Tips for Growing Holy Basil or Tusli

Holy basil or Tulsi is scientifically known as Ocimum tenuiflorum. A perennial erect shrub with aromatic and medicinal properties, it belongs to the botanical family Lamiaceae (Mint family). Though it comes in various varieties, there are two basic types. The one with green leaves is called Sri-Tulsi or Rama-Tulsi.

                                                                                           Rama-Tulsi

And the one with dark purple leaves and purple stems is called Shyama-Tulsi or Krishna-Tulsi.

                                                                   Krishna-Tulsi

Tips for growing Tulsi

• Tulsi is grown by seed sowing method.

• You can buy Tulsi seeds or easily harvest them from the flowering spikes of some old Tulsi plant. If not grown by seed sowing, Tulsi saplings are easily available in any local nursery. Tulsi is most grown plant in Indian nurseries.

• To begin with, you can use a small container as a seedling pot and later transplant the saplings once they seem mature enough.

• Sowing: Fill the seedling container with potting soil and level it. Before sowing, the soil should be just moist but not soggy. Since the seeds are tiny, they are not sown very deep. Just take a few seeds and spread evenly on the loosened soil. Cover the seeds with a thin layer (not more than 0.5 cm) of potting soil, coco peat or compost. Sprinkle water lightly so that the soil does not get washed away. Until seeds have sprouted, keep the soil moist, never allowing it to dry out. You can use a spray bottle for a fine misty spray. Water often enough (usually about once a day) so that the soil surface never dries out, but remains constantly moist.

• Soil & Manure: Tulsi requires aerated, porous, well drained soil with added organic manure.

• Watering: Tulsi plant needs watering every day in summer & every alternate day in winter. Light watering in the form of shower is preferred. Pots must have proper drainage holes. Water logging of containers and swamping the soil is not recommended.

Pruning tips

There is one magic tip to prolonging the life of herb plants like basil or tulsi (holy basil): Pinch the flowers as soon as they appear! 

In botany, herbs are defined as any seed-bearing plant which does not have a woody stem and dies down to the ground after flowering. Plants such as basil basically just grow till they flower and then stop. You can think of the plant as just having crossed the finish line and there's nothing left for it to do. So after flowering, when you keep taking away leaves for your culinary needs, you're weakening the plant whose foliage growth is already inhibited.

On the other hand, by pinching the flowers, what you're doing is effectively pushing the finish line forward, so the plant still runs towards it. So you'll get new growth every time you pinch them off and your plants will be lush and last longer.

Here is a nice illustration which shows how to prune such plants to keep encouraging foliage growth.