namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

I have 3 young Tulasis at home and worship one of them every morning. All became big and grow nicely. Initially I had 4 Tulasis growing from the seeds that I had plantet but some weeks ago I gave one plant away to a Bhaktin who is happy to care for her and worship her. There are lots of realizations that come along with caring for Tulsi devi. The main realization is: Tulsi devi is extremely merciful, forgiving so many of my mistakes in caring for her.

Last summer was extremely hot in our country and neophyte as I am in Tulsi care I had placed Tulsi devi right at the window where she got all sunlight and the whole heat. I thought that Tulsi is used this heat from India but It was too much heat for her. Her leaves became brown and white and I realized that she does not like to stand in the extreme heat. So I placed her away from the window and within some weeks all plants recovered nicely.
Here in Germany the winter is coming now and it gets early dark outside. So, I am always in sorrow that Tulsi gets enough light in winter. Once when I transplanted Tulsi devi into a bigger pot , she immediately got brown leaves and I realized that something was in the soil that was not good for her. Then I changed the soil and she recovered again.
Caring for Tulsi devi is like learning on the job. In the beginning I got some valuable advices from experienced devotees in Tulsi care but still there is so much more to learn.
I am presently translating the english version of a booklet about Caring for Tulsi devi into german language and while translating I discover so many mistakes that I have made in the past out of ignorance. But as I continue to improve my service for Tulsi devi, I hope that she may forgive me my innumerable offences.
The biggest difficulty for me is to always find somebody who likes to care for Tulsi devi when I am not at home for days, weeks or even months. Deities one can put sleeping but Tulsi devi not. She needs personal care every day. This gives me the opportunity to engage others in Tulsis service.

hare krsna,

to find more information about tulasi care, please look at this tulasi handbook.

re. more specific experience with caring for tulasi devi in the UK, i'd suggest to write a questiion to the 'Q & A' (questions & answers) section of kripamoya prabhu's blog. he knows and regulary visits many devotees in the UK. i'm sure some of them worship tulasi devi, too.

here is a section from above mentioned tulasi handbook, dealing with lighting:

Housing-- It has been found that She pines for sun-- Tulasi grown indoors after 8 or 10 months do not fair as well as those given real sunlight. (Krishna says, "I am the light of the sun and the moon.") Greenhouse are not all that expensive to build. $60 (Keep in mind this was written in 1970) can build a really first-class house that can accommodate up to 60 2-foot Tulasis, and adaptations can always be made as to weather, climate, building materials on hand, and the number of Tulasi's involved. Porches, arbors, fire escapes, and roof tops can all be modified to fit the need.

If indoor lighting is unavoidable (actually some arrangement can always be made), then fluorescent tubes and fixtures (each holding at least 2 bulbs) can be suspended over and around Her. The lights must be special indoor full spectrum plant tubes, not your ordinary white fluorescent tube. The plant lights are effective only within a 6" radius, after which they drop to a potency of 0. Because of this, Tulasi s grown indoors become "leggy, " that is to say, long stems with thin stalks and only a few leaves, and a clump of leaves at the top, near the light. Because the lights have such a short range of feet, the leaves receive no real juice, and therefore fade and fall off. The result is a weak and top heavy Tulasi. To alleviate the situation, place one set of fixtures over Her (as close as possible as She will not be burnt unless actually touching for a period of time), and then bank two more fixtures, one on each side, giving you a total of 3 fixtures, totaling at least 6 tubes.

If done in this way, there will be a complete aura of light around Her. Foil can then be used to provide a hood, catching all the reflected light and focusing it on Her. Set the lights on some sort of pulley or adjustable chain affair, and in this way the lights can be raised as She grows. Please, no sun lamps.

it's evident that tulasi, like any other living being, thrives best with natural sunlight. constructing a small greenhouse, on your roof, fire escape, or wherever possible, shouldn't cost much more than getting a bunch of special light bulbs or tubes, i guess.

if you find a good solution that works, please comment back here, so that others interested in this topic can benefit, too.

ys phani.

We planted Tulasi at home last summer. When she was very little we bought her a 26 W Viva-lite full-spectrum bulb. She was doing well with it. She grew very strong stalk and large, green leaves. Recently we felt she needs more light. We arranged two 36 W fluorescent Viva-lite tubes for her. In Scandinavia there is hardly any natural light at this time of the year!

As far as I've understood, plants benefit mostly from certain wavelengths of light. In order to grow nicely, they need more cool or blue light. When they are blooming, they require some red wavelengths, too. Visual color temperature is measured by the degree of Kelvin. That's what you have to pay attention to when choosing light for Tulasi.

Full-spectrum lights are as close as it artificially gets to a natural mid-day sun during the late summer. Viva-lite bulbs/tubes have 5500 K which resembles normal daylight. They imitate all wavelengths of light to some degree. Because they have a very high color rendering index (CRI), they don't distort the actual color impression around them. Lights that have low CRI make everything look weird, either yellow or strangely blue.

The standard incandescent or halogen lamps have around 2500-3000 K, which is not useful for plants. They also emanate a lot of heat and waste energy.

If you are planning to take care of only one or two Tulasi plants, you will do fine with full-spectrum tubes. Better than the old kind of T8 tubes are the thinner T5 tubes. They are not flickering when used.

In greenhouses you will see High Intensity Discharge lamps. They are very powerful up to 6000W! At home they are out of question.

Viva-lite bulbs/tubes cost around 20-30 € per piece. On the top of this you have to buy the lighting fixture or the lamp itself. The energy-saving bulbs have E27 base, so they are compatible with any normal lamp. Very practical! For the tubes, the fixture is more expensive.

I wish you good luck and enthusiasm in taking care of Tulasi. It is very rewarding and blissful. She quickly conquers everyone's heart. From the moment she sprouts from the earth, it is apparent she is the queen. She is the central point of the day. Even if one is not that regular, one gradually becomes by her mercy, because she is very regular. She wakes up, bathes and goes to sleep always at the same time. She becomes your internal clock. it is very clever! On the top of this, she is so sweet. Serving her is very pleasing to Krishna.

This morning we offered two first budding manjaris to Sri Sri Gaura Nitai. All glories to Srimati Tulasidevi!

Your servant, Vairagya-laksmi dd