You have whiteflies and they love basil. You do not want to ignore them. They have sucking mouthparts, so they will not be chewing holes in the leaves but will feed on the plant sap and rob the plant of its food and energy. You can treat them with neem or insecticidal soap.

thanks! i will go get some insecticidal soap then. i have a silly question - can i still eat the basil (of course after rinsing) after spray? i love basils in almost all of my dishes...

Be sure to direct the insecticidal soap to the underside of the leaves, as it needs to come into direct contact with those darned whiteflies. Yes, you can enjoy your basil after a quick rinse in clean water.

I bought neem oil and sprayed last night, focusing on the underside... this morning I still see a few whiteflies, but I suppose it might take a while to work. I was going to get insecticidal soap but only found neem oil (garden safe 3 in 1 fungacide), and it says it can be used on edible crops, so hopefully I can still rinse the basils and eat! Thanks!

Neem works as an insect growth regulator (a hormone) and it takes a while to disrupt growth enough to kill the insects. The good thing is that is not a hormone system that we share with insects which makes it very safe.

ah ic. i think i will follow the instructions on the bottle - if i still see whiteflies after 7 days, i'll spray again. thanks!

You may never get rid of ALL of the whiteflies, but don't let a few stubborn ones bother you.