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Old 31-03-2003, 09:44 PM
Dwight Sipler
 
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Default basil in atlanta

HI HI- wrote:

X-No-Archive: yes
ok we got a little coldness last night not too bad it was about 33ish no frost however. i checked my basil plants and they seem to be turning brown. i will say that a few days ago i noticed that something was eating the leaves from the middle. i sprin

kled some dust on them. will my basil now die? is it too late to save them?



Basil is *very* tender, so if it was a clear night, the radiation
cooling could drop the temperature at the leaf surface below the damage
threshold, even though the air temperature might be as high as 35F. It
depends on how large the plants are. If they are still seedlings, they
probably won't recover. If they are large plants, the top leaves will
shade the lower leaves and protect them. If it's only the upper leaves
that are turning brown, cut off the dead leaves and the plant will
recover.

It's still early in the year -- plenty of time to seed more basil.

Whatever is eating the leaves is a separate issue. Are they a lot of
small holes or a few large holes? I don't know the bug timing for
Atlanta, but the small holes might be flea beetles. They will disappear
with warmer weather. If the plant is healthy, it can outgrow bug damage
unless there are really a lot of them. I wouldn't dust the leaves since
they are the parts of the plant you are going to eat (unless you are
just growing it for the smell).
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Old 01-04-2003, 02:08 PM
Dwight Sipler
 
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Default basil in atlanta

Requester wrote:

ok i will do as you suggest. you say dont use dust? how else do you protect the plant?
i always thought that you can dust then wash the plants before eating am i wrong?





Depends on what kind of dust you use. Some chemicals are systemic, i.e.
they get into the plant tissues. Some chemicals are acceptable to the
organic community (I guess I shouldn't call them chemicals, since they
are for the most part naturally occuring pesticides derived from
plants). (This doesn't mean that they aren't toxic, however).

At any rate, you are going to eat the basil. If a bug chews a few holes
first, it doesn't detract from the flavor of the basil. It only makes it
more difficult to find good looking leaves for decoration.

The only bug I can think of that might be a problem is a leaf miner
(where the bug stays inside the leaf), but I haven't seen any of them on
my basil in New England. I can't say what they do in Atlanta.

I get a lot of japanese beetle damage on my basil, but in midsummer the
plant puts out new growth faster than the beetles can eat.

rant Choosing food should be done with taste buds, not eyes. The
flavr-savr tomato was invented so it could be kept looking good at the
supermarket for a longer period of time. No matter that it had no taste.
It is possible to produce perfect produce that tastes good, but it takes
more effort (read: costs more) so since we have a tradition of cheap
food in this country, we get the cosmeticically enhanced stuff. /rant

PS: at least you're growing your own stuff. That's a step in the right
direction.
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