Starting Basil
Basil requires 6-8 hours of sunlight. I live in a trailer that doesn’t get a lot of sunlight because the sun rises over it long-ways. I have a few artificial plant lights that I will be using to ensure my plants are getting enough sunlight.
Interesting fact: Plants adapt to the light that their environment can provide. Plants have a threshold that they can survive within, but because these plants are for eating, we want to get as close to their ideal environments are possible. Houseplants are a little more tolerant than produce, because the only thing affected is their appearance.
If I don’t start my seedlings under the correct environment, they won’t be able to survive outside once I introduce them to a full-sunlight environment.
Basil is a perennial, it’s life cycle is to grow, flower, and then die. A good basil gardener will pinch off the leaves and flowers until the end of the season in order to prolong the life of the plants, which also boosts how bushy the plant will be. As I’ve never started from seed before, I’ll be starting all of these at the same time. If my plants die or have a shorter life span than I expect, I’ll know to start them at different times next year in order to have fresh basil longer.
This is another plant that can also be planted outside under the right environment, so I’ll probably get another pack later in the season.
You can read more about growing basil here.
According to this website Basil has a rather low germination rate, only about 60% of the seeds germinate. Fortunately, packages of Basil seeds usually come with much more than I’ll need. Originally, I was going to plant about 5 seeds per pod, but once I saw how tiny they are, I decided to just sprinkle them through my planter.
My starter pods have a pH of 5.5, but my soil has a pH of 6.5, so I’m going to start my basil in soil as well.
For these guys, I filled the pods almost completely full, and sprinkled the seeds over the pods. I was going to count them out but they’re really small! So once they were sprinkled over the soil, I stirred the soil with my finger before watering.
These guys are going on my washer, under the plant light that I use for my succulents.
A fun fact about plant lights. There are a lot of grower's lights that come in blue, purple or red lights. These are not as powerful as plain white light. When sun shines down outside, the light is white, so your artificial light should be white as well. As you can see in the picture above, these lights are bright enough to let my succulents change color like they would in sun. My guys stretch a little just because I don't have a way to get them lower. But the moral of the story is, you want white light, don't get scammed into getting a colored bulb!