I have basil growing in pots, black plastic sort of window box things With legs Nice looking containers Large containers and long In the pots, two of them I have various types of basil, Rosemary, Lavender, and something else I forget what it is Right near my kitchen door so I can just cut off what I need and when One type of the basil, of course my favourite kind, gets holes in the leaves and I have figured out , and seen what it is Even though in pots and not overwatered. It is Earwigs. Have even seen one , no two, times when I have cut some leaves for adding to whatever. I do put coffee grounds in both of the pots and egg shells What I have taken to doing, and I know this sounds, a bit yuk is just washing off the leaves I want to use and chopping them up I figure, that commercially that is what would happen so this year I have been doing this Main thing is to be sure not to have any bugs in what I use and wind up chopping them up into my salad. That for sure would be YUK I do have lots of basil though and am thinking to maybe plant some seeds and have myself another crop before the big freeze Never can have to much basil that is for sure.

Jeff, I know it's hard, but if you can get out there early, look real close on the branch of the plant, I mean stare at it, I swear that's catipillar damage. They are usually on the branches, and when they see you or hear you, they are real still, and sometimes it's hard to see them. If you see one, you have more than one. They are chomping the tops off, that is what catipillars do. I picked 7 or 8 off of one of my plants, just pull them off, they don't bite. Also, wash the bush down real good, there are little black eggs on the bush too, you have to look close to see it. If your problem is catipillars, but that is what my plant looked like, and I caught them. It will take a couple days to find them, they are hard to see, they look like your plant.

Bleu_Maples, I'm having the same thing with my new bougies (one of them in particular is more delicious than the others for some reason). Been spraying BT once a week and leaves are still disappearing as soon as they sprout. So, you have my empathy! I can't even find any loopers at night - they're so well camoflaged. Took me a long time to find one, and it was only 1/8" long! (hanging from a thread). Argh! I don't have any other suspects though.

Those caterpillers can finish-off dill faster than you can imagine, especailly as they grow larger.