How to maintain a basil plant indoors?

[Heikjo]

I like having a pot of basil in my kitchen, but they often end up in the trash after some time.

The plants from the market or grocery store are usually not meant to last, but they can be kept healthy for some time. I prefer buying a plant from a plant store where the pots are larger and there are less plants, but even then, they tend to wither as time goes.

I have been using an ordinary lamp for the winter season and tried giving it some fertilizer now and then.

I'm looking for advice on watering, maintenance in general, pruning/using leaves, fertilizer, light, heat etc. Everything really to make it a happy, healthy plant. I've read various articles and seen some videos on Youtube, but it was lacking a bit and some information contradicted other sources.

Here's a photo of a plant I saw online. I never knew they could grow this large. Not that it's a goal to have such a large plant, I just thought it was cool.

[Hanglow]

I've not grown basil indoors apart from like you trying to keep bought ones going as long as possible. With the lack of sun we both have this far north during winter, a proper grow lamp is needed I would think to complement the sun light.  Normal lights don't have the correct wavelength to help the plants much, the best usual type I think is a cool white flourescent lightbulb. (that is what I remember from growing different types of plants indoors in my uni days )

You can now get grow light LEDS, the IKEA VÄXER grow lights are these types, they might be a bit expensive for what they are but I imagine they will work well.  This would be better than the big metal halide and high pressure sodium lights that can give off a lot of heat and use a lot of electricity

[Yael]

Woaw it's big  (my ex girlfriend use to say this) (but not to me  )

I've kept my basil for more than a year now, and I recently got a large pot (I was using the bottom of a 3L water bottle) and now he's happy and blooming. I take care of it and add water everyday. Sometimes we sit together and watch the sunset listening to a love song of Scorpions...
Ok stop kidding 
During winter with the central heating it's around 23°C at home, I just leave it behind the window, south exposition, as it's sunny almost everyday while -30°C outside, it worked quite well.
But back in France, the same as you, the ones I bought never lasted long. I guess I was simply not taking good care of it.

[BackyardPizzaiolo]

Wow that plant blows me away. Wish I knew what type of basil that was. I saw the other day that in Israel, they came up with a basil tree to increase yields (https://www.timesofisrael.com/sweet-smell-of-success-wafts-from-israels-basil-tree). I think most basils aren't going to reach this size, but who knows if you can manage to keep it alive that long? To me flavor is more important, and resistance to diseases, of which we have many here. All of my plants eventually die from downy mildew or fusarium wilt. This year after a 10-year research period, Rutgers University came up with 4 new basils that are supposedly more resistant (https://sebsnjaesresearch.rutgers.edu/2018/11/rutgers-obsession-devotion-and-thunderstruck-basil). I'm currently testing it. So far not super impressed but I'm persisting.

As of yet I've only done outdoor seasonal growth and nothing in the winter as it's way too cold. But now that I'm into pizzas, I've decided to grow it year-round indoors. I've just completed a little project involving this grow lamp: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07V21CKQH/?tag=pmak-20 I paid $30 for it a week ago and now it's $27 . There are many such generic lamps from china. The real deal lamps can cost hundreds and be very expensive to run as well (even LEDs). This is for a small production.

Use some outdoor/indoor potting soil and hang the lamp somewhere above your pots. That was the hard part. I ended up making a little cube structure from PVC pipes to hang the lamp from. It's been 1 day only, so I don't know what will happen. As usual I will feed the plants with herbs fertilizer once a month. In the past I had issues with poor soil that I didn't fertilize enough, thinking compost was enough, and fertilizer made a huge difference. Also don't over-water basil, this is a huge no-no. Made that mistake, the leaves were turning yellow and droopy, so my first thought was that it was too sunny and hot. Kept adding water on a daily basis and that severely impaired the growth. Until I realized the problem was the crappy infertile soil. Now I water once a week or so. I just probe the soil with a stick to check if it's too dry.

Last bit of $$$ saving advice... You can cut off branches from your basil and propagate it very easily, by putting the branches in a glass of water for a couple of weeks. Once the branch grows roots in the water, just plant it back into soil and you have a new plant. I always do that as insurance in case my plants die from disease. http://y2u.be/IVjCh28QYsA

[Chicago Bob]

How do you maintain a damn basil plant indoors in the freaking winter.... y'all??   🧐

[wotavidone]

Sometimes we sit together and watch the sunset listening to a love song of Scorpions...

I recently gained a whole new appreciation for the Scorpions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qnyW2pWME8

[bigMoose]

I've also tried to root them with NO success.  Tried everything I could find on the net, including rooting powder to no avail.  Any advice appreciated.   I also can't keep a store bought plant alive more than a month in the winter.

[b0b]

A good LED grow light (not the cheap stuff all over Amazon) makes it easier in the winter when the days are shorter. This light is on 16 hours a day in my basement and the basil is doing well.

[Pizza_Not_War]

I used the light from an Aerogarden to keep a store bought plant going for more than 6 months before it went down.

[Timpanogos Slim]

My mother the master gardener (I think she actually has some kind of recognized certification) admits that the store plants aren't robust but says they mostly need light and hate the cold.

Her major advice to me on gardening was that i need to inspect every part of the garden every day and that is probably why i don't do much gardening. Still may try harder this year.

[Heikjo]

New attempt this year. My wife planted several things, but I have taken over responsibility of the basil. The wavy leaved ones are called Napolitano.

[Hanglow]

My attempts at growing from seed have largely failed this year, I have a terrible aphid problem with them. I just grow the lemon/lime/Thai types from seed as they aren't as easy to get

I am going to try direct sowing it in the greenhouse I think

I did have great success splitting up a supermarket pot. I now have eight large pots of sweet Genovese basil going from that

[PizzaDude33]

Works well with a Micro green shelf.

[MrPibbs]

Just got this at my local Walmart which had good reviews.  They said to put it in a saucer, and ONLY water into the saucer when the soil above is dry.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bonnie-Plants-Sweet-Basil-19-3-oz-2-Pack/146805115?classType=REGULAR&athbdg=L1103

[cmullin]

I have had good luck just buying Basil from the farmers market and just putting the cuttings in water. They root in the glass and you can plant them out.

[Timpanogos Slim]

Oh, the other thing my mom told me, is that the potted basil is actually a crowded mess of several plants, and for best results you would tease them apart and re-pot them. But she doesn't feel like doing that either. 

[PapaJawnz]

I've been having good luck feeding my Basil in my windowsill using epsoma plant tone (6-3-3)  I give it about 2 tsp of fertilizer every 3 weeks top dressed.  It's not a big plant but for just me it doesn't need to be so big.  I have a hard time keeping up with the production.  Winters going to make it harder fighting the cooling from the window.