Growing 3 types of basil

[Esther Knapicius]

Dear Chef, when you get organized with planting places, check out this catalog https://www.kitchengardenseeds.com/ I believe they have 8 types of basil, and lots of other unique variety of seeds. Good Luck to you.

 

[Chuck]

Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers: Halleck, Leslie F.: 9781604697957: Amazon.com: Books

Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers [Halleck, Leslie F.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers

www.amazon.com

 

[sinder]

do my basil have enough light now you think? 125w flower lamp

 

[sinder]

Btw i dont see the point in making forum threads on a gardening forum if you want me to go on amazon to buy a book, then what is the point with this forum if everyones supposed to go buy a book and read it? i though forums was to ask others and learn, not to be told to buy books and read.

 

[Mr_Yan]

yup I am late to this game but here is what works for me - I grow lettuce, bok choy, and basil under lights through the winter using the hydroponic Kratky method.

My rule of thumb - there is enough light if you want to wear sunglasses when you open the plant area. The amount of light should hurt our eyes at first. And the lights need to be close to the plants. If possible have the bulb 10 mm to 20 mm from the growing tips. ** this distance is for LEDs which don't get hot, even a CFL like @sinder is using can get hot enough to burn leafs **

@sinder - the photos don't show the light amount for the plants as the camera and the computer screens don't display it correctly. Also CFLs are sold with a light rating when new but, I am convinced, will dim with age and use.

If the plants look "leggy" then you're not pushing enough light. Leggy is subjective but if you think there is a lot of space between sets of leafs its leggy. Looking at the Genovese basil I have on my front porch (full sun) I have branch sets 30 mm apart and leaf sets on the new growth 10 mm apart.

For lights when growing in doors, until last week, I used standard screw base LED bulbs well into the blue color temperature. The bulbs I used are 9.5 W rated 840 lumen output 5000 K color temp (they sound fancy but were the cheap bulbs at the home center sold in a box of 8 for $10). I then packed 5 or 6 of these over an grow area of 300 mm x 900 mm. And ran them on a timer for about 14 hours on 10 hours off.

Last week I bought a new set of LED tube lights intended for basements and garages. 2000 lumen output per 4' tube, 20 W rated, 6500 K color temp. I plan on using 2 tubes per 300 mm wide grow bed but may have to up to 3 tube and I will place them not more than 300 mm above the "ground level". Under each set of tubes I will have 10 plants.

I also use a set of reflectors around the grow area to keep all that light I paid for going back to the plant. The first generation I used was simply aluminium foil wrapped over and taped to cardboard. Over time I have moved to the foil backed rigid foam insulation as my reflector panels and use it on 4 or 5 sides of the box around my plants.

When growing just one plant, or for my plant starting I use a "nursery bucket". For this I use a white 5 gallon bucket with the biggest light bulb I have in a reflector over it. A cheap clamp on round light bulb holder with reflector sold for shop work lighting is great over a single bucket.

 

[sinder]

The lamp im using now are 2700K Red/Yellow spectrum which are extremly good lamps for cannabis plants. it hurts the eyes looking at it.

i also wired a computer fan to a battery to give the plants a constant wind

But thanks for a detailed information.

 

[Mr_Yan]

@sinder - good call on the fan, air movement and ventilation is key

Lighting is a huge topic with lots of rabbit holes to run down. But if what you have is working stick with it.

There are two absorption peaks on the lighting spectrum for photosynthesis - one over at the blue end of the spectrum and one at the red. Generally, as I understand it, the blue end promotes vegetative growth and the red promotes flowering and budding. Beyond this we need to switch to speaking of wavelengths.

I have some of the LED panels skewed well to the red end of the spectrum and rated at 45 W but no longer use them.

My experience is the lettuce, bok choy, and basil grows better under these 5000 K lights than under the red panels. They still grow under the red panel.

Most of the early indoor home growing has been driven by cannabis where they want buds and flowers. Now commercial greenhouse info and methods are spilling over to the hobbiest home grower for veg. Usually indoor veg wants green growth.

If you want to delve deeper there are several articles by university extension offices here in the US and some one websites like Greenhouse Today and Maximum Yield.

 

[sinder]

@sinder - good call on the fan, air movement and ventilation is key

Lighting is a huge topic with lots of rabbit holes to run down. But if what you have is working stick with it.

There are two absorption peaks on the lighting spectrum for photosynthesis - one over at the blue end of the spectrum and one at the red. Generally, as I understand it, the blue end promotes vegetative growth and the red promotes flowering and budding.

I have some of the LED panels skewed well to the red end of the spectrum and rated at 45 W but no longer use them.

My experience is the lettuce, bok choy, and basil grows better under these 5000 K lights than under the red panels. They still grow under the red panel.

Most of the early indoor home growing has been driven by cannabis, Now commercial greenhouse info and methods are spilling over to the hobbiest home grower for veg.

i had a green spectrum lamp aswell, but it broke when i was screwing the bulb into the socket so i was hoping the red light i had left would help better then those small LED lamps, i bough 3 lamps of those 10-15 years ago that i never used and just been laying there so i was hoping i could get them to be used somehow instead of throwing it away as i probably will never attempt to grow cannabis again, i learned the first time when police raided my house for buying seeds. So my plan was to grow alot of illegal plants 10-15 years ago, but since i never planted the seed into the soil the police were not allowed to take my equipment so its just been laying there.

since i love making asian food and studied food and resturant i will be needing alot of basil, il have to drive 3 hours to get to closest asian store or have to import it which is expensive. so i was hoping this would work.

So if i understand right, Those small cheap 10$ LED bulbs is better then the red spectrum light? not sure how many K a normal household LED lamp are. but i doubt it would be over 2700K?

What if i used both the red spectrum lamp together with a normal LED bulb as the spectrum lamp is creating alot of heat which i think the basil will like since theyre used to 36C?

 

[sinder]

i guess that red light werent no good, the plants is kinda falling down now again. seems like those cheap LED bulbs i used before i installed this red spectrum light was better as the last 24 hours everything is like about to die. i added some fertilizer into the dirt yesterday when i watered them i was hoping that was the issue (not much) and then today the plants is laying down, its like the legs have gotten thinner and just collapsed, But the sun is gonna shine for couple days now so im gonna put them outside and hope they will grow back to healthier stage again and buy some normal household LED bulbs tomorow when shop is open. i dont think the issue is that they was reaching for light the last 24 hours, it feels more like the legs of the plants have gotten smaller like something is sucking them dry which could be the red spectrum light?

 

[Mr_Yan]

@sinder
Falling over and drooping like you listed off will not be caused by lighting. That could be caused by several things - I'd look to over-watering and fungus as concerns.



Can you easily get your hands on basil seeds in the types you want to grow? I don't know where you are but I am guessing northern Europe (and your English is better than most native english speakers when they're on forums, good job)

Maybe the style your trying to grow the basil doesn't work for you. Try a few changes in addition to trying to keep this one.

I view basil as a fast turn short duration plant. It's easier for me to grow 20 or so plants for 5 to 8 weeks then put the ax to all of them and replace with another newly started 20 than it is for me to grow one big bushy plant. If you start successions of plants every week you'll have plenty especially if you're growing. I'm starting another 30 basil plants today and transplated 30 others out about a week and a half ago - I'm about 8 or 9 weeks from my first frost date.

1 - try a wide shallow bucket of soil and sow a bunch of seeds and see if that works for your. I'm thinking something like a breadpan. On the order of 250 mm x 120 mm and 80 to 100 mm deep. Start 10 plants in there. This is far tighter than anyone outside would ever grow but it is a test and you'll harvest them in 5 weeks when they're small anyway.

2 - look into Kratky hydroponics. Go to your favorite search engine and copy paste in "Kratky Hydroponics". This style is great for short lived small plants like lettuce and basil. It will cost you a small amount for nutrient, a small plastic storage bin, and some type of net cup.

Frankly I grow lettuce and basil using this fancy sounding Kratky method in old glass jars on my kitchen window sill. A pasta sauce jar is perfect for my little net cups and I drop a plant in there. Simply top off the nutrient liquid weekly.

read over this article: Kratky hydroponics
read over this article : Growing Hydroponic Basil

 

[sinder]

@sinder
Falling over and drooping like you listed off will not be caused by lighting. That could be caused by several things - I'd look to over-watering and fungus as concerns.



Can you easily get your hands on basil seeds in the types you want to grow? I don't know where you are but I am guessing northern Europe (and your English is better than most native english speakers when they're on forums, good job)

Maybe the style your trying to grow the basil doesn't work for you. Try a few changes in addition to trying to keep this one.

I view basil as a fast turn short duration plant. It's easier for me to grow 20 or so plants for 5 to 8 weeks then put the ax to all of them and replace with another newly started 20 than it is for me to grow one big bushy plant. If you start successions of plants every week you'll have plenty especially if you're growing. I'm starting another 30 basil plants today and transplated 30 others out about a week and a half ago - I'm about 8 or 9 weeks from my first frost date.

1 - try a wide shallow bucket of soil and sow a bunch of seeds and see if that works for your. I'm thinking something like a breadpan. On the order of 250 mm x 120 mm and 80 to 100 mm deep. Start 10 plants in there. This is far tighter than anyone outside would ever grow but it is a test and you'll harvest them in 5 weeks when they're small anyway.

2 - look into Kratky hydroponics. Go to your favorite search engine and copy paste in "Kratky Hydroponics". This style is great for short lived small plants like lettuce and basil. It will cost you a small amount for nutrient, a small plastic storage bin, and some type of net cup.

Frankly I grow lettuce and basil using this fancy sounding Kratky method in old glass jars on my kitchen window sill. A pasta sauce jar is perfect for my little net cups and I drop a plant in there. Simply top off the nutrient liquid weekly.

read over this article: Kratky hydroponics
read over this article : Growing Hydroponic Basil

i have alot of basil seeds left, i bough 3 types of basil online and i got more then i was expecting to get so i can start over, but i wouldnt have that much space to have a big bucket, it would have to fit in the window or in my aquarium, i was hoping a 300Liters fish tank would be something i could turn into a indoor green house. But 2 days ago i added the red light spectrum lamp, then yesterday i added Fertilizer which looks like white balls that dissolves in water after time which i gave all the basil some of and then the next day most of them have just collapsed. Here is 2 pictures taken 5min ago, its still dark outside but the sun should soon come up so hopefully the plants will wake up when the sun come i hope, if not i guess il have to start over. But take a look at these 2 pictures and what do you think about it? would a 300Liter Tank work as a indoor greenhouse. which is 79.2 Gallon according to google.

and yes i live in Europe (Norway) a very cold and rainy place so im probably a bit late to start with outside growing now. will still be sun for another month or 2, but gonna get cold and windy very fast.

i use those old CD covers to move the plants closer to the light.


The white in the dirt is the fertilizer.

EDIT: After reading this it should be possible to make this inside my 80 gallon tank just have to isolate it so water can be contained in it or put a bucket in there which is longer in size. like a flowerbucket we put on fences if you can understand what i mean with that.
( https://www.greenandvibrant.com/the-kratky-method )

 

[sinder]

read over this article: Kratky hydroponics
read over this article : Growing Hydroponic Basil

i bough this eco self watering system in the local store earlier today, will this help and be something close to kratky method. it cost like 50$ but its norway prices so everythings expensive. they didnt sell pH meters but they told me i didnt really need one, but il order one online either way.



EDIT: So if i have understand this right im just supposed to fill dirt ontop of that black filter or am i missing a piece?

 

[sinder]

Ok i went to the store and got instruction on how to use this self water system.
Now i got another question about if i should use the old dirt and basil plants that still looks alive and replant them in the self watering system or put in new soil into the self watering system with new fresh seeds.

 

[Mr_Yan]

You know what @sinder, looking at the plants you have in the photo I think you should look up "seedling damping off". This is a fungus that kills seedlings and is very common when starting seedlings indoors. Usually when growing outdoors the sun and wind keep things in check. The typical signs we see are narrowed / girdled stems then the seedling falls over. Even if the seedling survives it will have reduced vigor while growing.

It seems everyone has a slightly different way to handle / kill damping off.

Read a few things on it and see if your plants match the symptoms.

------

After spending that money on the planter I would start with clean mix and seeds. I have not bought any of the pre-made planters like this but have built several. I know them as Sub-Irrigated Planters, the EarthBox was one of the first ones out there. I've built them for tomatoes out of plastic storage totes or 5 gallon buckets.

 

[sinder]

You know what @sinder, looking at the plants you have in the photo I think you should look up "seedling damping off". This is a fungus that kills seedlings and is very common when starting seedlings indoors. Usually when growing outdoors the sun and wind keep things in check. The typical signs we see are narrowed / girdled stems then the seedling falls over. Even if the seedling survives it will have reduced vigor while growing.

It seems everyone has a slightly different way to handle / kill damping off.

Read a few things on it and see if your plants match the symptoms.

------

After spending that money on the planter I would start with clean mix and seeds. I have not bought any of the pre-made planters like this but have built several. I know them as Sub-Irrigated Planters, the EarthBox was one of the first ones out there. I've built them for tomatoes out of plastic storage totes or 5 gallon buckets.

Thanks, i will start over with fresh seeds and fresh soil in the self water system and try again. i have a old humidity meter i used before for my pet. i was thinking i could put that inside the fish tank to see what Humidity its inside the tank when trying this self water system which then could help me prevent seedling damping if what google just told me is true that basil likes 40-60% humidity?

i have placed the other basil in a flowerpot outside as its supposed to be alot of sun for couple of days. so now these plants are standing outside and been there for about 24 hours now, and getting sun all the time from morning to its gets dark. hopefully that will make them feel better,either way i will start a new batch of basil in the self watering system, but im gonna do my best to keep the old basil alive. then i might be able to learn more about this and prevent it from happening again.

i will continue to figure out what the issue is, but what your saying about seedling damping might be true, i will look closer into it and come back with with a reply on how it went. i could see damp on the glass windows sometimes and ive had these small annoying flies not alot of them but some of it that are close to the basil when i open the door for the fish tank, i didnt think damp would be a issue for plants, the hot red spectrum 2700k lamps + water would cause damp. so you might be right on this. The temprature in the tank after installing the red spectrum light went up to like 28-30C so im gonna drop the red spectrum light and just buy 5 more of those household LED lamps as it seems like it worked better with those lamps.


Thanks