I have a hydroponic basil plant in a jug of water sitting on my windowsill in my kitchen. there are all these little white "sea monkies" or bugs of some kind swimming around in there. They are realy "jerky" when they swim. I'm just nevous about what they will hatch into! LOL! Is it safe to still cook with the basil? Does anybody know what these could be?
2006-12-24 08:03:00 · 3 answers · asked by dwhite93 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Botany
The likely culprit here are copepods ! Common little critters tough people usually don't notice them as they are quite small, and appear only to be a little white dot that darts arround once in a while. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copepod If this is the case no worries as this is the adult form.
2006-12-25 05:44:22 · answer #1 · answered by crazy.carabid 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
that's funny, they might be mosquito larvae(although it's winter but who knows where you live).
put a little detergent into this water and put the plant into another jug of water.If the sea-monkies die then they might have been mosquitoes because they need surface tension to breathe.
If not then I don't know.Cooking probably kills them.
2006-12-24 21:17:43 · answer #2 · answered by amateurgrower 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Either mosquito larvae or Daphnia (AKA water fleas). I studied them in college and they will not affect the basil. Bon Appetite
2006-12-25 01:50:49 · answer #3 · answered by mscyngrim 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋