So, I am restoring a garden, it is stuffed with Buxus - all are fine, healthy and looking good, even 2m away from this hedge are some that look wonderful, really verdant and 1st class. However there is about 10m of parterre hedging clipped to about 30cms tall that looks like this (I have taken the pic of the worst bit),
I think it was clipped by the previous gardeners at the wrong time, (it was really hot last summer),
The owner is convinced it is blight. Whereever I have seen blight before it spreads between bushes and hedges really quickly, but here everything is A1 apart from this small parterre.
So far, I've given it a good feed, and mulched the base heavilly (I think its some years befroe it had that luxury). I cant see any evidence of moths. webs or other tell tale symptoms.
What do you think???
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Hi Adam,
it's not happy that's for sure and in as best as I can see from that photo, and in my experience, I'd say it's been clipped too hard. With the blight there should be some evidence of it around still on other leaves, lots of dead leaves etc..is that area standing in water or waterlogged by chance??... those yellowing leaves on the rest of it , could be just from the hard clipping too at the wrong time..
hope this helps
Paul
Yep, I'm with Paul on this one. Not convinced it's blight. As Paul asks is it a wet corner? Lots of moss on the ground there.
We have a client with a buxus low hedge around 20 mts long, it started showing exactly the same symptoms last year, it is now almost completely dead so I would say it is box blight, it started only in one very small area just as in the photo. Good luck !
could well be the dreaded Blight, or another possible reason, do they have a dog
Looks like some hard clipping in places to try and restore some dead patches but not the cause of the dead patches
Has anyone sprayed the gravel next to the hedge and it's drifted ?
Equally have seen blight start in one area with affected plants removed but rapidly spread to healthy shrubs but it was rapid leaving no doubt .
Last year came across some young box planted in walled area starting to die and initial suggestion was it was lime leeching from the stone but only one plant was affected , shrub came out with little resistance and it turned out to be vine weevil .
Hmm... thanks for the replies Gents... helpful as always. I've sent the same question to the RHS - to see what they think, and will report their answer here.
The area faces West, but is surrounded by trees and shrubs that have massively overgrown (IMO) their alloted space, but when the sun gets through at various points of the day, it is a very hot corner.
Yes there is a dog... but its only there at weekends if the owners are home.... and its more interested in the rabbits than peeing on the hedge. I thought it worth sharing a pic of the hedge nearest to the problem one litterally about 6' away, this one is about 3' tall - it appears to be as healthy as you can get.
My current plan is to love the hedge, mulch, feed and gereally care for it - ovbviously all the time checking it and the other hedges for anything untoward.
Yes new photo shows it's looking healthy and growth as expected for this time of year awaiting it's derby day clip .
It's called Box Moth Caterpillar.... be afraid
Yes you are right we are spraying with Decis Protech look for small green and black striped caterpillars
Have you encountered box tree moth in your area? It can look very much like your image, and if the infestation is small it can be very localised to a few plants. Sadly getting worse each year here in N.Beds.
Griff
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