Something is eating my basil! 馃槴
I put out shallow dishes of ass-beer (Miller High Life that was brought and left behind in my house). Yesterday morning they were filled with little black dots that look like bugs.
I also sprayed down the basil with soapy water, to take care of any aphids.
I saw one of the little black bugs crawling on the plant.
According to the internet it's not Japanese beetles, as they leave lattice like remains of leaf behind. These guys are eating everything but the center vein.
This morning there were less bugs in the dishes, but it did rain last night, so it might have watered down the beer (as if MHL isn't watered down enough)!
I wonder if Diatomaceous Earth would help; you can use food grade and it will still cut bugs apart. I think this will be my next step.
One of the difficulties with identifying that bug is that it is probably a nymph, not the adult form. Here is a squash bug nymph - similar looking but the color is off:
