Leaf miners is my best guess, though the picture isn't much help. Any chance of an improved image?

Hmm..does not look like leaf miners, since there are no white lines all over the leaves, they look more like bleached blotches (light yellow color), then topped with tiny black dots.

I found this picture from another user who posted on the forum, that shows the same problem, but she has not received any good explanation:

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk197/jjj111q/Picture142.jpg

Thank you for the help!!

We had hard-shelled aphids that were small black dots on some of our plants at our old house. Haven't seen them here.

Could be basil downy mildew..

Hi! I have been away for a week, today I came back and found out that not only has this infection moved to my chili plant, but also to my newly sprouted basil plants. I found the cause to be the larvae of some kind of insect, very tiny, white larvae that almost move master than worms.

My chili plant has dark purple leaves, and where these larvae have attacked, there is obvious discoloration and the colors come off when I touch the leaves. The leaves also fall off very easily from the plant.

As for my new basil sprouts, there were infections on the tiny tiny leaves (the 1st set of leaves) and I saw a larvae lurking around as well.

Is there any way to kill these annoying pests? I have tried soap + water and vinegar+ water, neither worked. Today I sprayed Natrium, but it probably wouldn't work either. Any suggestions?

Thank you!!

Oops I meant, Natria Bug Control spray (not Natrium) :D

I have the same issue, just to the right of my finger in the picutre there is a small white rod-shaped thing... That is the bug causing this, every time I pick off a leaf a few of them end up crawling around where I set it down, although they are nearly impossible to spot on the plant. They seem to be mostly attracted to my basil but looks like they have just taken up residence in my rosemary and mint as well... Any idea what these bugs are called or how to get rid of them?
These bugs are incredibly small so it is difficult to get a good picture.

There is a leaf miner very common to basil called the Blotch Leaf Miner.

To effectively kill the larvae themselves, you have to spray with something that will be absorbed into the leaves. Once you've done that - and I don't know of anything that would work even so, though there certainly could be something out there - I would wonder about eating even the undamaged leaves.

Neem doesn't seem to kill the larvae, but it does something to interrupt the maturation cycle so you don't get MORE leaf miners.

The only things that really seems to work against leafminers are beneficial insects that eat them, and removing infected plant material and disposing of it by burning or - running down the garbage disposal. Some way that gets rid of it entirely so its not sitting around somewhere waiting for the little leafminer larvae to turn into grownups who promptly lay more eggs on your plants.

I think the eggs can end up in the soil as well. If these are potted plants you might try spritzing the soil with some neem right after you have watered, and then wait as long as possible before watering again - else you will just wash it away. I don't KNOW that will help, but its what I would try if I found leafminers in my potted herbs.

Or this might be a case where it would be worthwhile to call your local extension agency. I know its annoying when you get a "Master Gardener" on the phone instead of an actual horticulturalist, but they will generally pass you up the line without hesitation if they can't help.

Here is a link that might be useful: an article about leafminers

Hi Hayla, did you ever find the exact cause of this? I am having the same problem.

Found out the problem. It's called "thrips".

It's thrips. I have them on my basil in the greenhouse. They are a pain in the butt!! I've been using Captain Jacks Bug Brew. Insecticidal Soap works too. Try using the Bug Brew for a couple weeks and then the Insecticidal Soap. Interchanging them seems to help keep them under control. They are a hardy little bug. Watch your watering too.

I have the back excrement on basil leavesand find these bugs hiding behind the bud. I don't think this is thrip.

Those look like vine weevils, if you have them over there. They lay their eggs in the medium and the grubs eat plant roots Suddenly a plant will collapse and when you pull it up it has no roots. The adults eat the leaves. Vine weevil

Thank you for ur reply, but I don't think this is the vine beetle. Mine don't have antennas. It is "black" excrement, not "back!" And lots of it. Sorry about the typo. I sure wish I could figure this one out.

That's not a thrip. They are pretty microscopic. That's just a beetle of some sort. I would just either give the plants a good, hard spray to knock them off or spray something like spinosad. The excrement is probably theirs and quantity shouldn't be surprising. I have been shocked at how much the grasshoppers have "pooped" on my plants this year! Getting rid of them is a pain! They move so quick!

Vine weevil, not beetle. The body shape really does look more like a weevil than a beetle. There are many different types.

I've the exact problem. Can Confirm, as secretmail021 has identified, it is a very very very small insect. White-green color, approximately as wide as 1-2 human hairs, about 1.5 mm in length... you won't see them on the leaf, Instead, pick a leaf and shake/tap it over a well-lit preferably dark surface.... if they fall off, you can see them crawl.

Happened with indoor potted plant that was otherwise healthy for the last month.

No idea for the solution, but act fast, because it spread from a few just a few leaves to a few plants over the course of half a week. RIP basil.

I brought my potted basil plant inside last week & this morning this is what I found. Almost overnight my basil plant was decimated. I don't know what they are or if more will hatch. I sprayed the soil and plant with Neem oil dilution. Any ideas?

They look like cabbage worms. Neem Oil will work on eggs and smaller insects (by suffocating them) but not large insects like that. Those you need to hand pick off. Good thing you caught them before it got worse. Keep checking to make sure none of those eggs hatch and good luck!

The specks are faeces of the caterpillar which ate your leaves.

How do i treat this faeces of the caterpillar?

Faeces is the plural of feces. Basically, floral is letting you know that the black specks are caterpillar poo, and they need no 'treatment' lol.. just cleaning up. It's the caterpillar that you must find.

Can anyone tell me what these are ?

@Rhonda that looks like some nanobot experiment photoshopped in but my best bet is maybe scale bugs but they usually hang out on the stems not the leaves and from what i seen never seen one that looks and behaves like that. It could be eggs of something?

@rhonda-I have something similar but smaller clusters on the underside of my basil leaves. The eggs seem to be mostly black but there was one that had a greenish tinge to it. Btw I found this site because of your photo. It’s caused my basil leaves to turn brown (and gray). They’ve destroyed about 80% of my basil plant. I’ll respond if I figure out what it is But hopefully someone else knows!

My basil plant had one neon green worm like caterpillar bug (exact color as the basil leaf so he blended right in). Many of my basil plant leaves were eaten up and there were about 40 or 50 black hard bead like poops from the caterpillar all around my kitchen counter under the basil plant. I found this lime green caterpillar having a feast on the underside of a leaf! I put it in a zip lock baggie and he produced a poop in the baggie!!! (no I did not collect the poop from the kitchen counter.) He is going in the trash with all the poop!!!!! See photo of bug!