I love pasta.
Lasagna. Spaghetti and Meatballs. Chicken Parmesan.
Guess what? Most pasta dishes include basil.
Basil is one of the hallmark ingredients of many Italian dishes; and it is absolutely delicious.
Basil grows quickly, and is fairly easy to grow. Seriously, every new gardener should try it.
However, as with any other plant that you might grow, there is a small chance things can go wrong.
This is where that fun part of homesteading comes in; you know the part! Where you have big hopes and dreams for something in particular, especially a crop or new livestock, and things just keep seeming to go wrong in ways you never thought possible with it? Yes. We call that learning…. through trial and error, that is. Don’t be discouraged!
In my case, things did go wrong. Verticillium Wilt, in particular. My beautiful basil plants just withered away until they were nothing. Instead of getting upset about it and throwing in the towel as many might, I simply documented it for all of you other fine people who are learning the ropes of homesteading. Basil is a fast grower, and prolific. Just keep extra seeds handy! So, let’s check out what happened! I am also documenting this as Verticillium Wilt rather than Fusarium Wilt, and I will explain why soon.
Verticillium Wilt: How Can I Perk Up Wilting Basil? Is My Basil Dying?
Verticillium Wilt is a nasty little bugger. This fungal infection is quite common, and can naturally be found in the soil for years after an infection. It attacks the root system of a susceptible plant, such as our beautiful Basil plants. From there, growth may slow or stop as the fungus destroys the root system. As the infection progresses, the wilt invades the stem, climbing up towards the leaves. These leaves will begin to droop, turn yellow or brown, and begin to fall. This is the more advanced stage of the infection; while you might just now be discovering that your plants are infected, they were goners long before you knew. The Verticillium Wilt fungus will finally reach the top leaves, which will be the death of the plant. Once your plants have this fungal wilt infection, there is nothing you can do to save them. If you water your plants in an effort to perk up the basil’s leaves, you’ll find that the water does not help.
You MUST sterilize your soil after trashing infected plants in order to prevent reinfection. Verticillium Wilt can infect other susceptible plants, not just your Basil. If you spot an infected plant (whether it is Verticillium Wilt or Fusarium Wilt), remove it from the garden or greenhouse immediately and trash it. DO NOT compost infected plants or soil.
Now, the reason I knew I was dealing with Verticillium Wilt was because I previously had an experimental potato plant die due to similar symptoms; shortly before my Basil plants became infected. Verticillium Wilt fungus can infect and kill both potatoes and basil; therefore, I knew this had to be the cause. Fusarium Wilt tends to be species limited, which means it would be unlikely to cross this barrier between the two plants. Below, you will see the potato plant that was infected with Verticillium Wilt; it had started to discolor towards the top of the vine when the photographs were taken. Further down the potato plant vine, the lower leaves and leaflets had already wilted and fallen. This was the beginning of the end.
Fusarium Wilt: Is It Deadly to Basil? How Is It Different from Verticillium Wilt?
Fusarium Wilt is incredibly close to Verticillium Wilt. I was not able to identify the Verticillium Wilt as itself until I had two plant species infected: the potato, then the basil. At first, I did suspect Fusarium Wilt, as many might also do. However, this could be a fatal assumption for your plants.
As stated previously, Fusarium Wilt is a fungus that targets individual species of plants; it has much the same symptoms as the other fungal infection, as it attacks the roots and moves upwards through the plant. However, if you keep a plant with Fusarium Wilt around other species of plants, you may just see an isolated case of infection.
In the case of Verticillium Wilt, you may see every susceptible plant species become infected through cross contamination. Therefore, regardless of the infection at hand, I recommend treating both forms of wilt as if they are highly contagious. Fusarium Wilt will kill the infected plants, as there is no cure for it.
I Think I’m Dealing with Verticillium Wilt: What Can I Do to Save My Plants?
First, identify ANY plants with signs of wilt, and remove them from the main garden area or nursery. Potted plants with obvious wilt should be destroyed immediately and the soil sterilized. Garden plants should be ripped up and disposed of, marking the infected area off for future planting. You could still plant in infected soil, just plant species that are not affected by wilt.
Plants that may just be dry should be watered and isolated in a separate area, away from both healthy and diseased plants. If the plants recover and are healthy for 7 days following the isolation date, reintroduce them to their spot in the yard or window.
If you think your entire crop of a particular variety is infected, I would recommend that you immediately start new plants if that is an option. Since you will lose all infected plants, the best reaction is to fix the issue as quickly as possible and replace the plants. This way, you can try to make up for lost time.
Do not get discouraged by a case of fungal wilt. These things happen to even the best of gardeners; disease lives within the soil, and a wide variety of situations could cause infection. Personally, I could have brought it home on healthy plants from the garden center; I have not lost new plants, however, that does not mean that fungal spores weren’t living on plants that are immune to wilt. Once those spores made it home, they may have then infected my potato plant, which in turn infected my basil. Infected tools or hands can cross contaminate, as well. Rather than getting discouraged, just consider it a lesson learned and plant again. You will succeed.
