I’ve got bugs on my Basil!  This means war!

I watered all my Basil plants in the greenhouse one evening, and the next morning when I came to check on them they were not looking good at all.  I thought maybe I was watering them too much, so I cut back on watering them. This didn’t help.  They were looking really grim.

I noticed there were little bugs flying around…then looking closer, I saw the culprits!  I had no idea what kinds of bugs I had, but I knew it wasn’t a good sign.  There were holes in my leaves, white blotches on the stems in the joints where the leaves meet (I didn’t know these were mealy bugs!), there were flying bugs coming from the soil and when I looked under the leaves, little white flies flew everywhere!

I had a choice, either pull all my basil plants up, throw them out and start over, or figure out a way to save all my babies.  I had over 100 different varieties growing and really didn’t want to have to start over.  I even investigated Nuking my greenhouse with a nicotine bomb!  That was going to be the last resort and it’s not advisable.

I gathered up basil leaves, stems, and even some whole plants and took them to an entomologist to identify my bugs and get suggestions on how to naturally get rid of them!  We drove over 4 1/2 hours to meet the entomologist.

You can either use the drop down menu or click on the hyperlinks to purchase my Bug Reports, that will not only identify the bugs, talk about the bugs, but will give you solutions on how to eliminate the bad bugs by either introducing beneficial bugs, or by using organic eliminators.

Aphids Report

Aphids prefer new growth and will attach themselves to new growth and travel to the newer growth all the way to the plant’s flowering stage.

They can be a gardener’s nightmare and left untreated, they can destroy your basils very quickly.

You can also purchase Beneficial Bugs if you know what kind you need. Just click on the hyperlink and you can read about the Beneficial Bug:

Aphidius Species Aphid Parasitic Mini-Wasps

Aphid Predatory Midge Aphidoletes aphidimyza

Green Lacewings -Chrysoperla rufilabris

Lady Beetles, Coleoptera: Coccinellidae

If you either have tried the Beneficial Bugs, or if you would like to try an organic alternative, I would suggest Organocide. I use both Beneficial Bugs and Organocide.

You can introduce beneficial bugs after using Organocide, but it’s not advisable to use Organocide after releasing beneficial bugs because the oils will suffocate them on contact and will treat the beneficial bugs just like the pests you are trying to eliminate.

Click on the hyperlink to learn more about Organocide.

Organocide