Product Review

GROWING ON Once the SECOND set of leaves appears they should be transplanted to their final container. To do this, remove the seedlings from the container they were started in and carefully take out 1 plant. Dibble a small hole in the destination container and plant the seedling making sure not to plant it deeper than it originally was and disturbing the roots as little as possible. Once transplanted they can take up to 90 days to be salable, however they could be planted in the ground after 30-45 days. FEEDING I have found that Holy Basil is similar to other basil varieties in it's feeding requirements. I use a fertilizer injector with Daniel's 10-4-3 plant food set to 50ppm N at a constant feed. For those of you at home, I would use fish emulsion mixed at 1/2 the instructed rate and start feeding the seedlings weekly when the first true leaves appear. Once transplanted I would increase the strength of the fertilizer (to the labeled rate) and feed 2-3 times a week. CONCLUSION Despite the difficult nature, if you follow these general steps you can grow Holy Basil as good as any greenhouse. The largest single requirement for success is patience. We started growing and selling Holy Basil (Tulsi) about 3 years ago and immediately noticed how difficult and slow they can be. They don't really taste that good, at least to me, which is why I'm guessing they have more medicinal and religious significance in India. So, after a whole lot of practice (and dead plants), here's what I've learned to date. These findings generally apply to all of the varieties, but red (Krishna) can be exceptionally painful. GROWTH TIME Start to flowering can take up to 6 months depending on the weather. HARDINESS From what I've heard, in their native habitat they're treated as self-seeding semi-hardy annuals.