Growing Holy Basil

[backtofront]

I have been told to prune the flowers off our holy basil (phad krapao). Am I doing the right thing? The more I snip the faster it flowers and I am forever at it. How does one care for the stuff or is it best left alone? How do you farm it? Are bigger leaves better? What do the restaurants look for besides the smell?  

[djayz]

There are a few good tutorials on youtube re how to prune basil (holy, Italien, etc. What's good for one type of basil, is good for the other). Check out this clip for example:

 

 

Re restaurants: I assume they just go to the local market and buy the best of what's on offer. I can't imagine them having strict criteria for something as basic as basil (might be wrong of course). 

 

[backtofront]

It wilts damned quickly. Thanks for the video.

[djayz]

10 minutes ago, backtofront said:

It wilts damned quickly. Thanks for the video.

Re wilt; there's another thread running here in this sub-forum called "Italian (Genovese) Basil" which talks about wilt. I know Italian and Holy basil are two different plants, but they are from the same family so what's good for one should be good for the other. 

You might pick up some answers or tips there. 

 

[grollies]

Holy basil needs to be regularly pruned if you want to keep using it. Otherwise the stems will turn woody and inedible.

 

My little plot.

 

 

[backtofront]

I understand that it loses its flavour if it goes to flower and that it is best to prune once every two weeks. Is that over doing it?

[grollies]

1 hour ago, backtofront said:

I understand that it loses its flavour if it goes to flower and that it is best to prune once every two weeks. Is that over doing it?

Don't let them flower and go to seed, they'll die. They do tend to spread easily though so you should get new plants sprouting up. They also transplant well, dig a plant up, separate it at the root and replant. It'll wilt at first but keep watering and they recover well.

 

Nip off the end shoots before or as they flower, it'll keep sprouting off-shoots.

 

I love krapow daeng.

 

 

[cooked]

On 12/5/2017 at 3:22 PM, grollies said:

Holy basil needs to be regularly pruned if you want to keep using it. Otherwise the stems will turn woody and inedible.

 

My little plot.

 

 

mmm.... I didn't know anyone tried to eat the stems. 

Basil sows itself all over the place in our garden so I don't really bother with pruning, I always have young plants growing like weeds. 

There is a good reason why people grow 'Holy Basil' here and not the Italian variety which I found it difficult to grow back home.