical free by not choosing this as we don’t need harsh chemicals in our home gardens and the basil if given proper care will flourish otherwise also.