Recently, one of my Indian basils (Krishna variation) starts having these white furry patches on its leaves [pictured below].
I'm not sure what it is. I looked through the posts in the old archive and it doesn't look like it's mealybugs or powdery mildew to me, but maybe it is.. so I decided to just post the picture and ask for your experienced-eyes opinion.
I never planted anything before and this is my first attempt to grow something. I plant this basil in a small pot and place it on the window sill in the kitchen where it can get some sunlight. There are other plants nearby, but so far this is the only one that has the white fur on it. Should I move it away from the others? I tried cutting off the furry leaves, but the fur came back on the other ones instead.
posted
It looks like powdery mildew to me. Try to increase the air flow around the plant if possible and try not to get the leaves wet during warm humid weather. It is rarely fatal to a plant. Other then that, I would not worry about unless you were going to use the basil for cooking, then I would remove the infected leaves and discard them.
bbbbbbbbb Mike Maier aka The Plant Doc
From: Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2003
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Thank you for your advice. I don't think it's possible to increase the air flow, but I will be more careful when watering it. After reading your post, I have remove all the infected leaves (basically there's not much left now!) and hopefully it won't come back again. I don't really get to use it for cooking but there maybe times when I need to.
Thanks again b.
From: US | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
B, I was meaning to remove the infected leaves before harvesting it. I think that unless the infection is very bad, the leaves will still be useful for the plant.
bbbbbbbbb Mike Maier aka The Plant Doc
From: Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged