How to Prune Back Basil

Pinch off the tips of basil plants as they grow and use them to flavor salads, meats or vegetables. Pinching them encourages the plant to become fuller and thicker by creating more branches from the place where it was pinched.

Snip flower buds when they form in mid-summer. Flowers appear on short spikes at the top of the plant and are small in white, pink or lavender. Pinch them off using the thumb and index finger with a slight twist or use scissors. Flavor suffers if flowers are not removed and plants get woody with limited leaf production.

Prune basil plants every four weeks or so. Pinch a stem off leaving at least two sets of leaves in tact. The foliage will easily grow back in a four-week period as long as the outside temperatures stay warm.

Prune all the way to the ground right before the first frost of the season. Basil is an annual and will not survive cold temperatures. If left in the garden during a frost, the leaves will curl up and turn black. Instead of pruning, dig the plant up, place it in a flowerpot with potting soil and bring it indoors to grow on a sunny windowsill.