Kitchen Garden Forum

My box ball is very unhappy at the back & the little box hedge at the front between the neighbours is showing the same signs. I feel it is blight; but the neighbour thinks it was the colder weather & reluctant to dig up the little hedge as it might recover? I don't know much about this but I think I read there are 2 issues with box; one is a caterpillar that decimates the leaves but maybe saveable & the other is blight that kills it.

Up to now I've never seen a caterpillar on it but when I took the pic I found one on it, but what type & why it would choose dead foliage so wondering if just co-a incidence? Cheers in advance wise ones! x

Dear Westi, sorry to say but, I think your Box bushes are suffering from both problems….I think in this case, you are far better to go onto the RHS website and have a read about the problems!

Hi Westi Perhaps this will help https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/g ... -grow-box/

Perhaps the caterpillar was just commuting from the dead parts to the juicy new green leaves?

I think so many shrubs have suffered from severe frostbite this winter it,s difficult to say what might have triggered it. One of my two precious Daphne shrubs is in a similar state and i have no idea whether parts of it it have suffered frostbite or the whole shrub is dying a slow death.

If you prune the dead bits out it will look very battered. Perhaps take weekly ohotos from the same position and compare whether the dead area seems to be spreading? I think patience for a little longer may be the only solution, to see if the dead area spreads now the weather is warming up and more frostbite is less likely to occur.

Thanks for the replies. I will chat with the neighbour regarding the hedge & will bring home the saw for mine.

What is another plant we can use for the hedge, nothing spikey or high growing? We are not allowed per our house deeds, to put up fencing on the front but funnily just the little hedge stops my cats going near the neighbours meticulous lawn.

I wonder if Red Robin would be suitable?. Don't know it's Latin name but The changing colour of the red leaves can be attractive. Avoid oyracanta like the plague. The berries can be attractive for wildlife but it grows like the plague.

Beechgrove garden did a hedging trial might be worth looking if the results are accessible. Don't be tempted by the often suggested Lonicera, goes very dead at the bottom.

Wonder If Rosemary might fit the bill?It has a wonderful flowering capacity so good for bees & insects, is easily trimmable to desired height or shape and obviously useful for cutting off sprigs for roasting aromatic roast lamb..
It also doesn't seem to suffer from low temperatures and is pretty hardy. I took freebie cuttings from a neighbour's hedge (with permission!) and they all took!

Hello Westi,
I'm a bit late to this, but it does look like a nasty infestation of box moth. We had an awful lot of this come in a couple of summers ago and it's a familiar pest. It's a nasty thing but with diligence, and the right treatment, you can get rid of it. We used xentari. It's not licenced in this country, but it's easy enough to get hold of it online. It's a shame in some ways, as the box moth is quite a beatiful thing, but they are voracious and I don't think the world will suffer for a few less of them.
We were planning to plant a dwarf box hedge but after this pest came along, we did go for the dwarf honeysuckle instead. It's lonicera nitida and we planted it as bare root. I can't speak for whether it gets leggy/woody at the bottom as yet as ours is only a couple of seasons old, but it's doing very well here. We struggle with the range of plants we can grow on our heavy clay, but this has been a success so far. I've attached a (not very good) photo of the hedge. It has an added benefit that we have just noticed - it flowers profusely but inconspicuously to our eyes, but it's covered in bees and pollinators that are having a great time on there.

Sorry! Having attachment problems - will sort later:(

It isn't all that informative but Beechgrove Garden looked back at their hedge trial last night, repeated tonight on BBC2 at 7:30.

Perfect thank you Geoff I will watch it.

Discussion with the neighbour & he agreed to give it a try with the Xentari. While discussing whether to water or spray we had a close look at the little hedge & there were some new little tiny leaves forming & we snapped a few branches & they were green inside so fingers crossed. I am going to cut down my ball at the back as it is going to get trashed when we convert the garage to accommodate the wet room & stuff for Mr. Actually I might wait & chat nicely to the man on the little digger & then the roots will be gone also...hmm! ?

Thanks for your advice everyone! x

I know it will be of no consolation, Westi but, over the last couple of days i’ve noticed my box hedge and also some of my box topiary, is infested with box caterpillars….. also a good friend of mine rang last night and said her box topiary has been stripped bare, she lives 10 miles from me…..
I was hoping with the long Winter, it might have lessened some of the pests but, I also noticed at one of the gardens I work at, their old climbing rose was absolutely infested with aphids…..

You could try the Xentari OH! The reviews are good with more positive than neg. Phil my neighbour read more than me & one of the overwhelming ones was how quick the box recovered. It's £20 for 5 sachets, but if it works so quickly you could probably share with your friend. After our discussion re: spray v's water it in, we went for the watering can so the excess would drench the soil as they pupate under the bushes.

Good luck!

Thank you for the information, Westi, really appreciate that….x