wrote in message
ups.com...
The other possibility is a spare room window sill, if you have a
radiator underneath the window which you can leave on at a low but
steady heat. I'm told that Basil likes 'bottom heat' (cue Fawlty
Towers jokes!) and this arrangement would suit both plants. The
possible problem with your kitchen window sill might be that there
isn't enough warmth under the plants at night or on the cold days we're
getting now.

The hot water pipes run under the floor of the airing cupboard, so it
should get a good amount of bottom heat. Doubtless sitting on floors
tiles in the kitchen would have been very bad....
Do I need to maintain this 'bottom heat' even when I have repotted the
little plants into larger pots ?? I might find this difficult...

No. But in principle the higher the temperature - up to say 70%
farenheit at least, the faster most biological processes will work.
To grossly oversimplify the less internal heat is required to actually
make the chemical interactions work, the more fuel can be converted
into plant material etc. With less external heat everything slows
down to maintain an equilibrium. In grossly simplistic terms
its an ongoing exchange between matter and energy. But slightly
cooler temperatures won't be catastrophic. Also many plants require
a warm - cool tempearture gradient over the 24 hour cycle in any
case. As that's what happens in nature.

Once they're in larger pots in fresh compost the danger of damping
off - through the surface of the compost being cold and wet -
which attacks the base of the stems - should have passed.


michael adams

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