Growing Tulasi in NYC

[Prema]

Hare Krishna!

I would like to get eargently any advice from someone who know how to take care of Tulasi plant in NYC.
She suffer a lot during the winter, her top branches are wilting and dieing and I afraid she will not survive...

Hare Krishna,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Although I do not live in NYC, I do live in an area of very dark, cold winters with lots of snow and I have been caring for the same Tulasi plant for about 3 years now. See below this post for her picture.

One very important thing is light. You need to have a grow light. If possible you should put lights on her sides and top. I have only one light so I have to move the light at regular intervals to insure all parts of her recieve it. This is a must because she will grow towards the light and if you do not move her around to get light on all sides or have grow lights on all sides then she will become very spindly looking.

Keep her away from cold drafts in winter and do not keep her in direct hot sun in the summer for very long (even in a window) because she will burn.

Once every couple of weeks pour water thru her pot until it pours out of the bottom - this will rid her soil of built up mineral deposits from past waterings which can make her sick.

Make sure you are watering her enough but not too much. When the top of her soil is dry she needs water. Too much water and her leaves curl - too little water and she dries up and looses leaves.

I have noted the Tulasi that I care for goes thru a leaf loss a couple of times a year but while she is loosing old leaves - new leaves are developing.

She may need some nourishment - find a natural none animal based plant food and feed her a little taking care not to overfeed her. This can work wonders.

You should buy the book "The LIfe of Tulasi Devi and Her Care and Worship".

Also there is a very good Tulasi care book that has been put on the web - I do not have the url but google "Tulasi devi care" and I think you can find it. If that doesn't work try different ways. If I remember to look later and find it then I will post it here for you.

I don't know how old your plant is but maybe it is her time. Some Tulasi plants only live a few years and some will live up to 5 years.

Oh and another thing, Tulasi is very sensitive to smoke! Do not leave burning incense around her. When you worship her and are done with the incense move it away from her. The smoke suffocates her.

your servant,
Rukmini-Devi dasi

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7123/tulasidevi1mu.jpg




Hare Krishna!

I would like to get eargently any advice from someone who know how to take care of Tulasi plant in NYC.
She suffer a lot during the winter, her top branches are wilting and dieing and I afraid she will not survive...

P.S.

Here is the link for the Tulasi Care books online:

http://www.hknet.org.nz/sstp-12a.html

While she is weak - don't allow her to flower. Pick off the manjaris. Allowing her to flower is very taxing to her and if she is weak and sick this could be deadly.

Check her leaves, soil etc for insects. If you find any follow the instructions in the book or the website to rid her of these pests.

[Prema]

Hare Krishna!

Dear Rukmini Devi Dasi,

Thank you for your advices, I am actually trying to follow instructions I have learned from this Tulasi handbook. This Tulasi is very young, she arrived at the beginning of the last summer as a small plant. When the winter came, I first removed her from the window, she had then special indoor light of 150w, but since I saw her leafs getting dry from the heat, I changed it to 3 lights of 75w around her, but then she started to drop her bottom leafs, according to the instructions, it recognized it as not enough light. I put her back to the window (the temperature there during the winter was around 70F) and at the same time transplanted her into a bigger pot, since I sow her roots coming out from the drainage hole, and started to feed her ones a month with “Tomato food” which recommended by a local gardening store as something natural with the same nutrition value as the “Miracle grow”. For the next 2 months she looked much better but then her top branches started to wilt and die, at the same time she developed very nicely new branches in her bottom, but her top continue to wilt, until now, that it gets all the way to her new bottom branches. According to the book, I don’t understand if its over watering or not enough watering… I’m thinking it to be a root rot, since her soil is getting dry very slow because the pot is very big now, it takes a week for the top of the soil to get dry… is it possible to re-transplant her back to the small pot? Can it make her better? As much as I can see, she doesn’t have any insect or fungus.
Thank you for your fast answering and help to save Tulasi’s life.

Hare Krishna,

She is in a weakened state so it would not be a good idea to stress her out more by transplanting her into the smaller pot. She also needs the room to spread out so the bigger pot is the better idea.

Are you spraying her regularly with clear water? She needs this moisture and will dry up if you don't give her humidity. Spray her several times a day and/or make a humility pan like in the book. The humidity is essential to her health.

Don't feed her this month and run water thru her soil - to clean it out. She may be getting too much feed and it might be collecting in her soil just sitting there burning her roots. So gently pour water on all parts of her soil - really put quite a bit of water to make sure her soil gets cleaned. Make sure when you do this the water can drain fully. Sit her in the sink or on a rack over a container making sure she is very stable. Let her sit there for several hours so the soil can drain very well.

You might want to cut back on the feedings to every several months and see what happens.

Chant to her. The Tulasi I care for here responds to this with a noticiable difference. I began worshiping her as a seed in the soil and have chanted to her ever since.

your servant
Rukmini-Devi dasi


Hare Krishna!

Dear Rukmini Devi Dasi,

Thank you for your advices, I am actually trying to follow instructions I have learned from this Tulasi handbook. This Tulasi is very young, she arrived at the beginning of the last summer as a small plant. When the winter came, I first removed her from the window, she had then special indoor light of 150w, but since I saw her leafs getting dry from the heat, I changed it to 3 lights of 75w around her, but then she started to drop her bottom leafs, according to the instructions, it recognized it as not enough light. I put her back to the window (the temperature there during the winter was around 70F) and at the same time transplanted her into a bigger pot, since I sow her roots coming out from the drainage hole, and started to feed her ones a month with “Tomato food” which recommended by a local gardening store as something natural with the same nutrition value as the “Miracle grow”. For the next 2 months she looked much better but then her top branches started to wilt and die, at the same time she developed very nicely new branches in her bottom, but her top continue to wilt, until now, that it gets all the way to her new bottom branches. According to the book, I don’t understand if its over watering or not enough watering… I’m thinking it to be a root rot, since her soil is getting dry very slow because the pot is very big now, it takes a week for the top of the soil to get dry… is it possible to re-transplant her back to the small pot? Can it make her better? As much as I can see, she doesn’t have any insect or fungus.
Thank you for your fast answering and help to save Tulasi’s life.

[Prema]

Hare Krishna!

Thank you so much, I did yesturday night the cleaning to her soil, hopefully she will get better, I also prepared a small green house to help keep the humidity around her with the growing lights on.
Oh, The Tulasi you are worship is really beautiful!

Hare Krishna!

Please let me know how she does. It might take a while for her to recover but no matter what condition she is in - she is always worshipable and any leaves that drop from her are always offerable.

She is weak right now and needs to hear the Lord's names.

Thank you for the opportunity to talk about, try to help and think about Tulasi devi!!

Jai

your servant,
Rukmini-Devi dasi




Hare Krishna!

Thank you so much, I did yesturday night the cleaning to her soil, hopefully she will get better, I also prepared a small green house to help keep the humidity around her with the growing lights on.
Oh, The Tulasi you are worship is really beautiful!