Sweet basils always take a long time to get going after sprouting for me.

It sounds like you have plenty of experience with basil. My most basic experience is that it likes really warm soil.

As long as they are green (not yellowing), that is fine. Basils do not grow real fast at first. I have a flatfull of them right now. They have just the seed leave for over one week so far.

Well that's encouraging. So, patience, huh? I do still have a month before they'll go in.
Thanks!

I will echo the point about warm soil. Basil likes warm soil. In fact, it won't even germinate with soil temps much below 70F. I always start my basil indoors under lights. They don't go outside until the low temps are in the 50s and 60s. I suspect exposure to cooler temps will shut them down for a while.

Its been said twice already but - temperature makes a huge difference with Basil. Last year I had basil growing under lights in my grow room, some on the top shelf where it is at 70-75 degrees, and some on the bottom shelf where it is closer to 55-60. There was an amazing difference in growth rate.

Basil is a heavy feeder and also prefers bright sun and heat. I mean, it's one of the few garden plants that I can count on through the summer in the extreme, Phoenix summer heat.

To make matters worse the conditions which slow the basil growth also favor many basil diseases. That is my main reason for only early starting disease resistant varieties like Nufar, Emily or Genoveser. Also use a potting mix with biofungicide if possible as added insurance and then you still need to keep young seedlings warmer than most other crops. Temps dipping into the mid 40s often leeds to "Tanning" of the leaves; low of