This week I am going to share some information on a fungus that is threatening sweet basil plants called downy mildew. If you notice the below symptoms, harvest the leaves immediately and use them. This fungus is very contagious and spores are carried in the air and also survive in seeds.
1. You can identify downy mildew as faint yellow bands on the upper surfaces of the leaves. The lower leaf surfaces become dotted with tiny gray specks. The incubation period is about two weeks
for the disease to show up after initial infection.
2. Leaves showing early stages of the disease can be harvested for fresh use and they are not toxic to humans. If you use/discard the infected leaves you can keep your plant going (note for large farms this is not feasible and many greenhouses like DeBaggios lost their entire inventory this year)
3. Organic fungicides seem to have little effect on the plants and the best defense is to keep plants in a sunny location where they get good air circulation.
For the full article go to the Washington post at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/15/AR2010061501079.html
Image credit: http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/NewsArticles/BasilDowny.html
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