I was able to get 7 varieties of basil for less than $10. I have only 1 variety right now, sweet basil, so this order was valuable to me.
Based on the insect activity on the flowers last year, I expect high crossing rates.
I still have a jar of dried sweet basil leaves. I need to make a herb leaf drying contraption.
Bro! that is AWESOME!!! This is getting me excited, we might just start a Basil Landrace. Who knows maybe we can offer seeds for next year?
I will probably have plenty to share for the few who are interested. I doubt itās a crop of interest for most.
Iām definitely interested in a basil landraceā¦ this year Iām planting a rather extensive patch of basils that includes Sweet Basil, Lettuce Leaf Basil, Genovese Red Freddy, Red Rubin, Dark Purple Opal, Spicy Saber, Spicy Globe Bush, and Wild Garden Seedās Mrihani x Opal F4 mix.
I considered adding Cinnamon Basil and my mixed-up packet of Lemon, Lemondrop, and Lime basils, but I donāt think the flavors would work well, so Iāll be growing those in an isolated part of the yard far away from the mixed-up patch. Though I may try to cross the citrus types with Spicy Globe just to see if I can get the lovely small, round growth habit with a spicy/citrus flavor. If there is interest in a basil landrace for GTS offerings, Iād happily contribute seeds from either or both of these patches.
nah basil? come on who doesnāt love Basil & Tomato!? maybe iām biased about basil cuz I love itās taste. One thing about Basil tho, the Italian Basil types have the Best Texture but are too spicy. The Indian holy basil has the best flavor but is more tougher/fibrous. What if we Cross them? Iād love to contribute some basil as well if possible.
You are AWESOME! Hopefully more peeps will be interested too! Iām hopeful!
How high do your basils become?
Mine in zone 6 rarely get higher than a foot and a half, iāve got to wait until june in a good year before i get any harvest. The seeds are eaten by snails a lot, so i need to protect them, their growth rate is quite slow at start, etc,etc. Bla, bla , moan , moanā¦
Then i heard of Italian migrants who have ātree basilsā, they keep them overwintered in zone 7. Theyāre like giants who start to produce in May when iām fiddling hopelessly with seeds.
Iāve got a bit too much going on to be busy with it, but i would argue that i would easily trait all the unique basil tastes for rapid growth and overwintering traitsā¦ At some point mid-summer they start to really grow quickly. I would want that to happen half may even if the leaves would have half the taste explosion current Basils exhibit.
Do i dare? Yeah letās say it to the basil fans. Iād trait the unique strong basil taste but fiddly late growth for a weakened perennial versionā¦ I mean, iād have it from a ātreeā/shrub producing a lot from mid may on but probably weaker and just eat it like a spinach dish.
It probably is a bit too medicinal to be bred into a spinach replacement, just like sage is, but i can see it like that, like boiled up sage, every so often over summer.
It works medicinally on digestion problems, liver congestion, nausea, irritable bowel syndrom, constipation, painful menstruation,flatulence, in short stomach problems.
Oh and watch out breeding in holy Basil or Tulsi, itās got this strong different smell to it which easily is transferred into your next generation kitchen herb.
My sweet Basil got maybe 2-1/2ā to 3ā. It made it through the first couple light swift frosts but seems dead now.
Sweet Basil grew really well for me in harsh summer heat. I have enough seeds to play with. I think I will create a harsh, difficult situation for them to survive in to produce a stronger grex.
I will come up with a plan to make it hard for them. Maybe I will seed them when temperatures are too cold for half of them to germinate, then keep the ones that do come up. Then I could move them inside without a grow light, just light from a south facing window. Then perhaps leave them in peat moss without giving any nutrition for longer than I should. Perhaps I will keep making their situation bad as long as I have plenty of survivors. Then I will transplant maybe 20 survivors into the garden beds.
Given space to spread in the ground and left alone, most of my basils can get 2ā in a summer, even when interplanted with my less-aggressive tomatoes. Except for the Spicy Globe variety, which has a more rounded habit if you keep it from flowering, and stays shorter. But usually half of my basil is in pots, and Iām pinching back tops and leaves every time Iām in the garden, munching on some right there, taking others inside to add to meals. They donāt usually get the chance to reach full height.
I wouldnāt mind a perennial or at least occasionally overwintering basil, but not at the expense of flavor. The strong flavors are the whole reason I grow so many varieties, and in my climate it does so well direct seeded or transplanted when still very small that aiming for a perennial or overwintering habit isnāt a big focus. But I can see where it could be more important for youā¦ even just increasing cold tolerance at germination could be huge if it means getting plants growing and producing earlier.
Come to think of it, with the increasingly extreme weather swings in recent years, I might want to do some abusing of my usually hearty basils as I work with the large crossing plotā¦ although theyāre all pretty hearty, selecting for some extra spring cold tolerance would be beneficial. And if I get enough seed to share with the community, probably very appreciated since not everyone has such a long, warm/hot growing season!
That sounds like a good stress plan to me. Iām in the same boat, in that basil grows so well for me, Iād have to intentionally make it difficult in order to weed out the ālesserā plants/genetics. Iām probably going to start most of my crossing plot indoors this year, and now Iām thinking of doing it in two stagesā¦ the first batch planted out very young when itās a bit risky due to cold, and one a few weeks later. Technically, if I planted them in separate plots, I could save seed from the first plotās survivors as a start on too-early/spring cold tolerance and use the second plot to focus on other traits. Hmmmā¦
Right on. Really excited to see this thread become active again accompanied by the big bag of Basil seed! I too am Basil challenged but for different reasons. I believe itās due to my style of throwing seeds on the ground and never watering them! Yet if I do they will bolt and then be immediately eaten by critters. Everything loves to eat Basil in these parts. A numbers game is the approach I believe my particular situation warrants as well.
Super interesting to see a bulk quantity of predominately Sweet Basil varieties. I found edible Basil seed online recently. I feel this is an absolutely phenomenal way to find those rugged survivors that will make my Basil dreams a reality. A quarter of a million seedsā¦ surely a few will survive my loving neglect in order to adapt and thrive.
Iāve utilized this strategy before in regards to wheat berries,dry beans,etc (planting mass quantities of edible seeds) Start with what you can come up with. Totally into it.
Mine are varieties of Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum). Itāll be fun to grow them and see what they turn into. I found a few clues about some of the varieties contained in the mix I have and what I might expect.
Zen Basil Growth Habit,History,Uses,etc
Anyone looking for an already established official Lofthouse grex? I can attest to the vigor of the Basil featured at the beginning of this post. I did indeed cast 500 of them out in the heat of summer, amidst a historic drought, and they totally germinated and grew. If I would have watered more than once in the beginning and never again I could have had my own 14 oz of locally adapted seed stock by now! Story for another timeā¦
That grex sounds awesome!
Count me as another person whoād be interested in a highly diverse basil landrace.
Interesting I didnāt know there multiple species of Basil, I thought everything was just Ocimum basilicum.
A learning and growing journey for sure! I began pondering which was first recorded/ discovered Sweet Basil or Holy Basil. After looking around a bit I must admit I still have no clue. I did find a bit on the varieties that have come along and learned some other interesting attributes about Basil.
Wow, and I thought it was all just 1 very diverse/Polymorphic species. They all can cross easily right? no Hybridization barriers like subgenera present?
Also if they are separate species, how to you Identify them? What are the ID traits that separate each species? and if they all can cross, doesnāt that make all ID traits fluid across the entire genus? If so does it then become pointless to ID/Seperate them as seperate species? You are making my mind explode with this new info! and I like it. 
I absolutely concur friend. The natural world is mind-blowing! With over 150 varieties it would seem there is a ton of potential and possibility for someone who would want to experiment. In regards to obtaining specific results through breeding it looks to be an almost perfect canvas to introduce any desirable culinary traits or medicinal properties. Throwing a link on here for Richterās. They have over 40 Basil varieties listed along with a lot of harder to find herb seed. Interesting to look through.
https://www.richters.com/Web_store/web_store.cgi?show=list&prodclass=Herb_and_Vegetable_Seeds
This is the first season that I will be growing Tulsi. I drink a loose leaf tea blend that contains Holy Basil. It really helps my allergies. { Tulsi, Licorice Root, Cardamom Pods) So many proven medicinal benefits itās crazy. What I find particularly fascinating is itās ability to act as a probable adaptogen (why and how itās so good at aiding allergic response). If it can help people adapt to environmental stressors would it also be able to teach the plant life how to do the same? Fun to think about. Iāll have to watch and see if there are any notable difference near where it is growing.
Thank you for sharing the Richters site. Iāve only started to look at five of basils they have, so far. Wow.
Very facinating question indeed! I think this is what Matt Powers was talking about when he mentioned the feedback loop.
Agreed, very useful info! So many Basils to try, MIND BLOWN!!!
My basil landrace is composed as follow :
Basil (Ocimum basilicum) F1 culture 2023 : selection criteria resistant diseases + taste
Mrihani x opal, basil grex Joseph Lofthouse, aromatique, rutgers obsession, pool genetique de Macedoine, petit marseillais
with the possibility of hybridization with other basilcum species grown in the same garden (Ocimum americanum sp. americanum, Ocimum kilimandscharicum, Ocimum americanum sp. pilosum,Ocimum gratissimumā¦)
all are good strains except basil grex Lofthouse which has only one leaf type lettuce, there must be a problem when bagging the lot in Buffalo Seed Compagny or then the genes of this type are ultra dominant. However I also used it as a base that I grew in promiscuity with a whole bunch of other varieties in 2023.
in 2024 I will start to select on the criteria taste and height because I still find too small basil here. In our country there is not too much disease problem on basil but I have 2 varieties in grex that are very resistant (Mrihani x opal,rutgers obsession).
Agree! In our experience, we found that Everleaf Emerald Towers is the best Basil. It is never diseased, pests donāt touch it. For us, it never flowers, so it doesnāt go to seed. It eventually dies out. It had great flavor though. We are going to try again with it.
We can also donate some of our basil collection as well to the Serendipity Seed Box. We have over 100 varieties of Basil seed.
Currently, we are growing Genovese, Thai, and perennial African Blue Basil. The latter, is a sterile hybrid, and is an alternative to sweet Italian basil. We are looking to get the āWild Magic Basil,ā
another hybrid that can be a perennial alternative to Thai Basil. Both are supposed to attract lots of pollinators.
Glad to see this still going. In addition to my list from last month, I have a new variety to add to one of my grexesā¦ itās Blue Spice basil from Baker Creek, received as a free seed packet.
From the sounds of it, Iām going to want to grow it with my Cinnamon basil or citrus basil grex, or both. It apparently makes good tea and is extremely fragrant in the garden and after harvest.
