20121013 - One month later & What to do with Tulsi when you leave for holidays - Tulsi growing step by step

Here she is, our little beauty!

One month later and just before our five days trip.














Before leaving home we've watered her and her mother Tulsi well and left the blinds closed half way so they can get some light but not as much as usual.

This simple practice allows for water to be kept a bit longer and for them to be well without re-watering for a few days.

If the weather was warmer or we went away for longer we would made sure someone comes to water them or possibly give them to someone to care for them during our holidays.

You have to be careful when giving them to someone who has their own Tulsi or other plants at home as if they touch or be placed close to each other they could get mites transferred over.

That happened to me last Christmas break. It took me half a year to get rid of mealy bugs!

So be careful where you would give them to. I think the best practice would be to get someone to come over, water them every few days and turn them 1/3 of a circle around to prevent all shoots to be leaned towards the window.

Temperature

This is one of the important thing you have to consider when planning to grow Tulsi at home.

She originates from warm climate and can't stand cold temperatures, i.e. temperature below 15 degrees Celsius should be avoided by any means.

Over years I've tried few things to keep her warm, especially in our first year with her.

Our previous home was cold and I found it is easiest to keep a radiator in her room and adjust the temperature setting to around 18-20 degrees which is not too high to make you a hefty electricity bill and still makes her feel good over winter. You just need to play with the setting over few nights to make it right.

Here is one of my handy solutions I've tried one of the first few winters after she joined us.

This is just a simple box made of corner slate used in parquetry wrapped around with food wrap. It could be easily lifted on and off and had half a centimeter space bellow to get the air in/out.

This was keeping her warm for a month but then I realized nights are getting colder and started keeping her in a small room with a heater as a much better solution.

A simple way to check her temperature is to buy a small portable termometer ($2 shops are good source) and keep it on her table to check what is the temperature before you go to sleep and in the early morning when you wake up.

During some cold nights if I would have to put extra blanket I would make sure I check temperature in her room and increase heater setting if necessary.

This is not too complicated but requires your decision to spend some money on electricity or gas to make her happy and you will be rewarded by many blessings in your spiritual life.
 

 

20120919 - 2 weeks later - Tulsi growing step by step

Here is our little beauty!

As you can see she is about 1 cm tall at the moment.

Early this morning I've placed her on a light spot as at dawn it was looking like it's gonna be a cloudy day.

She is behind the white curtains so partly protected from the direct sunlight.

As you can clearly see she leans towards the sun and this is the reason I wrote about need to turn her around at least 1/3 of a full circle.

What I'll do is turn her 1/2 of full turn so she will face sun with her back tomorrow (looking from her current position).
This will get her to lean to the oposite side and hopefully get her stem straight and I'll keep doing it day after day.

In case she doesn't get her stem straight I'll move her away of direct sunlight as that is how we kept her so far and she was growing straight up.

Keep closing the small windows on the top of the greenhouse during night and opening them in the morning in case your house is getting cold during night.

The temperature should never go below 15 degrees Celsius as this is critical for her survival.

IMPORTANT: If you are exposing her to direct sunlight please shade her with a curtain and turn her around every day as she grows fast and could keep her side leaned position permanently if you forget!

20120910 - 6 days later - Tulsi growing step by step

Sri Tulsi Devi Ki Jay!

Today we are blessed with the darshan of three baby Tulsi seedlings emerging from the soil.

Just yesterday I was looking for them and couldn't notice them there ;)

Here is a picture for your inspiration:

First darshan

At this stage it is important to keep in mind that these seedlings need a lot of protection.

You shouldn't expose them to direct sunlight or too much heat changes and should take care to gently spray them with water regularly.

Continue keeping them in well lit spot out of direct sunlight. We keep them just under the window wall.

Please open the vents during day

Another thing to do is to open the air vents on your mini greenhouse as soon as your seedlings emerge.

You should keep closing them during night for some time as it could be too cold for them, depending where you live.



Now is the time to offer your first obeisances to the lotus feet of Tulsi Devi blessing you with her presence.

Here is the mantra to say while you do it:

Sri Tulasi Pranama

vrndayai tulasi-devyai
priyayai kesavasya ca
krsna-bhakti-prade devi
satyavatyai namo namah

vrndayai--unto Vrnda; tulasi-devyai--unto Tulasi-devi; priyayai-- who is dear; kesavasya--to Lord Kesava; ca-and; krsna-bhakti-- devotional service to Lord Krsna, prade--who bestows; devi--O goddess; satya-vatyai--unto Satyavati; namah namah--repeated obeisances.

Translation

I offer my repeated obeisances unto Vrnda, Srimati Tulasi-devi, who is very dear to Lord Kesava. O goddess, you bestow devotional service to Lord Krsna and possess the highest truth.

Transplanting and pot size

Transplanting is important thing with growing Tulsi at home.

It allows for fresh soil to be introduced to Tulsi which helps her to grow greener and more beautiful. When she was smaller I used to transplant her two times a year.

In Spring time I would buy her a size bigger pot and transplant her, and in the Autumn I would again buy a size bigger pot but few times i didn't really need to change it. 

I would just take her out of the pot, check if she has filled the pot (roots being visible on sides of soil) and if she hasn't I would take out a bit of side soil around her roots ( be careful not to damage her roots) and then put her back in the same pot while replenishing some of the soil on the bottom and sides of the pot. 

I would also place a  fresh layer of soil on top of her roots and that would be enough for her to be reinvigorated.

Please note you need to water her a night before transplanting to make sure her soil would not crumble away or break apart damaging her roots and get someone to give you a hand with doing this as when she grows bigger it can be a bit challenging task. If you only water her just before transplanting the soil would not really absorb the water yet and it would be a messy work.

With pot size I would suggest a simple thing. Start with small pot and each year use a size bigger, for example: start with 10cm pot, then move her to 15cm, then 20cm, 25cm, 30cm etc.

I'm not sure if you've noticed how some Tulsi's have a huge pot while they are still a babies. Devotees sometimes think that will make a difference, or maybe think it would stress her less, or just want not to  worry about transplanting her every year.

I found she doesn't mind transplanting and introducing her to a bigger pot with fresh soil around her roots works well. Especially if you consider you might be fighting with pests like spider mites, or mealy bugs which will require you to use a bit of natural soap, part of which will finish in her soil and introducing fresh soil works well for her.

The other point with transplanting is the need to use organic soil that is not being contaminated with blood and bones mixture which is very popular in 'organic mixes'. Take your time in reading about the soil or simply ask in your temple which soil brand is best to use.

That's it, start with small pot and step by step introduce her to bigger ones, use organic soil and be gentle. 

Watering requirements

This is the most delicate issue in growing Tulsi plants. One that is, in my humble opinion, the most usual reason for having troubles with growing her.

Give her too much water and she will probably get fungi and struggle to survive.

Don't give her enough and she will be dry and struggle to survive.

Give her a lot after not watering her enough for a while and she will get in a state of shock and probably shed some leaves in protest.

How to find balance?

Easy. Make a habit of watering her in small doses each day and each day touch the soil around her stem to learn to feel what is perfect dampness.

In beginning stages of her life she would probably need just a teaspoon of water a day around her roots.
Keep touching the soil each morning. It should be dry on surface with a bit of moisture beneath. The water you give her today should be absorbed by her and the rest evaporated by tomorrow morning leaving the soil dry on surface and slightly damp under the surface.

As she grows taller you should increase the amount given daily while regularly checking the dampness using your fingers.

You will need to be proactive and adjust to the circumstances and make sure she has enough but not too much water.

Another good way to find out if she is thirsty is to touch her leaves. When her leaves are nice and firm she has enough water, when her leaves are soft and droopy she needs more water.

Another thing from my experience is that if you only keep watering her over the top she could be totally dry on the bottom of the pot, especially when she grows bigger and fills the pot with her roots.

So, when she grows a bit bigger you should water her to the point of water runoff about every week in the hot summer weather and about once in two weeks in the winter time and then stop watering for few days until she absorbs some of the water and then continue with small quantity you used to give her. This will give her enough moisture throughout her pot.

When watering her to the point of runoff a good thing to do is to have something that will keep Tulsi's pot above the saucer. That way the excess water would drip down from her pot and the other benefit is the soil will be better aerated making her grow more beautiful.

Stainless steel grates

Before our Tulsi got too big for this purpose I've used stainless steel grates for drying the kitchen utensils that I bought in Aldi.
You can see on the left how this grates looked. Underneath i had just a simple salad bowl that would catch all the excess water and later I would use that water to water other plants as her maha ;)

Another experience I would like to share is that at one point I thought it would be better if I used some device that will tell me the exact soil humidity so I bought a relatively good 'moisture meter' and started reading the moisture in the soil around her but I didn't want to stick the sensor rod in her roots every time I needed to check moisture as this would hurt her so I placed it in the corner of the pot and left it there and it was giving decent results for some time and then it stopped moving from certain reading and it took me a good week or so to realize this and when I took it out it was corroded. Unfortunately it meant I wasn't giving her enough water and when I gave her plenty of water to satisfy her she went into a shock and shed almost half of the leaves and it took me months to get her to that healthy state again. So, if you are thinking about artificial measuring of soil moisture forget about it.

Your finger and your intuition are the best measuring instruments in the universe.
Just have to learn to trust them.

Watering her is your best interaction with her and it is the most rewarding feeling when you learn to water her with good balance. After you do it for some time you will start feeling how much she needs. It's easy, you just need to believe in yourself and follow your heart.

Here we are, if you've read my posts so far you are ready to grow Tulsi by yourself.

20120904 - Seeding - Tulsi growing step by step

Dear all,

This is the first of the posts in the serial of Tulsi growing step by step.

Today I will plant three Tulsi seeds and from then on try to give a weekly update of their look and give a overview of each duty we will be performing for them.

I would also like to encourage all of you in Australia to try doing the same at home as the spring is back and untill 17/09/2012 it is also the very auspicious month of Purushottama which makes this planting even more beneficial for your spiritual life. If you are in Australia and need the seeds I could send you some by mail or meet you over the weekend in Melbourne, as a matter of fact I could even share some of the seed raising mix which I had to buy 25 litres :) to get the one wee need for Tulsi growing.

Please read the previous posts I've written before deciding to seed Tulsi.

What is required

The first thing I did today was going to local warehouse to purchase following:
- 3 small plant pots 10cm size
- 3 small saucers (which we will need in a few weeks)
- one small greenhouse, and
- a bag of organic seed raising mix.

Please note with purchase of organic seed raising mix you need to be careful of what you will be buying as many brands have NPK manure in them and later when you buy normal potting mix to transplant them you might find that some of them might even have blood and bone in them but still be considered 'organic'.
Please avoid these mixes as we want only organic soil without these unusual ingredients. You need to be aware that Tulsi is vegetarian and would not like you feeding her blood and bones, especially not from slaughtered cows as cow is considered one of the seven mothers in Indian tradition.

Other utensils you would need in the future

In case you are planning to grow Tulsi at home for the first time you will also need to have a separate utensils for her only which means you would need to buy:
- one small sprayer bottle 0.5 litre size,
- one watering pan, and
- small and sharp sewing scissors (that will be used to cut the flowers and tips of stems at certain intervals as will be explained in later posts)

Now is time to get to the subject of seeding her:


Please wash all utensils carefully before seeding her. Same as you would wash your clothes before wearing it for the first time you need to wash the utensils from chemical residues and dirt from handling etc.

Fill pots to the top and give them a good shake, even tap them on the surface of the table or floor to get the soil mix to settle in and then add some more soil to build it up to about 0.5 cm to 1cm from the top of the pot.

I've used 10cm size pot as this can be her home for some time thus avoiding too much of disturbance to Tulsi by need to transplant her after a month or so. That is also the reason we will plant only one seed in each pot.

So take one seed on the tip of your finger as they are very small and before planting it declare your intention and ask for blessings when planting this seed.

It can be something as: Dear Krishna, I'm planting this seeds with the intention of having a beautiful service to your beloved Tulsi which will help me grow in my spiritual life. Please bestow your blessings unto me to succeed in this service.

Be creative, it is your own declaration to Krishna in what kind of service you want to offer to Tulsi.

Three pots seeded

After doing so, gently press the seeds down into the soil to about few millimeters (2-5mm) depth and gently cover them with surrounding soil and then spray over the surface with the sprayer bottle until the soil is saturated with water on top.

Please use the filtered water for watering Tulsi as the tapped water contains fluoride and other water treatment chemicals which is not good for Tulsi or us.


At the end chant the maha mantra:

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

to invoke auspiciousness to this simple act of seeding Tulsi.

Mini greenhouse  placed on a well lighted place
out of direct sunlight 

Next step is to place these pots into the mini greenhouse and place them in a well lighted place out of direct sunlight and keep watering them a little bit every day using the sprayer bottle to prevent soil to dry out. 

Hopefully in about a week or so we should see seedlings coming out.

I've planted three seeds in hope at least one will come out and in case we get three we would give two of them to our friends once they grow stronger.








So, that is it, seeds are planted and you should try to chant the maha mantra HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE for at least 10 minutes in front of your Tulsi every day to encourage her to grow faster.

Good luck!

How to treat your Tulsi

Now, this is probably the most important aspect of growing Tulsi.

You can't be successful in growing Tulsi if you don't plan to devote your time to her and develop a deep relationship.

The closer your relationship to her the more beautiful she would grow to be.

My personal experience is that the relationship between Tulsi and you reflects your spiritual growth.
As a matter of fact she is the very symbol of your spiritual growth as the attitude towards her is the reflection of your general attitude in your spiritual life.

Over these years I have been observing how she blossoms in times when my spiritual practice is inspired, focused and balanced and sadly I've also noticed how she sheds her leaves or gets in trouble if I neglect parts of my regular practice.


Another aspect of relationship with Tulsi I need to mention is on a more personal level.

You see, if you read the Tulsi story you would understand she is a person, and you should treat her like that.

That means you should talk with her, tell her what is on your mind or what is troubling you.

On another level, you will soon understand that, as every lady, she enjoys compliments, attention and care for her so you should  tell her how beautiful she is and that is exactly what she will be  :)

When I tell this to devotees they usually smile at me like I'm a bit cuckoo :) but this behavior is proven even on a purely material level by many people growing plants who noticed how they grow faster and healthier if you talk with them.

For the end of this post I have to say that there is a good reason for her being called Bhakti Devi, because somehow or the other, just by her mercy I am able to continue my spiritual practice as she keeps showering me with her blessings and protects me on my spiritual path.

So, let us saw some Tulsi seeds and grow faster on our spiritual path back to spiritual world.

I have saved some seeds from last season and will attempt to sow few of them tomorrow afternoon and start posting some pictures about this and later show you our baby Tulsi's and all the things you need to do to keep them healthy.

Might even end up with few YouTube videos showing the most important duties in growing Tulsi, who knows?

Sunlight requirements

Tulsi loves light and needs it to grow.

My experience is that a sunny window in my apartment is enough. She might be a bit more sensitive and have more troubles throughout winter but aren't we all like that?

We are actually renting our apartment in the city and when we were looking for it, the major feature we were looking for is a place where our Tulsi would have enough sun. It took us a bit longer but we found what we were looking for, an apartment that has a sunny side lounge.

Before moving here she had the whole room for herself and that was amazing. That room was our little meditation space and according to Vastu each household should have one of these rooms in North-East section of your house.

Important thing related to natural light coming through window is the fact that Tulsi grows TOWARD light source. So, if you are living in a house and your Tulsi is placed close to a window she will grow on the side looking at window resulting in her being leaned on one side, almost horizontally.
If this already happened to your Tulsi simply replant her in a new pot adjusting her complete soil  to sit on side and her stem and branches to look vertical.

Then, to prevent future side-growth you need to turn her around at a rate of approximately 1/3 or 1/4 of a full circle each day so she will grow evenly on each side.

When you look closely you will see how young small branches develop/turn daily towards sunny side. As you keep turning her you will notice how part of these small branches maintains this position making the branch look a bit spiraled, especially if you forget to turn her on some days ;)

Another thing coming from our practice; If you sometimes stay up late and will need to wake up late you need to keep in mind that Tulsi needs sun throughout the day so please open any dark curtains before you go to bed.
This way although you might be 'sleeping in' she will have maximum hours of light necessary for her growth which is of utmost importance in the WINTER. Ideal would be that you go to sleep at same time but who is perfect?

In the SUMMER you have to provide her with protection from direct sunlight in the afternoon to prevent her from drying out and burning her leaves. As you can't really put her a sunscreen place her behind a white curtain, lower your blinds a little or simply move her away from a window enough to prevent her from being burnt.

Simply treat her as another member of you household.


So, to summarize:
1. Sunny window should be enough for her to grow
2. Make a routine of turning her around for about 1/3 to 1/4 of a circle to prevent side growth
3. Make sure she gets maximum sunlight in the winter time
4. Protect her from sunburns in summertime


If you don't have a sunny window she might need some artificial lighting so I suggest you  consult the Tulsi Handbook and search it (Ctrl+F) for housing to get more details or Google for more info on artificial lighting.

Please ask any questions you might have about this subject.

Link to excellent web page about Tulsi Devi

This is the link to online Tulsi Handbook and webpage giving most useful information about Tulsi growing and worship.

I've read through most of it. My only objection to it would be that the amount of reading is huge and often leads to information overload making people scared of trying.

Attempt of this blog would be to develop a series of posts each describing one step in Tulsi growing at home showing how easy, satisfying and inspiring it is. These posts would then serve as online handbook sections that you can skip to learning about specific thing you need to know.

When I mentioned home I meant Melbourne, Victoria, Australia known for it unstable and ever-changing weather.

Winter temperatures are falling down to about +2 (degrees Celsius), daily high averaging around 10-15 and summer temperatures going up to +47 (last year) with sudden changes in temperature within an hour or so when cold wave makes temperature fall to 20 ranges.
In Australia it is simply called Melbourne weather ;)

My qualifications and reasons for starting this post

I have none of the formal qualifications if that is what you are looking for.

All I have is one Tulsi plant given to us by our friend about 5 years ago and along with that 5 years of daily service to our beloved Tulsi, growing her at our home.

Now, this may seem like nothing but the reason for starting this blog is the fact that most of the devotees in the temple I visit have troubles growing Tulsi at home, sometimes asking me for advice and the temple caretaker always tells me our Tulsi is the most beautiful she has seen at devotees growing her at home.

Growing Tulsi at home requires your love for her, a bit of attention each day, few details you need to know and few duties you need to grow a habit of performing to allow her to be healthy which I will try to describe step by step in this blog.

I've learnt serving Krishna's devotee is a best way of making progress in spiritual life and here she is, one of the dearest devotees of Krishna, standing in front of every altar in Krishna temples, being offered to Krishna with every meal, waiting for you to serve her and take care of her daily.

Would you attempt offering her this service? Say YES and just DO IT.

Now, please don't think this is complicated. Keep following my blog and soon you will be having a beautiful Tulsi growing happily in your home and with her your spiritual life will be advanced.

To end this post here is a small blessing: May Lord Krishna bless you with wisdom, patience and regular service that will help you grow Tulsi and along with her grow in your spiritual life up to new dimensions (these two come together ;))

My humble offering

I offer this service of starting a blog to our beautiful Tulsi Devi, who is the most merciful benefactor in our spiritual life.

May she use me as her tool to inspire all of you reading this blog to serve her with utmost care and love and may she bless all of us with her continuous presence and blessings throughout our spiritual journeys.