Sweet Basil "Clones"?

[calypso985]

About 3 weeks ago, I cut a couple of stems of Sweet Basil and brought them into the house. Experience has shown me that fresh basil doesn't keep very long in the refrigerator, so I decided instead to put it into a glass of water, like cut flowers. Not only has it stayed fresh and perky, but after about 10 days or so, the stems all threw down ROOTS! That's right -- they rooted right there in that silly glass of water. It was sitting in a south-facing window, so gets plenty of light and even a little direct sun. Now, I know I'm no Master Gardener, but this took me by complete surprise. I mean, Basil is an annual, right? I'm still in awe of the lovely healthy roots those stems put out. Should I pot the cuttings and keep them indoors? Will they try to go to seed right away? I would love to keep a perpetual supply of fresh basil in my kitchen -- could it be as simple as just taking a cutting and rooting it? Has anyone else had this experience?

 

[Gnome_Czech]

Yep! Isn't it great? Mine get so tall and spindly that I routinely just cut and root then replant! I'm going to start that with all my herbs. Have rosemary cuttings in some water right now

 

[momofdrew]

Never thought of doing that with herbs...I have done it with house plants...

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

there are a lot of herbs that you can do this with. mint is one of the easiest i have found and i have lots of different mints around my yard growing in different conditions-i even have aquatic mint! basil is somewhat closely related to mint and even has a square stem like mint and can probably explain why it roots well in water. i did have some basil i had bought from the store last year and placed it in water for a week or two and then saw it had put down roots. but i was a little lazy and never put them into soil and those rooted stems eventually died. so get them into pots when you see some nice roots started!

in many warmer areas you can keep basil growing year round if you pinch it back and keep it protected from the frost. you just treat it as if it is a very tender perennial and it will keep growing!