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I have a few basil plants that I am growing in pots. They look healthy so far and I have not harvested any leaves from the basil. I am wondering if it is recommended to pluck some leaves on a regular basis to promote growth or leave it alone and consume the entire plant at some point (not sure when that would be).

Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
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JStorage
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    If you harvest partially, don't pluck leaves, clip tops. Otherwise you end up with long and lanky stems. – Stephie Jun 22 '16 at 18:37

1 Answers1

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If you see flowers starting to form, you then need to remove those otherwise the energy of the plant goes into making flowers and not leaves.

It's generally recommended that you want to make your basil bushier by removing the upper stem with the leaves above a node. I remove the upper 1/3 of basil plants, and dry the leaves for later use.

Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
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Graham Chiu
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