Herbs: New to the herb forum!, 1 by Ellianor

Ellianor wrote:
Wow, I've looked through several of your posts about basil and you're very knowlegable! This is something you wrote a while ago:

"Don't just pick the leaves to harvest basil, pinch back the stems. :-) I pinch the tops off my basil seedlings as soon as they get 3 sets of true leaves. Wherever you pinch, they will branch, so harvest early & often! I pinch each stem or branch just above the second pair of leaves. You can often see a little pair of leaves forming at the base of an older leaf on the stem -- these are just waiting to turn into a new branch when the stem above them is pinched!"

From what you're saying, it seems I should cut a LOT of my basil off. I'm nervous about doing this, so here's a picture of where I think you're telling me to "pinch".... is this right?