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Box blight survivors

B3B3 Posts: 24,432
in Plants
About 4 years ago, a short box hedge in my garden succumbed to blight. I cut it down almost to the ground but it was too difficult to  access the roots . For the past few years two plants have resprouted and are doing well to the point where they could do with a light trim. I'm not sure if they had some resistance but there is a good foot between them. So it looks as if air circulation certainly makes a difference.  I'm not going to shape then but leave them fairly loose.
No question. Just thought it might be of interest to box growers.😊

In London. Keen but lazy.

Posts

  • bédébédé Posts: 1,735
    Mine were perfect last year after my blitz with BugClear systemic and rapeseed oil spring '22.  Looking OK right now, but better to get tham early.  

    Your success might be down to clearing away all, eggs, and larvae.
      location: Surrey Hills, England, cretaceous acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • B3B3 Posts: 24,432
    Possibly but I didn't clear everything away  - just the branches & twigs. But there would have been nothing for them to live in/ on the next year so that could well be the reason they died out.  A bit of a drastic solution  admittedly.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 10,792
    I did the same thing to my box hedges that all had box caterpillar damage. I dug out most of them but some I couldn't get to have decided to resprout so I'm waiting to see if the moths come back this year.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • B3B3 Posts: 24,432
    Good luck @Lizzie27
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 20,924
    My hedge had box blight last year, not box moth and caterpillar.  I sprayed it every 10 to 14 days with a systemic fungicide and all trace of blight has disappeared. It had big patches of dead grey leaves and it has all grown back.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
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