Something poopy ate my basil.

[kinnip]

See the icky poo? There are a couple of other nearby plants with the same giant bites taken out of them, but clearly whatever it was it liked pesto best. I don't share well! Especially not the basil!!! un There is a chicken wire fence around the bed, so I'm having trouble figuring out what did this and how to dispose of it.

 

[patandchickens]

Do hornworms eat basil? The frass looks kinda like from hornworms. Look around, CAREFULLY, including on the undersides of all leaves/branches (incl. nearby plants).

At any rate it is *some* sort of insect doing the damage, so the chickenwire fence is of no help.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Tutter]

Looks like an "inchworm". (Inch or less long guys that are thin, and "inch along.") If the excrement is glistening, you probably still have the culprit there.

Pat's right about the back of the leaves. Try giving the "branches" a little shake and see what falls off. Then you can search for hangers on.

Good luck!

 

[kinnip]

I found the culprit! I didn't think caterpillars could leave such giant poops.

 

[Tutter]

Cool! I've never seen a white one here!

Yes, you'd be amazed how much excrement the can leave.

We have long furred ones here which are not good for the chickens. In fact, no bird I've seen will eat them. I don't know about yours, but maybe they shouldn't be chicken food.

I'm glad you found it!

 

[ams3651]

so, anyone know what kind it is????

 

[Tutter]

How about this?

Fuzzy Guy

As I said, I've never seen a white one, but maybe it's something like this?

 

[Tutter]

Also, I don't know if it applies to this one, but I looked up the problem with some "furred" caterpillars, and found this. Better safe than sorry until it's ID'd for sure:

"Caterpillars or larvae of certain moths possess stinging hairs. These sharp hairs or spines are either hollow, connected to poison glands (venom flows on contact), or similar to glass fibers (hairs break off in skin easily) sometimes causing pain like a needle prick. Depending on the individual, reaction to the sting ranges from mild, with local reddening, swelling, burning and itching to severe pain. Hypersensitive persons may experience severe swelling, nausea and generalized systemic reactions, occasionally requiring hospital treatment. In severe cases, entrance of hairs into the eye can cause blindness.

Stings generally occur when accidentally brushing against one of these caterpillars or attempting to remove it by hand from clothing or on the body. Fortunately, stinging hair caterpillars are not a widespread problem (occur in small numbers). Most are found on corn leaves, vegetable plants, shrubs and trees."

 

[Cassandra]

That's what I was going to say! It looks like the stinging kind!

They can hurt. I haven't seen one in years, but they were around a lot when I was little and I knew to stay well away from them.

Cassandra