Reviving Wilting Basil Plants

Water your basil adequately. Basil plants grow rapidly and require plenty of moisture to keep up with that rapid growth rate. Basil should be watered daily, keeping soil moist. Never allow the soil to become soggy or muddy. Provide proper drainage to prevent water from standing around your basil plants.

Check your basil for signs of disease. In addition to wilt, symptoms of disease may include leaf spotting or discoloration, leaf drop, and soggy or rotted spots on the stem. Basil diseases may be viral, bacterial or fungal and require treatment with an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal or anti-viral plant preparations.

Check your basil for pests. Pests often cause wilting along with holes in leaves, cankers on stems, leaf discoloration or dried, distorted leaves. Pests of basil include caterpillars, aphids and mites that feed on the leaves of basil plants. Once pest problems are recognized, basil must be treated with a pesticide to eliminate the problem. Other methods include hand-picking the pests from the plants and introducing beneficial insects into your garden to prey on harmful pests.

Check the plants for damage. If the plant appears wilted in only one area, the stem in that area may be broken or damaged. If the entire plant looks wilted, the main stem could be broken. There is no solution for a basil wilted due to main-stem breakage, but smaller, broken stems may simply be removed from the plant.

Fertilize your plant properly. Basil does not require fertilizer supplements, but vegetable fertilizer may be used if desired. An organic fertilizer, such as compost, peat moss or well-rotted manure, worked into the soil before planting basil is sufficient fertilizer for a healthy plant. If you do supplement with an additional fertilizer, use only as the fertilizer's label instructs. Over-fertilization of basil plants leads to wilting and the eventual death of the plant.