5 Basil Harvesting Mistakes That Could Be Hurting Your Plant

Harvesting basil the right way will help your plant keep productive all summer long.

Published on August 3, 2025

Credit:

Robert Brinson

Key Takeaways

• Harvesting from the top instead of the bottom of the basil plant will encourage bushier growth.

• Timing matters—don't harvest too early or too late.

• It's important to exercise restraint and not harvest too much of the plant at once.

When you're getting ready to make a caprese salad or a batch of pesto, it's easy to snip a bunch of basil from the garden without a lot of thought. But the way you harvest basil can effect its future growth in a big way. Here are some common mistakes gardeners make when harvesting basil, and how to fix them for a basil plant that keeps giving all summer.

1. Snipping from the Wrong Place

Harvesting from the bottom of the basil plant can hurt future growth, causing the plant to become leggy and sparse. Instead, pluck leaves from the top of the plant: Just cut or pinch stems about ¼-inch above a node, the point where you see the plant’s leaves and side shoots emerging. This will encourage new stems to grow, resulting in a bushier plant.

2. Harvesting Too Early

Resist the temptation to pinch off a leaf as soon as it appears on your baby basil plant. Instead, wait until the plant has reached around 6 inches tall and has several sets of leaves. At this point, you can harvest a few leaves from the top of the plant. The remaining leaves on your basil should be enough for the plant to continue making energy so it can grow replacement leaves.

3. Harvesting Too Late

Don't wait until a basil plant starts flowering to harvest. Regular harvesting keeps basil healthy and producing the leaves you want for cooking. If you spy buds even starting to form, snip them off. This will encourage the plant to put energy into producing new leaves rather than trying to create more seeds.

4. Snipping at the Wrong Time of Day

Harvesting basil in the middle of the day, when the plant is less hydrated, stresses it more than harvesting in cool temperatures. And a less-stressed plant is ultimately a healthier, more productive one. Harvesting in the morning after dew has dried is ideal, but evening is fine too. Some gardeners also find that herbs harvested in the morning or evening are more flavorful because the essential oils are more concentrated.

5. Picking Too Much at Once

We get it: Sometimes you want to whip up a big batch of pesto right away. But while it's perfectly ok to harvest more than one stem of basil, resist the temptation to tap your entire plant. You never want to remove more than one-third of the plant’s total height at a time, to encourage it to keep producing new leaves. You might need to be even more restrained with an indoor basil plant, as it will grow less vigorously than an outdoor one.

If you want a big, continuous bounty of basil throughout summer, you're best off planting multiple basil plants in the garden.