Got a question on Holy Red, namely how to get it to stay "red". Zone 5b.
I started a bunch of Holy Green and Holy Red Basil this year like this:
1) July 5th: Started seed in 1/2 flats (1 green, 1 red) in seed mix, left in 50% shade to germinate and start. Medium strength fish emulsion every other week 1 week after first set of true leaves. They stayed at this stage around 6 weeks.
2) August 20th: When the 2nd or 3rd set of leaves appeared I moved them up to T50 plug trays (1 per cell). My own "general purpose" soil mix, close to Fafard 3 but with some compost and a Ph ~6.5. Same amount of fish emulsion but the rate was upped to weekly for this stage. At this point the green were, well, green and the red was a deep almost purple red color. These were moved to a higher light bench, around 75% and stayed there for 4 weeks.
3) September 22nd: When the roots were pushing through the plug trays they were moved up to 4" standard Dillen pots. Same mix as in #2, watered in and slowly (5 days) moved into a cold frame. Same feeding schedule as #2, half strength FE every week. By this point the red was a nice red color and all were healthy.
4) October 15th: Cold set in, no frost just colder than I would have liked so they were brought indoors to finish. I use an even mix of Sylvannia 6500K and Gro-Lux bulbs, 2x2 fixtures over 4 flats. At this point I backed off the feeding since FE is just horrible indoors.
At this point the older foliage started dying off (oh well, happens) and the red color on the red's started going away. The plants are doing well, they're a bit stretched between the nodes but that's normal for my lighting. The real problem is that the red's aren't producing red foliage, just green. Now, I know this because the red's are in RED Dillen pots while the green's are in, ah, *green*...
I'm sort of assuming it's the lighting conditions but if anyone knows how to force the red I would LOVE to know...
Thanks in advance!
Holy Basil colors
It's light that brings out the stronger red color. I've gown both green and red Holy basil. This year I just grew red "Tulsi" as it seems to be the most salable for me. I'm over wintering some plants in my gh and they seem to be holding their color pretty well so far. But we get a lot of cloudy days through the winter and I've seen them loose color in past years. They color up again come spring. So if you want to force them to color more I would say give them more light.
I also use a Fafard blend to grow in. Although I start them in LC1 (sunshine mix) rather than the seed starter. I quit feeding in fall and start again in Feb.-March. So maybe food could have some effect on color. But I still think it's the light.
Thanks, I think it's the light as well. Here's one I just noticed today when watering some of them. I had a some "spare" seedlings that let sit in the seedling tray and later on moved into T50's. I have 2 of these full that I brought in, some green and some red which have been sitting under the lamps. The red one's there that are closest to the gro-lux lamps are still red, no new red but what was there has maintained color. Has to be the light.