How can you tell when the time is right?
Hobby gardeners are often unsure about the right time to prick out the seedlings. If you look closely at the plants, you can see the two cotyledons in the lower area. These visually differ significantly from the real leaves sprouting over them. As soon as a basil seedling has produced at least two pairs of leaves above the cotyledons, the time for isolation has come.
also read
- Preserving basil - this is how you preserve the herbal aroma
- How to preserve basil by drying - this is how it works
- Store basil properly and keep it fresh longer
Sovereign pricking works like this
They give basil seedlings more stability for isolation if you water them a few hours beforehand. Then proceed as follows:
- small growing pots (€ 14.90 at Amazon *) half or two thirds full with pricking soil
- Cover the drain in the bottom of the pot with a pottery shard beforehand
- Press a hollow into the substrate using a prick stick
- Separate the basil plants with the thin end of the pricking stick
- a spoon then makes it easier to remove
- Insert in the middle of the soil and plant just below the cotyledons
Take a close look at the seedlings when you remove them. Use disinfected scissors to shorten root strands that are too long to 2 centimeters. When inserting it into the pricking soil, make sure that no root bends upwards. Finally, compact the substrate from the side with the thin end of the pricking wood.
How to care for basil after pricking
As part of the isolation, you give the young basil plants sufficient space for further growth. Your pupils should transform themselves into strong herbal plants by the time they are planted out in mid-May. Therefore, these maintenance measures are in focus:
- keep the substrate constantly slightly moist without wetting the foliage
- weekly organic fertilization with a liquid fertilizer in a highly diluted concentration
Regular stripping of the young shoots results in bushy growth and encourages abundant branching.
Tips & Tricks
The bargain hunters among hobby gardeners do not buy expensive prick wood. A shish kebab skewer or a Japanese chopstick made of wood or plastic do the job just as well.
GTH
