ornery_hipster
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Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2012 12:20 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA

Fungus on Basil?

I know you guys are quite helpful, I've gotten plenty of information from this forum before creating my account today, so I'm sure someone can help! I have some potted basil outside, 2 stalks in a pot, and one of them has these "granules" on the stem. They're brown and hard. I scraped some off (it wasn't easy) and they're just...hard, brown bits. What is it? Should I not eat this basil? Thanks!

[img]https://img207.imageshack.us/img207/1751/photoame.jpg[/img]

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rainbowgardener
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Wow! Never seen anything like that, but I'm guessing it isn't fungus, it is a massive infestation of scale insects. Scale insects are plant suckers that basically attach themselves to a plant and don't move. They have hard little shells and look just like a little bump on the plant. They can be scraped off.

Here's a closer up picture (your picture wouldn't enlarge for me, so I'm not sure I'm right)

[img]https://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/comhort/nooksack/ipmweb/blue/images/scale.jpg[/img]

If this is what you have, just dip some Q tips in rubbing alcohol and touch it to each one. It will kill them without damaging the plant.

If you had one or two of them, you could just ignore them, but an infestation like that will suck the life right out of your plant if you don't get rid of them.

ornery_hipster
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Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2012 12:20 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA

That MAY be it, but these bumps seem more angular and less round than those bugs. I'll try to get a closer picture.

[img]https://img406.imageshack.us/img406/5066/photo1el.jpg[/img]

As you can see when you enlarge it, it looks like whatever it is has kind of opened up the stem and is sitting in there.

The eaten leaves were from another bug incident that has since been fixed =)

cynthia_h
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I'd still start by treating the stem as if the bumps were scale. The leaves are still edible, but an infestation that strong will soon sap the vitality of your plant if not tackled STAT.

Be sure not to get any of the rubbing alcohol on the leaves; it'll leave burn spots.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

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Kisal
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It sure looks like scale to me. There are several different species of scale insects, so they might look different. Little bumps like that on the stem, though, are almost certainly scale.

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rainbowgardener
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Kisal was the one who taught me the rubbing alcohol trick! :)



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