Issues with my holy basil

Deveshmittal.devesh

Hi guys and gals

i bought two plants of holy basil. The first one withered in a really surprising manner and I did not pay too much heed to it. The other one was healthy till a few days back it has started showing the exact same signs as the other one. It starts with the bottom of the stem starting to become brown and the leaves drying up - random leaves - not just close to the root. See pictures. On the leaves it starts with drying at the far end then goes to the point where they are joined to the stem. 

I have kept the plant indoors in the room where temperature does not go below 18 degrees. It is away from any draft. It’s still not winter anyway. And it gets indirect sunlight - it’s been cloudy last three weeks so no direct sun anyway. I had reported the new plants in peat mix 4 weeks ago. 

I water them every third or fourth day when the soil is dry with half a glass of water. 

Photos attached

Please advise. 

wild edges

Not one I've grown but it looks like it was underwatered. The soil should stay a bit damp and if they're young plants with a developing root system then they probably need a bit more regular watering until they establish.

Lyn

They are much the same as sweet basil, I don’t bother overwintering, they’re treated as a annual I just sow more seed next March. 
https://www.amazon.com/Seed-Needs-Ocimum-sanctum-Non-GMO/dp/B0046E6NKC

BobTheGardener

It has flowered so won't grow any more leaves.  As Lyn said, they are usually grown from seed and treated as an annual.  You can keep all forms of basil going longer by cutting off the flowerbuds as soon as they appear.

amancalledgeorge

Worth considering growing African Basil which has sterile flowers so you can have lovely purple flowers but no worries about producing seeds and dying. Really easy to propagate with cuttings too. 

https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/116502/Ocimum-African-Blue/Details