basil plant

[hannah333]

Where is the best place to take the leaves from on a basil plant if you want it to carry on growing and producing more leaves?

[rubycabernet]

If you take out the growing tip it will put out side shoots and make a bushy plant.; and more leaves to pick. Basil is not hardy so dont leave it out in the garden. Indoors you may have problems with red spider mite so keep humidity high which helps prevent this. As basil wont like being overwatered the best way to do this is stand it on a tray of pebbles and keep water in the tray thereby increasing humidity.

[WendyS]

I nip the leaves out from the top. This encourages side shoots to grow lower down the plant.
If the plant grows too tall, snip out the top three or four inches of some of the shoots. Put them in water and after about four or five days lots ot little white roots will appear.
You can then plant these cuttings in pots with fresh compost and get lots of new basil completely free.