I have a deck garden here in Westchester, NY. Something is eating my basil. Anyone have any ideas on what it may be and how to get rid of whatever it is? Thanks, HOs!
Aargh. Could Japanese beetles be the culprits? We used to grow basil when we had a deck and that’s what we concluded. We had enough basil growing that we simply used leaves they didn’t munch.
Is the deck near the ground? We used to plant basil in the garden, but the grasshoppers liked it too much, so we moved it to the second floor deck, and never had that issue again.
No, its a second floor deck. It’s not near the ground at all.
Our deck was too. That’s why we suspected Japanese beetles.
Bummer, as the leaves looked the same as when ours was being eaten by grasshoppers. Seems like Japanese beetles then. I’d do the same as tomatotomato, and eat the leaves they haven’t touched.
That’s what I’m doing! But I’m bummed!
I don’t know if you really need to worry about it unless it gets a lot worse. The basil I grow always has some holes on the leaves. And if you are going to chop it up anyway, the holes don’t change the taste.
My problem with basil has always been that I don’t eat them quick enough to finish everything before they die in the fall.
That’s true. And I don’t see any bugs…
Could be earwigs. I recall trapping them with paper from my shredder stuffed into used paper towel rolls.
Not too late for 2020!
Dealing with earwigs
Integrated pest management
Hey, can’t we see the bugs on the photo?
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You are right!! I never noticed! I wonder what they were,
Looks like some type of insects in “caterpillar” worm stage, but not sure. If you have a higher resolution of this photo, we can see better.
Nope, that’s it. Thanks, naf! Can’t believe it never saw that!
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Nice!
