HOW TO PLANT BASIL ON SEEDLINGS: WHERE TO PUT THE SEEDS, HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT LAND FOR SOWING, HOW TO CARE, WHEN YOU CAN MOVE THE SHOOTS OF PLANTS IN OPEN GROUND?

Basil is a spicy herb that is valued for its indescribable aroma and beneficial properties. Many gardeners began to grow this spice in their backyards, successfully applying two main technologies: sowing seeds directly in open ground and seedling method.

About the latter and will be discussed in the article. And also about when it is best to plant seedlings, which varieties of spinach are best suited for these purposes, what pretreatment the grains need, what capacity to use, how to plant and how to care for the seedlings in the future.

When is the best time to plant?

The optimal age of transplanted seedlings should be 45 - 60 days. When is it best to sow seeds for seedlings? To determine the date of sowing the seeds, it is necessary to count the indicated number of days from the expected date of planting in open ground, adding 10 more days necessary for the emergence of shoots.

The estimated date of planting seedlings in open ground depends on the region: in the south of the country basil can be planted as early as April, and in the north in June. Everything depends on weather conditions: the soil should be heated to +15, and the threat of frost should be absent. Consequently, Southerners can begin sowing basil in February, and summer residents of northern latitudes - in late March - early April.

What varieties are suitable for growing?

"Clove". Early ripe variety. The green leaves of this variety are characterized by taste and aroma, vaguely reminiscent of cloves.
"Cinnamon". Purple leaves have a flavor of cinnamon, widely used for making salads.
"Violet". Medium early variety. Its large, red-purple leaves have a persistent aroma of allspice.
"Ararat". Mid-season tall variety with leaves of blue-violet tint, smelling pepper and aniseed.

How to prepare the grain?

Seeds for 1 to 2 days must be kept in warm water, changing water every 10 to 12 hours. In water, you can add, according to the instructions, growth stimulant, for example, "Appin" or "Zircon". Before sowing for disinfection, it is recommended to immerse them for 1-2 hours in a weak solution of potassium permanganate.

Selection of tank and soil for sowing

Pot

Consider where it is better to plant basil seeds. Some gardeners to grow seedlings use unusual methods of sowing spice seeds: someone sows them in a "snail", someone for medical gauze. But novice inexperienced in the garden business is best to resort to the classical method of growing seedlings - sowing seeds in the soil, covered in a container.

As a container, you can use the tools at hand.:

plastic food containers, plastic trays;
craftsmen can put together a box with their own hands from plates, plywood;
Seed cassettes, peat or cardboard cups can be purchased for this purpose.

Important! But all of these containers must be made at the bottom of the hole, which will ensure the outflow of excess fluid in order to avoid rotting of the basil roots.

The selected container should fit easily on the window sill, so this fact should be taken into account when choosing a container. Ideally, the depth of the container should not exceed 7 to 8 centimeters, or the thickness of the soil layer, filled into the container, should be approximated to these indicators.

Land

Basil is better to plant in a loose, nourishing soil, with high air and water permeability. The ideal indicator of soil acidity is pH 5.5 - 6.5.

As for the composition, the substrate should have three essential components: base, baking powder, fertilizer. An integral component placed in the container in addition to the ground should be a drainage layer of expanded clay, pebbles, broken brick, pieces of foam.

Here are a few options for the soil, whose composition is suitable for spicy grass:

Garden land, humus (compost), coconut fiber in a ratio of 1: 1: 2.
4 parts of peat, 2 parts of humus, 1 part of river sand.
Compost, peat, river sand in a ratio of 2: 4: 1.

Landing

Let us analyze step by step the process of exactly how to sow spice seeds..

Prepare everything you need: seeds, container, substrate, drainage, spatula, spray with warm water, alcohol, solution of potassium permanganate, pencil, film (glass).
Pour the prepared substrate onto a baking tray with a thickness of no more than 5 cm and place in an oven preheated to + 75 ° C - 95 ° C for 30 - 40 minutes.
Treat the container with alcohol, rinse the drain in a bright pink solution of potassium permanganate.
At the bottom of the container to fill the drainage (2 cm), then - the soil that needs to be leveled and well moistened.
Liquid fertilizers can be applied: half a teaspoon of superphosphate, potassium sulfate, potassium chloride and urea are dissolved in 5 liters of distilled water.
With the help of a pencil by the method of pressing in the top layer of the soil, grooves are made with a depth of 0.5 cm in which the seeds are placed. You can simply lay them out on the surface of the substrate.
Seeds should be tipped with earth (5 - 10 mm).
The top layer is crushed by hand, you need to make sure that the seeds are not on the surface.
The container is tightened with a film (covered with glass) and placed in a shade and a warm place (+ 25С - + 28С).

We offer you to watch a video about planting basil seeds for seedlings:

The distance between seedlings and whether to thin out?

There are 2 options, how to maintain the required distance between the shoots of basil. This is necessary so that young plants have a place for development and enough space for root nutrition.

When sowing, the seeds can be laid out evenly at a distance of 5 - 8 cm from each other and 10 cm between the rows. This method will take a lot of time and will require laboriousness from the gardener, since the seed is quite small.
Seeds are sown in a chaotic manner, and then swoop into separate pots. You can do otherwise: thin out the seedlings in the tank, choosing the strongest of them, keeping a distance of 8 - 10 cm.

Briefly about further care

Before the appearance of the first shoots, the container should be tightened with a film or covered with glass, which should be opened from time to time to ventilate and moisten the soil.

After the first seedlings appear on the ground surface (after a week and a half), the film (glass) is removed, the temperature in the room drops to + 16C - + 20C, and the container is placed in a well-lit and protected from drafts place or provided with illumination fitolampa.

Seedlings need periodic watering (once in 2 days, on hot days - every day) and feeding: after the emergence of seedlings, the soil is shed with a solution of wood ash (10 g of ash per 1 l of water). Then - every 2 - 3 weeks: 4 grams of superphosphate and wood ash, 2 grams of ammonium nitrate are dissolved in 5 liters of distilled water.

With the advent of 2 true leaves, seedlings swoop in separate containers. In the general container it is necessary to moisten the soil well, carefully remove the plants and place them in separate pots or on a bed in a greenhouse.

Attention! Plants after diving do not water for 5 days.

When the seedlings will have 5 true leaves, the top should be pinched in order to stimulate the active branching of the future basil bush. And for 10 - 15 days before planting in open ground, containers with seedlings should be taken out for hardening to the open air.

We offer you to watch a video about the care of basil seedlings:

Knowing the main stages and all the subtleties of the process of growing basil seedlings from seeds, a gardener will not be hard to enrich his section and table with a useful and tasty spice grown on his own.