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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Cinnamon Basil Propagation

Remember the Cinnamon Basil I welcomed to my garden just over a week ago?  Although it was brand new to my garden family, it looked tall enough and I was aching to propagate something.  So I cut about a 6-inch stem, removed the leaves at the bottom and placed it in a glass of water.  I submerged about 2/5 of the stem.  After about 3-4 days, it looked like picture 1:  it already had small roots!  Isn't that cool?  The following day, I moved it to one of those plastic seedling containers.  Check it out in picture 2.  Today, it looks just fine.    I was so happy with the result that I took another look at the mother plant.  It was still tall!  I made another cutting and it's now in a glass of water.  By this Sunday, I can probably plant it again.  So for those interested in propagation, it's not that hard.  I just make sure the mother plant gets enough sun, water and soap solution spray.  I also threw in some diluted "organic fertilizer".  I also pick a leaf every now and then just to smell the nice cinnamon scent.


Cinnamon Basil Care
  • Moist, but not waterlogged soil
  • 6.5 PH soil
  • Lots of sun!
  • Leave 4 leaves after harvest (you know, like when you decide to make pesto).  Harvest anytime.  If you don't harvest often and flowers grow, the plant will stop producing
  • Keep away from slugs and snails
  • Pinch back often.  Personally, instead of pinching just to encourage growth, I'd combine the pinching and the propagation cutting.
  • Fertilize every 2-3 weeks
Cinnamon Basil Use & Benefits
  • Potpourri
  • Companion plant of tomatoes 
  • Repels insects if placed over bowls of food
  • Add to food!  (towards end of cooking)
  • Fights against bacteria 
  • Basil oil is used as preservative 
  • Protects cells from environmental pollutants, free radicals and radiation
  • Massage oil!




3 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:15 PM

    Donner: Inggit ako, I have a feeling my basil is the next one to die. I have an idea... maybe I should send my herbs over and you can give them back to me when they're nice and big for harvesting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hahaha...it's like a plant daycare center

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:54 PM

    Donner: Can't find your blog about propagating basil from a leaf. I tried your method (of taking a leaf and sticking it into soil, is that right?) but it did not thrive, so I placed one into a bottle of water... it has one small root now! Yay! It's amazing to see a root growing out of a small leaf! So I took another one today and put it in the same bottle. Hydroponics rocks! I hope to grow more basil soon! Thanks for the tip!

    ReplyDelete

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