box blight is a fungous disease triggered by the pathogenCalonectria pseudonaviculata . It has becomea serious emergence in the Farmington / Ednam neighborhoods , in Lynchburg , and now in Charlottesville city ( Rugby area).This disease causes rapid defoliation , decline , and dying to American and English box . This article is designed to give gardeners an overview of this disease and how to recognize it , as well as what steps to take to prevent it and treat it .
Prevention is the keysince fungicides can not root out the disease from septic plant . Once boxwood blight has been introduce into a landscape painting , it is very unmanageable and costly to control with fungicides . Currently , fungicide options for home gardeners are limited , although preventive fungicide treatment can protect clean works . Professional landscapers have other product option , though they can be expensive . Scientists are working to develop effective ascendency of boxwood blight for home growers with fewer fungicide app . For a leaning of specific fungicides labeled for control of Turkish boxwood plague in the landscape for use by non - professional applicators , refer to Table 2 inVaCoopExt / Best Management Practices for Boxwood .
Boxwood blight is typically ab initio introduced into a new location when someone plants an infected boxwoodor other susceptible plants ( pachysandra and sugared box ) . There ’s some grounds that boxwood blight was introduce in Virginia via an infected plant purchased from a national retail store . Holiday greenery carry septic boxwood can also introduce the disease into a new emplacement . Sometimes the disease is diffuse by chance by landscape equipment that carries the disease spores . If the disease has been identified in one ’s neighborhood , then there is a deepen danger of local bedcover of the disease .
season of extremely wet conditions , high humidity , and ardent temperature ranges — which we ’ve had a lot of late — are ideal for fungal spore generation . The spores are gummy and must tie to an objective for exaltation . This could be anything from grass cuttings , leaf bedding material , debris of septic industrial plant , clothing , and any gardening or lawn sustenance equipment . chick , worm , creature , malarky , rain , and runoff of irrigation water are also capable of move the spore between property . The spore can obliterate and can remain feasible for several years even after leaves have fallen from the plant . Therefore , the ground under an infected industrial plant can serve as inoculum for new infection in the keep up seasons .
Boxwood blight has two very decided symptoms — sudden , severeleaf fall and opprobrious streaking on stems . If you see both of these symptom , you are very likely seeing boxwood blight . You may also see brown spots on the foliage . Virginia Tech ’s Plant Disease Clinic is recommend that we gardeners do the pursual in our yard :
1.Inspect any Turkish boxwood and related plants in the Buxaceae family ( Sarcococca spp . andPachysandraspp . )
a. Look for discolored and unhealthful areas with sudden defoliation
b. Examine stems for black streaking
2.If you suspect you may have found boxwood blight ,
a. cut sampling of infected stems and twofold purse them in Ziploc bags , and then spray the exterior of the traveling bag with Lysol or a standardized product ( to kill any hitchhike spores ) .
b. play 1 foot of diseased and healthy flora along with 2 cups of soil that includes eater theme to the local Virginia Cooperative Extension Office .
c. connect with the local Extension Office if you suspect box blight . We require to help the Virginia Cooperative Extension keep track of this disease and its facing pages !
If the Plant Disease Clinic substantiate your speculative fears , the followingactions are recommend by Virginia Tech AFTER A CONFIRMED DIAGNOSIS :
1.Remove diseased boxwood and folio litter promptly and very cautiously . Remove leaf litter from soil surface by vacuuming , scan / wholesale . If folio debris has been comprise into the soil , removing grunge to a depth of 8″ to 12″ may help eliminate inoculant of the pathogen . morbid boxwood , leaf debris and soil should be double - bagged and removed to the landfill OR sink 2′ deep in land AWAY from boxwood planting . Do not compost boxwood debris or plant material . ( notice that if English and American boxwood are nearby , they are very susceptible to the disease . ) If you decide to hire someone to murder diseased boxwood , be sure they are knowing about box blight and how to preclude its ranch . Ask question !
2 . Because the fungal spore can stick to tools , equipment and just about anything , sanitizeall shaft , equipment , tarp , skid , glove , etc . , used in removing infected plants . solvent of bleach or Lysol are the recommended sanitizers for dwelling nurseryman . You ’ll notice precise direction on mixing and applying these santizing solution atVa . Coop . Ext / Best Management Practices for Boxwood Blight in the Virginia Home Landscape . This sanitizing whole step is essential to prevent cattle farm of fungal inoculant to goodly boxwood in your cubic yard and your neighborhood .
3 . Promptly begin apreventative fungicide spray programon any stay susceptible boxwoodin the landscape painting to forbid further disease outbreak . ( notice that if healthy - appearing industrial plant are located near affected plants , they may already be infected . ) Repeated fungicide applications ( 7 to 14 - day intervals , according to product label ) to susceptible boxwoods in the vicinity that are not yet testify symptoms will be necessary to protect them from infection by this pathogen . Plants already infected will not do good from fungicide discourse . Products containing the combat-ready ingredient , chlorothalonil , and tag for use on landscape ornamental , have been shown in force aspreventativeapplications on boxwood . Professional landscapist have additional fighting fixings pick . concern to thefungicide informationon the Virginia Boxwood Blight Task Force website for more fungicide information.Va.Tech.edu/boxwood-blight/fungicides-table.pdf . supervise other boxwood in your yard for exploitation of symptoms . Some gardeners may select to forefend the preventive fungicide spray programme and simply remove any other susceptible boxwoods in their yards . See the discussion of options atVaCoopExt / Best Management Practices for Boxwood Blight .
4 . Be cognizant thatpets , children , and other animals can also potentially move the unenviable sporesof this fungus to novel locations .
5.Purchase boxwood only from reputable sources(e.g . nurseries that take part in the Boxwood Blight Cleanliness Program ) . Carefully monitor any young boxwood plant that are introduce into the landscape prior to planting . If plants have any fishy symptoms ( circular foliage spots , black streaking on stem , folio loss ) , do not plant them .
6 . Other plant in the box works family , Buxaceae , includingPachysandraspp . andSarcococca spp . , are also susceptible to the disease andshould be removedif boxwood blight has been diagnosed on nearby Turkish boxwood plants . industrial plant outdoors of the Buxaceae family can safely be institute into areas where box blight was diagnosed because these plants are not susceptible to the disease . If you determine to replace infected boxwood plants with boxwood , you ’ll want toplant only varieties which are resistant to Turkish boxwood blight(though that ’s no guarantee ) . confer with this helpful tilt that range Turkish boxwood variety accord to their resistance — all the way from “ highly susceptible ” to “ most resistant ” atVaCoopExt / Susceptibility of 23 Commercial Boxwood Cultivars to Boxwood Blight .
7.Holiday greenerythat contains Turkish boxwood could also be a possible rootage of spores of the boxwood blight pathogen . Double - bag and discard holiday greenery after the holidays . Do not compost boxwood lei or other greenery .
Prevention is the Key
The Virginia Cooperative Extension shit the following testimonial to gardeners wishing to avoid a boxwood blight infestation :
BOXWOOD BLIGHT CLEANLINESS programme ,
Va. Dept . Agriculture&Consumer Services / Boxwood Blight
One of the direction that consumer can protect against introducing box blight onto their plate landscape is by administer with retail or product nurseries that have met the obligingness requirement of the Boxwood Blight Cleanliness Program . This is a voluntary computer program geared for production nurseries . If a nursery grows its own stock certificate , or part of its own livestock , it could voluntarily contract on to the Compliance Agreement for Production Nurseries and adhere to the very rigorous requirements for production cleanliness outlined in the agreement ( to consider the requirements , go to Compliance Agreement through the play up liaison above ) . A retail nursery that does not grow its own plant origin should require that the production glasshouse that ply its industrial plant stock are in compliance with the Boxwood Blight Cleanliness Program .
Consumers should consult the listing of production nurseries that are in compliance . If you deal with a retail nursery , you should call for who supplies their industrial plant in the Buxaceae family , and then learn to check that that this production nursery is on the list of Virginia Nurseries Participating in the Boxwood Blight Cleanliness Program . You ’ll discover the list atVa . Dept . Agriculture&Consumer Services / Participating Virginia Growers.pdf . Remember , ordinarily - buy Buxaceae family members include pachysandra ( Pachysandra terminalis)and sweet box ( Sarcococca ) , in addition to all the many boxwood variety .
Sources :
“ Update on Boxwood Blight in Virginia,”VaTech / ag - blighter - advisory / update - on - box - blight - in - virginia/(2024-12-12 )
“ Best Management Practices for Boxwood Blight in the Virginia Home Landscape : Version 2 , September 2016,”pubs.ext.vt.edu / PPWS-29 - pdf
