A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that our basil plants weren't looking so good. Some of the leaves had small patches of brown and yellow on them, and the plants didn't seem to be growing as much as I had expected them to (see the little brown spots on the leaves? and the shape of the leaves isn't quite right ).
Upon further investigation and a little research online, I figured out that we had a small infestation of whiteflies. YUCK! These little teeny tiny bugs can not only ruin your basil plants, but they can spread throughout an entire garden. Whiteflies suck the sap from the leaves of the plants, weakening the plant, and stunting the growth of the plant - which on a basil plant, means less yummy leaves :(
The good thing was that the basil had grown just enough that we were planning to make pesto soon anyway. So the next day we thoroughly picked through both plants, harvesting only the best leaves, and destroying (and trashing) several leaves which contained an incredible amount of whitefly larvae.
Then we set up some sticky bright yellow whitefly traps. Whiteflies are drawn to this specific yellow hue, and when they fly close enough to these sticky cards, they get stuck. If the whiteflies (teeny tiny moths) can't lay more eggs, then the eggs can't hatch and the babies (nymphs) and adults (flies) can't suck the sap from the plants.
Everyday for the past two weeks, whenever we walk by the garden, we give each plant a gentle little shake. This disturbs the whiteflies and any that fly off the plants get stuck on the yellow card (unfortunately other flying bugs can get stuck on the card too, so we have caught a few beneficial bugs that we would rather have not...) The good news is, we haven't seen too many whiteflies these past fews days.
And the basil plants have definitely been looking healthier, and growing stronger.
We're really looking forward to making pesto again. Oh happy ending :)
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