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My basil is infested with pests, and from this earlier question I think they might be mealybugs.

Photo of my basil

How should I treat it? I have previously sprayed it with Natrasoap (Potassium salts of fatty acids), but it didn't seem to have any much effect. Just keep applying it more regularly?

curiousdannii
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  • Is this plant in a pot? How big is it? – Graham Chiu Jan 11 '18 at 03:25
  • @GrahamChiu Yes in a pot. About 35cm tall. – curiousdannii Jan 11 '18 at 03:54
  • Is it robust enough to be taken into the shower to try and wash off the bulk of them? Also need to isolate it from any other household plants. – Graham Chiu Jan 11 '18 at 05:49
  • And then http://homeguides.sfgate.com/rubbing-alcohol-hurt-plants-used-pests-90128.html – Graham Chiu Jan 11 '18 at 05:51
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    How important is this basil to you? As basil is not exactly a long-living plant, it will start flowering and going to seed sooner than later. I personally would *in this case* consider simply discarding it and starting over. – Stephie Jan 11 '18 at 06:07
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    It's still good experience to try and eradicate an infection for the next time it happens. – Graham Chiu Jan 11 '18 at 06:10
  • @Stephie This isn't the first time I've seen these pests, so I'd like to learn how to handle them. And in this climate I think basil will survive the winter easily enough. – curiousdannii Jan 11 '18 at 08:19
  • hummm, need to know WHY your basil is attracting pests. Too much fertilizer, too little sun some other stress? Get NEEM and spray or dunk your plants. Only use new leaves if this works. Should. Turning the plant upside down if it is small enough, holding the soil in with hand or paper plate, dunking in prepared NEEM solution, swishing around a bit, shake off excess, allow to dry and monitor. – stormy Jan 11 '18 at 09:47
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    @GrahamChiu You're restricted as to what you can use as treatments because this is a food plant - working out why its happening is probably more important, as Stormy says, than trying to save this particular plant. I agree with Stephie - its a bit too far gone already – Bamboo Jan 11 '18 at 10:42
  • I don't see a health issue with the advice from that article which says to apply rubbing alcohol, and then wash it off. The alcohol will evaporate in any case. I used an alcohol spray on my oyster mushrooms in an attempt to kill springtails which it did .. but the mushrooms also died! – Graham Chiu Jan 11 '18 at 20:39

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This is mealy bug and quite a well established colony. As this is a plant that you might intend to eat I recommend throwing it out quickly. Some adult mealy bugs can fly when things get too crowded and you do not want them spreading to other plants.

If you apply soap and water or a more serious pesticide the plant will take a long time to recover and not be of any use as a food plant.

Basil plants cost a few dollars and should be easy to replace.

kevinskio
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  • Sounds like that's the hard truth. Is it safe to keep/reuse the soil? – curiousdannii Jan 12 '18 at 15:01
  • @curiousdannii There could be eggs in the soil so I would throw out. – kevinskio Jan 12 '18 at 19:45
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    eggs hatch within 1-3 weeks. With the plant gone there will be nothing to sustain them, and they'll die. Keep the potting mix for reuse. If you want to reuse it immediately, just put the soil in the oven and cook it. Or just scrape the top layer off. – Graham Chiu Jan 12 '18 at 19:51
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    we are talking about a few pennies worth of soil less mix. Recycle it outside or in a green bin if your area does that. For the money saved I would not take the risk on indoor plants – kevinskio Jan 13 '18 at 12:54