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holy basil disappearing...and it's not me.

binzeh

binzeh

So my bf and I recently purchased a few plants for our first garden: birds eye chile, thyme, venus fly trap, greek basil, and finally...holy basil. All the plants are doing well in Sydney's humidity, except huge chunks (leaves and stalks) are missing out of the holy basil. We're at a loss as to what might be eating this plant since none of the other plants have any leaves, stalks, or peppers missing or chewed upon.

I know that even though we had about 5" of rain last week that slugs or snails would've done this much damage in a short period of time. Does anyone have an idea as to what it could've been? I've been wondering if it might be a bird ...? We live under the flight path of planes in a heavily industrialized area. Any ideas would be appreciated. =)
 
Don't rule out slugs and snails. They can operate very quickly
for creatures that crawl about on slime!
 
I've got a raccoon issue and I can say for my part, they are after what's under the soil and not the leaves or fruit. If there is digging surrounding the roots, or it looks like the thing was uncermoniously pulled up and then dropped, that would match what I'm going through.

Do you have sow bugs/pill bugs in your area? Regardless, I would recommend Sluggo Plus if you can get your hands on it. I like it because it's organic and will handle snails, slugs, sow bugs and earwigs. Sow bugs are crustaceans so they thrive when its very wet. I used to think they only went after decaying matter, but they'll tear down the greenery too, especially juicy green stalks. With basil, I'm also wondering if you might have grasshoppers or anything in that general description.

Hammerfall said:
can be an italian deer :rofl:

maybe some rats or raccoon?
Click to expand...
 
Never underestimate how much damage a bug/bugs can do to a plant. Tomato Horn worms can strip the leaves off of a two foot pepper/tomato plant in a day. I mean not a single leaf left. If you've seen slugs or snails you should probably get rid of them as they don't contribute anything positive to gardening. Good luck.
 
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