charles ufford wrote:

DigitalVinyl wrote:
My basil is dying fast

Yesterday the thing looked very wilted so I gave it an extra watering,
but today it looks worse and the entire plants looks like it is dying.
The stems are browning from the root upwards. It looks brown to
darkish brown. It looks like whatever is moving up all the stems. SOme
branches appear to be shedding their leaves. I found a pile of dead
leaves under the branches.

Sound familiar to anyone.
DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
2nd year gardener
http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalfrazier/

It's called damping-off, and it is because the basil got too cool and/or wet around the
base. Watering more will make it worse, but if all the stems are brown then it is gone.
Chemicals will cost more than a new plant, but usually this problem is from the plants
being too wet, either from not enough light and/or air movement or just plain too much
rain. It happens alot with new seedlings of many kinds of garden plants often in the
spring when the ground is cool and wet.
charles

I've never heard of damping off happening to large plants. This was
two large bush-like plants 2 feet high, 2 feet wide. The transplant
went in the ground in May so it was 10 weeks after transplant--I think
I bought it at a nursery. I've been pulling flowers off the basil a
few weeks. We did have soaking rains but the ground actually looked
fairly dry when I noticed how wilted it was--so I watered it thinking
it was not getting enough.

Now too cool is interesting becuase we just had sudden cool days
including cool nights about 60 degrees. And it was when the cool
weather started that i first noticed the wilted condition.


DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
2nd year gardener
http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalfrazier/