What's ruining my Basil???

[Lady of Shallots]

My basil plants all seem to have these tiny little white spots on the leaves. Sorry the pic isn't great but hopefully you'll get the idea...

Does anyone know what these spots are caused by? Is there anything I can do? It seems to be spreading onto my thyme plant too which is next to the basil.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

[paulsherwin]

Check for aphids, especially underneath the leaves. Aphids can really infest indoor grown basil since the natural predators are excluded (coriander is even worse )

Paul

[DavidT]

To me it looks more like scorch damage, don`t get water on the leaves if you can help it.

[Lady of Shallots]

Thanks both of you! I don't think it's aphids, haven't seen any of them on it, and it's out in the garden so perhaps something else is eating them!

The plant was in my mini greenhouse so it could have been getting sprinkled when I was watering the plants and got too hot and scorched maybe. I'll keep an eye on it and try not to get the leaves wet. I have moved it out into the open too, perhaps I'll bring it indoors for a bit.

I was thinking it looked like something was eating the leaves from inside, like those teeny caterpillars that get inside leaves, can't remember what they're called though! But it's probably too small anyway!

[DavidT]

It`s definitely NOT Leaf Miners, so don`t worry about that. put the pot on your kitchen windowsill, and use the Basil as it grows.

[Lady of Shallots]

My kitchen has no windowsill! Isn't that rubbish!?! I'll put it in the dining room instead Thanks for the advice!

[jennifera]

I find basil the most sensitive of all the herbs. I accidentally got a minute bit of organic plant feed on it and that was it!

[Berky2]

I planted garlic plants near my basil and the basil seems to be doing fine and free of any insects. FYI, I am in Florida below the frost line.

[DavidT]

Good evening Berky2 and welcome.

[Berky2]

Thank you DavidT for the welcome. I look forward to learning a lot about herb gardening on this forum. A while back I got into herb gardening and love it. I got so interested that I began to write(something I seldom do) about herb gardening. I started a squidoo lens to talk about my herb gardening adventures and someone suggested posting in on Digg(whatever that is) to get more people interested in the topic. Please take a look at my "Digg" and click on the digg button. Thanks for helping get the word out about the joys of herb gardening.
Herb Gardening Adventures

[Berky2]

Recently I discovered lemon basil. It is amazing in that the leaves smell just like lemons. I have added these plants to my herb garden. I was wondering if this type basil could be used in making beverages such as basil lemonade. Any suggestions?

[judimac]

Originally Posted by Berky2

Recently I discovered lemon basil. It is amazing in that the leaves smell just like lemons. I have added these plants to my herb garden. I was wondering if this type basil could be used in making beverages such as basil lemonade. Any suggestions?

Last year was my first growing Basil Mrs Burn's Lemon. It was wonderful! Definitely my favourite so far! Did you google basil lemonade? Did you make some?

[JTD]

I seem to have trouble with growing basil (on windowsill) the plant looks healthy for a while then gets droopy, yellow and wilting. The soil seems moist am I watering correctly?

[lil_dill]

Looks like two things. Looks like it's being eaten by something, and also a bit of scorch damage. Always water basil from underneath as it's so sensitive.

Lemon Basil, lovely stuff.

and welcome Berky2!