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Symptom

Brown or scorched leaves

Brown, dead patches on leaves are tissue that has dried or been killed. The position and texture tell you whether it was sun, cold, wind, drought, salts or disease.

Check whether the brown is crisp or soft, and which side of the plant it is on. Crisp and one-sided usually means weather; soft and spreading suggests rot or disease.

Likely causes

Ordered from the usual answer to the less likely one. Each links to the full problem.

Recorded on Basil

  1. Blackened, frost-damaged shoot tips on a young plant Light & temperature Possible

    Cold and frost damage

    Blackened or brown soft tips after a cold night.
  2. Brown, crisp tips on houseplant leaves Soil & nutrients Possible

    Fertiliser burn

    Brown tips and edges after feeding; salt crust on compost.
  3. A leaf mottled pale by spider mites, with fine webbing Pest Possible

    Spider mites

    Bronzed, dry leaves with fine speckling and webbing.

Less likely on Basil

  1. A tomato leaf with pale, papery scorched patches Light & temperature Common

    Sun scorch and sunscald

    Bleached then brown patches on the sunny side only.
  2. A drooping plant in dry, cracked soil Watering Common

    Underwatering

    Crisp edges all over, in dry soil.
  3. Sweetcorn stems flattened and leaning after a storm Damage Possible

    Wind and storm damage

    Brown edges on the windward side after a blow.
  4. Pale winding leaf miner tunnels in a spinach leaf Pest Less likely

    Leaf miners

    Brown blisters inside the leaf.
  5. Potato leaves with dark water-soaked late blight patches Fungal disease Less likely

    Late blight

    Dark, spreading patches on tomato and potato in wet weather.