How to Propagate Basil

Learn how to propagate basil from stem cuttings!

Today we’re talking about how to propagate basil from stem cuttings. It’s a super easy thing to do if you want to enjoy fresh basil for your whole growing season.

And you can continue chopping and propping basil stem cuttings pretty much indefinitely, meaning you really only need to buy basil once! I know herbs are cheap to buy at the garden center, but if you’re like me, you spend too much money on plants and will take any chance to cut down that bill.

Why you should prune basil

If you want your plant to continue growing big leaves you can harvest to use in cooking and whatnot, you need to prune your basil plant. If you’ve ever grown basil, you know that it doesn’t take long before the plant begins sprouting what look like clusters of tiny leaves at the top of the plant. These tiny leaves eventually sprout flowers and then produce seeds.

This is a natural part of the plant’s lifecycle—it has entered its reproductive phase. The flowers mean that the plant is shifting its energy from producing leaves to producing seeds. If you are growing basil primarily for its leaves, you’ll want to stop or delay this process through pruning.

You’ll hear the basil pruning process referring to as “pinching back.” It basically means that you are cutting back the plant to prevent it from entering its reproductive phase—flowering and “going to seed.”

How to take a cutting

You can really cut anywhere on the stem of a basil plant. I like to look for a spot where the stem is branching out and cut around there. Basil isn’t like some other plants where you have to cut in a very specific part of the plant to get a growth point.

Take a look at the purple basil plant I have growing in my GreenStalk vertical garden below. You can see the area around the center of the plant where I cut it back. The plant is now focusing its growth on the two stems coming off of the main stem in a “Y” shape.

After I snip my cutting, I will remove the bottom-most set or two of leaves depending on the cutting’s size. And I will also chop off the very top of the plant if it was beginning to flower.

Rooting the cutting

Next I will stick the cutting in water and set it on my kitchen windowsill. I just use regular tap water—no need to get fancy and use filtered or distilled water, though you certainly can if you want to.

Refresh the water as it evaporates to ensure the stem of the plant cutting remains submerged. After a week or so, you’ll start to see new roots sprouting. I like to wait until the roots are about as long as the ones in the pics below before planting them.

Transferring to soil

Here’s another look at what the purple basil cuttings looked like with their fresh new roots. You can see that they grow all along the stem—not just from the areas where leaves sprout as with some other plants.

This is about the point that I transfer the rooted cuttings to soil. I rooted two cuttings and planted them in two separate pockets in my GreenStalk. That means two more purple basil plants!

I definitely recommend keeping the soil moist for the first several days after transplanting it. This will help the roots become established in their new soil home. Then you can begin treating the plant as normal. You’ll see new growth soon—it’s that easy!

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