Growing Holy Basil (Tulsi)

We started growing and selling Holy Basil (Tulsi) about 3 years ago and immediately noticed how difficult and slow they can be. They don't really taste that good, at least to me, which is why I'm guessing they have more medicinal and religious significance in India. So, after a whole lot of practice (and dead plants), here's what I've learned to date. These findings generally apply to all of the varieties, but red (Krishna) can be exceptionally painful.

GROWTH TIME
Start to flowering can take up to 6 months depending on the weather.

HARDINESS
From what I've heard, in their native habitat they're treated as self-seeding semi-hardy annuals.

GERMINATING
For germinating, I use 1201 inserts in standard flats filled 3/4 up with Fafard superfine germinating mix. I can't stress enough the need to use professional sterilized seed starting mix, really, don't make your own. I then spread 30-40 of the seeds in the cell, cover them lightly with a little more soil mix then water them in thoroughly.

All of these, but especially red, can be slow to germinate. Don't be surprised if it takes up to 30 days for them to pop up. The only viable method to help speed that up is to provide bottom heat to bring the soil temp up. It's also quite important for the soil to not dry out or become excessively soggy. For watering during this stage I place the cell in water as opposed to spraying the top of them. If you're in a low humidity environment, like a gas heated house in the winter, a fine mist with a water bottle can help. However, in general I've found that bottom watering ANY plant prevents fungal diseases on the leaves.

GROWING ON
Once the SECOND set of leaves appears they should be transplanted to their final container. To do this, remove the seedlings from the container they were started in and carefully take out 1 plant. Dibble a small hole in the destination container and plant the seedling making sure not to plant it deeper than it originally was and disturbing the roots as little as possible. Once transplanted they can take up to 90 days to be salable, however they could be planted in the ground after 30-45 days.

For wholesale we transplant to Landmark Plastics "sheet of pots". These are 2 1/2" square 3201 type pots that fit in a standard 1020 flat. For local retail and Internet sales we then move these up to 4" round pots.

FEEDING
I have found that Holy Basil is similar to other basil varieties in it's feeding requirements. I use a fertilizer injector with Daniel's 10-4-3 plant food set to 50ppm N at a constant feed. For those of you at home, I would use fish emulsion mixed at 1/2 the instructed rate and start feeding the seedlings weekly when the first true leaves appear. Once transplanted I would increase the strength of the fertilizer (to the labeled rate) and feed 2-3 times a week.

CONCLUSION
Despite the difficult nature, if you follow these general steps you can grow Holy Basil as good as any greenhouse. The largest single requirement for success is patience.

Seed Germination Testing

Whether you operate a professional seed business or collect and save seed for yourself, it's necessary to make sure the seed you are selling or saving are actually viable. There are several ways you can test seeds for germination rates, we use the "paper towel and zip lock" method (maybe I should trademark and patent that)…

In our case, we produce and purchase wholesale seed to package and sell so we track and publish germination rates for every lot of seed we produce (regardless of source). For tracking I've created a database that, in very simple terms, looks something like this:

TABLE: PLANT_MASTER
FIELD: PLANT_ID
FIELD: PLANT_COMMON_NAME

TABLE: SEED_SOURCES
FIELD: SOURE_ID
FIELD: SOURCE_NAME

TABLE: SEED_LOTS
FIELD: LOT_ID
FIELD: PLANT_ID -> Link to PLANT_MASTER::PLANT_MASTER
FIELD: SOURCE_ID -> Link to SEED_SOURCES::SOURCE_ID

TABLE: SEED_GERMINATION_TESTS
FIELD: TEST_ID
FIELD: LOT_ID -> Link to SEED_LOTS::LOT_ID
FIELD: TEST_DATE
FIELD: NUM_SEEDS_TESTED
FIELD: GERM_TESTER

TABLE: SEED_GERMINATION_TEST_RESULTS
FIELD: RESULT_ID
FIELD: TEST_ID -> Link to SEED_GERMINATION_TESTS::TEST_ID
FIELD: NUM_GERMINATED
FIELD: NUM_NOT_GERMINATED
FIELD: NUM_BAD
FIELD: GERMINATION_PCT

So, for the actual test process, you'll need the following:

• Small zip lock baggie.
  
• Paper towel. I use the ones that come in smaller, half size sheets.
  
• Label to put on the baggie, I like the Avery address labels.
  
• Sharpie permanent marker.
  
• Seeds to test
  

Here's a picture of what I start with and the steps to do.

1. Fold the paper towel over in half.
   
2. Fold that half over again.
   
3. And fold it over yet again.
   
4. Moisten the paper towel and spread the seeds to test over it.
   
5. Fold the paper towel over again covering the seeds.
   
6. Place the paper towel inside the zip lock, label the baggie and fold it over.
   

Check the bag every couple days making sure you seal it back up. The paper towel should stay slightly moist but not soggy otherwise the seeds will rot. Depending on the plant it can take anywhere from 2 to 30 days for the seeds to germinate. Once you're confident all the seeds than can germinate have, record the results somewhere (we do in our database) and pack away.

Useless Ladybug House

A couple weeks ago I purchased some ladybugs from www.gardeningzone.com to help keep down the growing aphid population around our plants. If you don't keep something around for them to feed on once the "bad bugs" are gone, they'll leave the area. So, I decided to purchase a Springstar Ladybug house with lures to try to keep them around. At the same time I purchased these "aphid chasers (alarm)" hoping they would help as well.

I sent a question through their website asking if the ladybugs would survive shipment in cold February conditions. Well, it took them a week to get back to me but their answer was basically "they'll be fine". So, I bought 350 of their ladybugs along with the house and the chasers. I ordered on a Thursday, paid 2 day shipping and waited until they shipped the next week on Tuesday (nice guys). After arrival, about 100 of them were already dead, so much for "they'll be fine". I released them and within 24 hours another 100 or so were dead. This is now almost 2 weeks later and I think there are maybe 25 or 30 left alive.

Now, I received this house along with a couple of what they call "lures". I then opened the "aphid chasers" and noticed something strange. The "ladybug lure" on the left of that image came with the ladybug house; the one on the right is what they call the "aphid chaser". Notice anything (like they're the same)!

I'll set aside the apparent scam on the "lure" vs. the "chaser/alarm" but the ladybug "food" that came with the house was spilled all over the place, there were no directions with it and even after I put it up it didn't work. Doesn't really matter if the house works when they're all dead anyways right?

Moral of the story, don't bother with either of them. Get the ladybugs (from somewhere else); let some of them die off so you reach a natural equilibrium of bad bugs vs. predator and move on.

Seed Packing

When I first started gardening, one of the first things I asked was "where do these seeds come from"? Now, I know this seems silly to those that grow plants, but surprisingly there are many people out there that don't know where seeds come from. That's what led me down the path of seed saving for my own use. It started with Peppers, then moved to Tomatoes and then to anything else I could harvest seed from. Then, one day in 2006 I said "hey, can we sell these"? We started packing them up on a small basis and selling them on eBay. The thing was, they sold!

From there we started finding reliable wholesale sources of seed, learned about germination testing and found ways to pack and label so they're in compliance with the federal seed act. The easiest way to start was to use small poly bags to pack the seeds in and use Avery address labels with the information. The biggest reason we use those is because there is very little information on the Internet on where to obtain "real" seed packets. Sure, do a search and you'll find a dozen suppliers of wildflower packets custom designed with your logo. The problem is these are designed for marketing campaigns and based on the pricing I've received there's NO viable way to make any money using them.

So, I contacted Botanical Interests (since I love their packet) and asked where they have them made. And, as most gardeners are, they were more than willing to share the information. Turns out they use a company out of NY named Hamer Packaging. If you call them, ask for Brian, he handles the seed packets (I was quoted 34.95 per 1000, minimum of 5000). While on the phone with him I asked about packing equipment, specifically to automate the filling and sealing of the printed packets. He said there aren't many machines out there for this purpose and those that are sell for $100K. He told me about a "co-packer" in NY named Crosman seed that you send the cleaned raw seed to along with the printed packets and off you go.

Another search for "contract seed packing" yielded Ed Hume Seed Company. I called and spoke with Joe about this service. They can supply the seed, packets or you can and they'll pack them up in minimums of 500 at .07 each. Not a bad option… He also mentioned that they get packets from Cambridge Pacific who I'm going to give a call to tomorrow. Joe said their minimums are lower than Hamer so it's worth asking.

All in all, I have to really thank Michelle at Botanical Interests, she was a tremendous help finding this information. Now that I've done I'm trying to find more information on packing equipment.

Building a seed and plant starting shelf

if you're a gardener, seed starting time is here and if you're like me you never have enough room to start everything. I don't have a ton of space indoors so a couple of years ago I decided to build something for just that purpose. I use heavy duty wire/chrome shelves available from a local DIY store along with fluorescent lights and seed heating mats where necessary. The shelves that come with the unit are 18"x48" which is almost the exact length of a standard 1020 seed flat (within 2 inches). They're wide enough to hold 4 flats on each shelf, so with the above parts you'll have enough to hold 12 total flats. With standard 72 cell starters trays, that's 864 seedlings!

Here's the parts list and retail pricing in the Chicago area:

QTY	ITEM	$ EA.	TOT. $
1	Wiretech 48x18x72 shelf	$59.98	$59.98
8	American Standard PES120ST12-1 Fixtures	$17.99	$143.92
8	Sylvania 6500K Daylight T12 fluorescent lights	$5.98	$47.84
8	Sylvania Gro lux T12 fluorescent lights	$5.98	$47.84
1	Analog Timer	$6.99	$6.99
2	6 Outlet power strips	$2.99	$5.98
		TOTAL:	$312.55

I attached the lighting fixture directly to the shelves using the chain that came with them; however I did cut them down in length to around 4 inches so they're closer to the shelf. It is possible using that method to hang them exactly at the height you want them above the seedlings.

Improvements on the original unit:

• A 5^th shelf that would add capacity for 4 additional flats.
  
• Seedling heating mats to the top most shelf.
  
• Tied off all the wiring nice and clean to the shelf frame using wire ties.
  
• Took the leftover lighting chain to hang yellow sticky traps on each level between the fixtures.
  

Planned improvements on the units:

• Cover the inside of the fluorescent fixtures with Mylar film to improve reflection.
  
• Test alternative bulbs to increase CRI and Kelvin.
  

I chose the fluorescent tubes about for a few reasons, first and foremost is cost. Given the number of bulbs I purchase yearly I needed to maximize growth against the raw cost. Also, I wanted to be able to easily find them at local DIY/hardware stores to avoid shipping cost and damage. I've been using fluorescent tubes for several years to start seedlings and I have found that if I alternate the 6500's and the Gro Lux tubes the plants receive a decent amount of light, the CRI is ok and the cost isn't that bad on a yearly basis.