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ButterflyGarden
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Location: Beitar Illit, Israel

How and When should I pick my Basil?

I'm growing basil for the first time. How do I know when to pick it? Also, someone told me that if you pick it correctly, basil will grow back every year. Is this true? If it is whats the correct way to pick it?

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somegeek
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Location: Vancouver, WA - zone 8a/b

I harvest mine when it hits about 15-18" high. I cut back to about 8" tall or so just above a set of leaves so they will produce shoots from that point.

As it grows, pinch the center shoots back every two to three leaf sets as when you do, two new shoots will come out at the leaf set just below where you removed the new shoot/bud and by the time the plant is 15-18" tall, there will be many more shoots and a bushier plant than if you just let it grow without pinching back.

This illustrates this pretty well:

[img]https://blog.oregonlive.com/hg_impact/2008/05/large_vern.jpg[/img]

somegeek

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hendi_alex
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Location: Central Sand Hills South Carolina

You can harvest basil just about any time. When very young I steal it by the leaf, just picking a few at a time. When the plant is mature, I pinch the tops back vigorously, because the more you pick, the better it branches and grows.

Basil is an annual but can be carried indoors and overwintered. I have one plant that was planted from seed in the spring of last year. The plant was overwintered in the greenhouse and has been giving a great harvest all this spring and summer. If left outside the tender plant will be killed by freezing temperatures.

Here is my overwintered clump of basil that is in a large approximate five gallon container.

[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3365/3536581068_5aaf05f91b.jpg[/img]

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somegeek
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Posts: 217
Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2009 1:51 am
Location: Vancouver, WA - zone 8a/b

I harvest mine when it hits about 15-18" high. I cut back to about 8" tall or so just above a set of leaves so they will produce shoots from that point.

As it grows, pinch the center shoots back every two to three leaf sets as when you do, two new shoots will come out at the leaf set just below where you removed the new shoot/bud.

This illustrates this pretty well:

[img]https://blog.oregonlive.com/hg_impact/2008/05/large_vern.jpg[/img]

somegeek

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ButterflyGarden
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Location: Beitar Illit, Israel

What does it mean to "pinch out"?

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hendi_alex
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Location: Central Sand Hills South Carolina

Pinch or cut with shears.

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ButterflyGarden
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Location: Beitar Illit, Israel

Do I cut it clean off or just make a cut in it?

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Gary350
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

I pick my basil evey time it flowers. I trim it a few leaved down from where it is starting to flower. It then grows 2 tops where it once has only 1 top. Next time it tries to flower I will have double the number of tops to trim. It then grows 2 more tops so now it has 4 tops where it once had only 1 top. Next time I trim it will grow 8 tops. Next time I trim it will grow 16 tops. When I let it go to seed it makes a lot of seeds because the plant will have over 200 tops.



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