Basil Eaters

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Comment by Joel LeGrand on July 14, 2009 at 2:28am

Chris, I have heard that you can bury a bowl in compost next to basil, fill it full of cheat beer. The slugs will crawl in & drown. Joy's comment sounds good. I have something eating the bail in my kitchen garden in the back yard. However, in my country garden, I spread coffee bean chaff, I have no problems, it even keeps the deer away. I do not know if it is the caffeine or the smell that stopped the deer. I am going to start putting tea & coffee grounds around my basil plants. THANKS JOY!!!

Comment by Sandra Bauer on July 8, 2009 at 2:12pm

Thanks for the tips. I guess since I don't drink coffee, I will try the dish soap first. And I do have it in a pot on my porch, so perhaps it is not slugs. But I will keep an eye out. Thanks again. I'll update on my progress.

Comment by Joy Williams on July 5, 2009 at 7:24pm

oh and lettuce too!

Comment by Joy Williams on July 5, 2009 at 7:23pm

Chris! You don't need chemicals! I tell you the coffee grounds work WONDERFULLY. Slugs are repelled by the caffeine in the grounds, it's toxic to them. And it's a slow release nitrogen. :) It's working great for me, it saved my basil and bean plants.

Comment by chris w on July 5, 2009 at 7:14pm

I agree with Joy, slugs can demolish basil over night (learned the hard way). I generally don't find the need to use chemicals in my yard, but I would make the exception for slugs! Their eggs can lie dormant in the soil for years, and can emerge in good conditions in the hundreds (learned the hard way again). They have plants they particularly like, one of them is basil.

Comment by Joy Williams on July 5, 2009 at 6:07pm

Check at night to make sure it's not slugs. If it is, the dishwashing soap won't do anything about that, (though it's good for most other insects!) The treatment for slugs is coffee grounds and oyster shells or diatomaceous earth. That works on sow bugs and anything with an exoskeleton as well. I had something munching on my basil leaves, and using the coffee grounds etc, stopped that issue quickly!

Comment by Michelle W. Flannery on July 5, 2009 at 3:39pm

I don't know what is eating your basil, but a general remedy to keep bugs off most plants is to spray them with a mix of dishwashing liquid and water. Just add a few drops of dishwashing liquid to a spray bottle of water. It will deter most bugs on almost any plant. Reapply after rain.