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Symptom

White or silver speckles

Pale speckling is often the work of mites, thrips or leafhoppers feeding on individual cells. Papery patches from scorch and the early spots of powdery mildew can look similar.

Rub the leaf and look underneath with a lens. Powder that wipes off is mildew; tiny moving specks are mites; silvery streaks with black dots are thrips.

Likely causes

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

Recorded on Basil

  1. A leaf mottled pale by spider mites, with fine webbing Pest Common

    Spider mites

    Fine pale stippling, webbing, in hot dry air.
  2. Silvery streaks from thrips on onion leaves Pest Common

    Thrips

    Silvery streaks with tiny black specks.
  3. Pale stippling from leafhoppers on a basil leaf Pest Possible

    Leafhoppers

    Pale stippling with hopping insects.
  4. Cucumber leaves dusted with white powdery mildew Fungal disease Possible

    Powdery mildew

    White spots that rub off and spread into a coating.

Less likely on Basil

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

    Sun scorch and sunscald

    Bleached, papery patches on the sunny side.
  2. White cottony mealybugs at the base of aloe leaves Pest Less likely

    Mealybugs

    White, cottony tufts in leaf joints.
  3. Pale winding leaf miner tunnels in a spinach leaf Pest Less likely

    Leaf miners

    Pale winding lines inside the leaf.