The Thai Basil Grow Room

What's happening in the Thai Basil Hot House Grow Room?

Well, it's ALWAYS at least 25 degrees C in here and usually between 70% and 80% Relative Humidity, perrrrfect for all the Thai Basils to thrive. Thai Rama Holy Basil, will thrive up to 38 deg C, as long as it's humid.

I've got both Holy and Sweet Thai Basil in the propagator at the moment. They will remain in there under quite intense blue fluorescent lighting (Promotes root growth and tight node spacing), for another few days, until such a time I can behead them all! 

Two types of Thai Sweet Basil above; Queenette and Batik. Also some Dark Opal Basil to the right, a tray of Rama Holy Basil (Krapow), rear left. And some rocket mid right, for my sandwiches. Tomato plants in the far right. It's a busy ol' propagator.

Question; what light am I using to power the growth of these young plants? As they are quite impressive for just over 10 days old? (from transplanting)

T5 CFL Lighting, in particular Maxibright T5 CFL Lighting.

(Amazon affiliate linky winky)

Queenette, has a more intense liquorice / anise aroma and flavour. The most intense of the sweet basils, the nicest variety in a refreshing Jungle Curry or a warming creamy Panang.

Question: How do I keep such high humidity and temperature?
A heated propagator, come Propagate with me. I'll show you some EarlyGrow Heated Propagators on Amazon.
(With my affiliate paid stinky link.)

Batik has a unique aroma, perfume of some kind, not cloves or anise; it leans slightly towards the classically flavoured Italian/Genovese varieties.

I also grow the Siam Queen variety of Sweet Thai Basil; a very rich flavour, a more meaty aroma, slower to grow, more expensive. I'm not sure it is a true native to Thailand, I believe it was created in the US.

Holy Basil Stir Fry Recipe?

Got any questions about growing Thai Basil? freshthaibasil@gmail.com

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EXPERIMENTS

Ground breaking plant based growth compound, test on a tomato plant.

Does Holy Basil need light to germinate?

What to do with a stuck seed husk.

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MUTANTS IN THE GARDEN

occasionally weird stuff evolves under the pressure of
extreme indoor gardening.

Take this mutant Siam Queen Basil Leaf, it's like two leaves have collided into one.
Wacky little plant!

Interested in Soil?

I've learnt a lot about the soil food web from Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis. They are the authors of best selling soil book "Teaming with Microbes".
If you where to start anywhere, gaining knowledge on beneficial fungus and bacteria in our soil, then make this book a read.