Overnight basil-eater

September 4, 2022 11:28 AM

Yesterday I had a lush potted basil plant in my backyard as big as a shrub. Today it's a sadly deforested pot of stems. What the hell eats basil? I have an urban small backyard, fenced but permeable by climbing or flying animals, with birds, squirrels, outside mice, the occasional raccoon or opossum, a couple of neighbors' outdoor cats. None has ever shown the slightest interest in any of my potted kitchen herbs. It's like a fire went through overnight, leaving only tree-trunks. Any ideas?
posted by citygirl to Science & Nature (16 answers total)

Caterpillars? Caterpillars can skeletonize a plant more quickly than you might expect.
posted by confluency at 11:49 AM on September 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Look for slime residue on the stems. Last year small grey slugs ate all my herbs, including basil, peppermint, parsley etc and only left behind the stems. This was in a small urban backyard garden (only birds can access it, walls on four sides. I eventually found them in the soil, i think they arrived with potted plants i had mail ordered and planted into the garden bed.
posted by 15L06 at 11:50 AM on September 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Your neighbor?
posted by JohnnyGunn at 12:08 PM on September 4, 2022 [6 favorites]

My cats completely mowed down a potted kale to stem stubs. They like mint (and cat grass) as well. It's not impossible one of the neighbor cats has decided they like basil.
posted by spamandkimchi at 12:53 PM on September 4, 2022

Oh I reread your Ask and saw that you said it was a big as a shrub. Maybe a pack of foraging cats?
posted by spamandkimchi at 12:54 PM on September 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

snails decimate basil and they move faster than you'd think. did it rain by any chance?
posted by fingersandtoes at 1:38 PM on September 4, 2022

Response by poster: fingersandtoes, we wish! A spritz here and there but we're on the edge of a local drought.

JohnnyGunn, 7' high fences and no door onto the alley. They'd have to be determined, and athletic, neighbors.

It seems it must be some sort of basil-loving insect or snail that's new to the scene, or at least my yard, because the basil been there, available, since late May. Odd. Just odd. Nothing else, like pots of ripening tomatoes, flowers, or other herbs have any evidence of damage. The cats in question sometimes amble across the fence tops, but usually only to move to a sunnier roof to nap on. They are so chill that even the local birds are nonchalant when they're about. I suppose it's possible they developed a sudden desire for basil, but I guess next season I need to install a camera to answer this question definitively. Thanks, all, for your speculations.
posted by citygirl at 2:34 PM on September 4, 2022

Philadelphia is evidently a stop along the Atlantic Flyway for birds migrating south for the winter:

PHILADELPHIA (August 11, 2021) – Fall bird migration is underway and millions of birds are beginning to reach Philadelphia as they head south for the winter, newly hatched young embarking on their first migration. Bird Safe Philly is asking Lights Out Philly participants — and everyone — to turn off or block non-essential lights from midnight to 6:00 a.m. from August 15 to November 15 to protect migratory birds traveling along the Atlantic Flyway.

Birds mentioned in the story are the Ovenbird, the Black and White Warbler, and the Common Yellowthroat. No discussion of the foods they like to eat along the way, though.

There are some tantalizing Google results about birds eating basil, but the confirmed perpetrators were parrots most of the time.
posted by jamjam at 3:45 PM on September 4, 2022

I had this same problem a few weeks ago- something stripped all my herbs and most of my potted petunias in exactly this way. It also munched a lily and a giant leafy weed growing uninvited in a planter.

I live in downtown DC with a small back patio that is bounded by two two-story fences and two brick walls. The only animals I can think of are the squirrels that had a nest on top of one of the fences this spring, or, unfortunately, rats. The weed was so big I can’t imagine it was snails.
posted by marguerite at 7:37 PM on September 4, 2022

I’ve had pepper plants and herbs mowed down to stem stubs by rabbits. This was in a residential neighborhood in a city, no nearby parks or woods, and somehow rabbits had taken up residence in the area.
posted by needled at 8:21 PM on September 4, 2022

I'm pretty sure mine were stripped by wild turkeys. If it wasn't them, it was ground squirrels.
posted by lapis at 9:35 PM on September 4, 2022

Japanese beetles did this to a basil plant we had. Took less than 2 hours.
posted by Nosey Mrs. Rat at 9:35 PM on September 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

I had a couple of tomato seedlings eaten down to the stems overnight. The nursery guy said probably snails. One morning I looked outside and saw a white domestic rabbit eating my plants. A few days later I noticed lost rabbit sigs around the neighborhood. Ask if your neighbors are missing a bunny.
posted by morchella at 9:38 AM on September 5, 2022

I lost a whole pot of basil in a similar manner on my urban balcony and saw a caterpillar snacking on the remains.
posted by all the marbles at 9:55 AM on September 5, 2022

Rats demolished my basil last summer. They came from underneath a wood fence.
posted by forkisbetter at 1:17 PM on September 5, 2022

If you are in the northern hemisphere, it is a bit late for caterpillars but peak snail and slug season, and they come in many shapes and sizes.

Sometimes, if I am going away for a short time period, I put my herbs in the yard rather than bring them along (I usually take my herbs with me, my car has a lovely aromatic smell). And when I come back, the slugs and snails have always focused on the basil. I suppose they would take a look at the other plants if they had more time, but their first choice is always the basil. And in spite of being slow movers, they are fast eaters, even the tiny ones that are the size of the nail on your pinky.
posted by mumimor at 1:29 PM on September 5, 2022