• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Growing Herbs
    • Growing From Seed
    • Seed Starting Supplies
    • Indoor Herb Gardening
    • Growing Herbs in Pots
    • Growing Herbs in a Mini Greenhouse
  • Herb Garden Ideas
    • Small Herb Garden Designs
    • Windowsill Herb Garden
    • Herb Gardening For Beginners
    • The Medicinal Herb Garden
    • Hydroponic Herb Gardens
    • Automatic Plant Watering Systems
  • Blog
How to Culinary Herb Garden Logo

The Culinary Herb Garden

A guide to growing and enjoying herbs in the home kitchen garden

How To Prune Basil Indoors – A Demonstration Using The Click and Grow Smart Garden

Last Updated: May 27, 2024 By Virginia

My Indoor Basil Plant after pruning and the supplies needed

Learn how and where to prune your indoor basil plants, so they stay healthy and continue to grow under lights.

It has been about two months since I planted a trio of basil in the Click and Grow Smart Garden. I’ve harvested the basil twice now, so I thought it was time to do a demo so you can see exactly how I did it.

Materials Needed

  • Sharp kitchen scissors
  • Paper Towel or cloth
  • Small bowl or container to hold the harvested basil leaves
  • Glass with water to store any cuttings.

Where To Trim Your Basil Plants

The first thing you’ll do is identify good places to make a cut. When I’m looking at my basil, I check for a few things:

  1. Where do I need more room in the garden to prevent overcrowding?
  2. Which plants need to be cut back to promote bushier growth?
  3. Remove any damaged leaves for overall health.

Make Selective Cuts So Each Plant Gets Light & Air

Overgrown basil in Click and Grow garden - it's time to prune the plant for healthier growth
This is the before photo—the lemon basil is on the left, the Genovese basil is center stage, and the dwarf basil is on the right. I did let things get a little out of control, so it is definitely time for a trim!

If you take a look at the pictures above, you can see that my Genovese basil in the center is crowding out the Dwarf basil on the right side of the garden.

This poor little guy is getting knocked over, and he’s not getting enough light. So, this is the first place I cut to ensure each plant gets enough light.

Trim Taller Plants To Promote Bushier Growth

The next candidate for a trim was the lemon basil, which had grown too tall too fast. I should’ve trimmed it a while back. Since we have limited space, we want the plants to grow out, not up.

For these cuts, it is best to find a place where the stems have already started branching out.

where to trim or pinch basil to promote bushy growth  - a photo of an indoor basil plant showing where to make the cut just above a leaf node
This photo demonstrates exactly where to prune basil for bushy growth indoors

It’s even better if you find one where two baby leaves are coming out on either side of the branch. This is what we call a leaf node.

That is the perfect place to cut because you know that your basil will continue to grow from these new leaves.

Will Basil Continue to Grow After Pruning?

Yes, when you cut basil just over a leaf node, it will sprout new stems and leaves just below the cut.

Here is an example of how my lemon basil grew after a similar cut about a month ago. New stems will form on either side where you saw the leaf nodes. And those stems will continue to put out new leaves for harvesting.

an example of how your basil plant will continue to grow after trimming it

Pruning Damaged Leaves

You can see that some of the leaves have burned where they touched the light. This happens when you forget to make regular trims. Just remove the burned leaves, and all will be well. 

closeup of basil leaves that grew too close to the light

As I was harvesting leaves, I also removed any leaves with brown edges. As you saw earlier, this can happen when your plant grows too close to the light. But it can also happen if your basil isn’t receiving enough water or is crowded out by other plants.

Use this Time To Rearrange Plants Based On Indoor Growing Habits

I also repositioned my basil plants. The Genevese was so big that it crowded out the dwarf basil, causing it to grow a little crooked.

I put the Dwarf basil back on the left-hand side next to the lemon basil, which is growing more vertically and shouldn’t crowd it out as much. 

trio of basil in the Click and Grow indoor garden after pruning the plants and harvesting leaves

I hope he’ll straighten out and grow straighter toward the light. I trimmed the lemon especially severely, so it will grow bushier this time. It has strong stems, so it should be able to support a bushier plant.

What To Do With Your Harvest

The last step in harvesting basil from your indoor garden is to either use it in a recipe or store it for future use. 

I like to grow any extra basil in a jar. Just because you need to prune your basil, you don’t have to use it right away. If you take a look at the photo below, you’ll see that I’ve got two pretty big basil plants growing from previous harvests.

basil growing in water on my windowsill - a great way to extend the harvest after pruning

The one on the left is from about the April trim about a month ago. It’s growing just fine and remains healthy even a month later. The one in the middle is from today’s trim.

I do find that hydroponic basil roots out very quickly. It also seems to grow a little faster and stays healthier than when I take cuttings from basil previously grown outdoors. I believe this is because it’s already accustomed to living inside and getting its nutrients from the water instead of from the soil. But this is based only on my own observations.

This is the last step of our how-to guide. Don’t be afraid to prune your basil just because you don’t have a use for it right now. As you can see, you can keep the plants healthy and continue to harvest leaves months after cutting them away from the main plant.

For detailed steps for growing basil cuttings in water, follow this tutorial –> How to Grow Herbs in Water. Here are a few tips to get you started:

  • Make sure to remove the bottom leaves.
  • Only stems should be in the water. Leaves will make the water moldy.
  • Put the stems in a glass jar or vase. 

The roots will grow fast. You can see how healthy and big the leaves are growing on my window sill. If given enough sunlight, your basil plant will even grow on to flower like this one. 

If you let it flower, this signals to the plant that it is reaching the end of its growing cycle. The leaves will stop growing, and the plant will put all its energy into producing seeds.

Shortly after that, the leaves will start to lose their flavor and can become bitter. So, in this case, ensure you’ve harvested what you want for cooking. I like to keep a few just for their beauty. 

A Few Final Tips When Pruning Your Indoor Basil Plants

Don’t trim more than 2/3 of the plant, or it may not recover. I trimmed my lemon basil pretty severely, so we’ll see how it reacts.

A good rule of thumb is to trim early and often. This keeps your basil healthy and full, which is essential when growing indoors. Due to the nature of the grow lights, we have limited vertical space, so you will get bigger harvests if you let your plants grow out instead of up. 

Filed Under: Indoor Gardening Tagged With: basil, Click and Grow Smart Gardens, indoor herbs

Primary Sidebar

Disclosure

🌻 On some of our pages, we link to products you might find interesting. 🌿 If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale.

Popular Articles

Steps for growing basil - seed packet, basil sprouts and young basil seedlings growing in a pot

How to Grow Basil from Seed Indoors

Our Aerogarden Reviews and Comparisons of the Best Selling Models - Which one is best for your kitchen

Which AeroGarden is Best? Our Reviews & Comparison of the Top Models

Table filled with my seed starting supplies - seeds, sprayer, seed tray, seed cell pack and seed starting mix

My Favorite Seed Starting Supplies – The Trays, Pots, Lights, and More

Smiling herb gardener in garden clothes

Herb Gardening For Beginners: Basic Terminology And Tips

Quick Links

  • Herb Gardening Articles
  • Cooking With Fresh Herbs
  • Herb Garden Designs
  • Indoor Gardening
  • Product Reviews
  • Site Directory

Unique Gifts For The Gardener

Plow & Hearth
small pots with herb seedlings growing indoors from a kit

The 5 Best Indoor Herb Kits for 2022 – Easy To Grow, Giftable Gardens

Recent Posts

How To Grow Lemon Verbena for Fresh Citrusy Flavor and Fragrance

Which Herbs Make the Best Ground Cover and How to Grow Them

German vs. Roman Chamomile – Learn The Differences in Habit, Form, and Use

How to Grow German Chamomile and Enjoy its Soothing Fragrance

All About the Culinary Herb Thyme: A Symbol of Strength And Vitality

More Posts from this Category

Footer

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer-Terms of Use
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

This website uses affiliate links and may receive a commission if you purchase products. Learn more on our Affiliate Disclosure page.

Follow us:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2025