Should I prune my basil?

8 Comments

1. 

   bonyenne 4 weeks ago

   On every branch/trunk you are going to take the top third, just above a crotch of 2 leaves (leaving those leaves). Those crotches will branch out into two more branches.

   To propagate you can put those cutoffs into water till they grow roots and then plant them.

2. 

   Canuckistanian71 4 weeks ago

   Cut the stem above a pair of leaves. You can either cut from the top pair, of leaves and cook with those, or further down the stem and keep them in water to propagate – look up pictures for where to cut for best results. Make sure you pinch off any flowers before they open up or it will affect the flavour. I always let mine go to seed at the end of the season so the cycle starts over again.

3. 

   BigTeeSlice 4 weeks ago

   There are lots of good YouTube tutorials for trimming basil to encourage growth

4. 

   AutomaticBowler5 4 weeks ago

   Id say its time. Thats about how big my plants are and I noted last night I need to prune them. If you look at the stem you will see either one of two things. If its just 2 big leaves and a stem then dont prune there. If its 2 large leaves and at the base where they connect to the stem each has a set of smaller leaves then you can prune that one. Those 2 small sets of leaves will fork and become a Y in the branching, doubling your space to grow leaves to harvest. What you cut off you can harvest, stems and all (when they are young and malleable like in your picture).

5. 

   thetimguy 4 weeks ago

   I literally try and pinch my tips every time I think about it or it flowers.

6. 

   Potomacker 4 weeks ago

   yes, and you can thus refer to it as harvesting

7. 

   bikeonychus 4 weeks ago

   Chop the tops off and use them. At the last branching before the cut, the basil will grow 2 new branches.

8. 

   spaetzlechick 4 weeks ago

   Yeah. It’s just smart harvesting though.