Basil

[Ben S.]

Is there any information out there on crossing basil by hand, or does anyone have personal experience? It's not in any of my books, and I'm not getting much off google (and what little I have gotten there has been contradictory). Mostly looking for basics on timing, technique, compatibility, etc. Seems like it would be fun to play with - so many distinct and strong aromas

[Ocimum]

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2014/824594/

here you have some info.

If you type "hybridization" and "ocimum" in scholar.google.com there are others which may be of interest to you

[Ben S.]

Thank you. Appropriate that someone with the name Ocimum should reply hah! I'll try a deeper search in google scholar, I was initially mostly finding stuff about inducing polyploidy with colchicine

[Andrew Barney]

Seems like it would be fun to play with - so many distinct and strong aromas

Ben, did you have any success learning to cross basil by hand? What crosses would you want to do?

I'm thinking I would want a purple leaved crossed with a small leaved bush / greek basil. No idea how to do it. Also a faster blooming carnation basil would be cool, last year the carnation basil was way too long season to bloom in my climate. Basil just seems to grow so slow. Faster maturing / smaller leaved varieties would probably be my choice.