Thank you for this useful info. Would hard pruning, spraying then feeding the box plant work???? Mine looks almost dead. Also what is the best food for the plant.
I would spray and feed with miracle grow. If no new leaves begin to show in a month you can safely say the plants are dead dead. I have seen box plants recover from, to the eye, appearing dead. I would not hard prune
Hi my hedge is full of them, picked off 30 this morning after spraying a bug spray last night, these were all alive still munching away, ordered some proper spray now, will check again for more this evening, should I not trim the hedge this year? Give it a chance to regrow better?
@getin348 Be warned that, like a freshly mowed lawn, a trimmed box tree gives off a stronger odour than an untrimmed plant, acting as a beacon for female moths to lay their eggs. If you do trim them, (a) wait till late November, when the breeding season is over and (b) pick up any cut leaves and toss them into the bin.
i have this problem this year, i have a garden full of box and have been successful in tackling the problem... i have been spraying the plants heavily every couple of days with green fairy liquid in water , deep inside the plant and on the outside. i took off a few caterpillars, put them on a plate, sprayed them to see the effect and they died in a few minutes. it cost nothing and has had no effect on the health of the plant.
I've been doing exactly the same experiment with washing up liquid and it seems to work about 80% of the time. I've also noticed that having killed them off, others quickly appear, so there must be eggs that are very difficult to see, and they must grow very fast.
@@michaelbacon561 I think it may be in the spraying technique and spray nozzle, I brush the plant with my hand and spray at the same time, if you can get under the leaf I think it will be 95% effective. I’ve had zero comeback since late June and the plants are doing great, it’s a pain in the ass and would normally give up but I have to many plants to give up the fight easily.
Hello, just lost several big box balls ,,,, giving up. A question, what about a 'power wash' to strip the plant of caterpillars ? Or would this just kill the plant itself ? I am moving to an old house whose garden is all box hedging and on my last visit it wasn't infected. I am loath to structure the new garden around the existing box edging if it will end up infested in time and ruin my garden plan. I am looking into golden yew, Rosemary and lavender instead ,,, what do you think ?
Hi Stephanie, thanks for your message. In our experience, we have found that spraying the infected plants is enough to keep the problem under control. The key is early detection. I would not bother with power washing the plants.
Whether you keep the box plants in your new garden really depends on the level of attention you intend to give the garden. If you intend to keep a watch on the box plants and treat them at the earliest signs, I would suggest keeping the box. If, on the other hand, you will not be in a position to give the garden the attention it needs I would still keep the box in and only take it out if it becomes a problem. I work in North London and its a massive problem. I have a garden in Bedford with Box plants and I’ve had no signs of the problem at all.
Thank you for this useful info. Would hard pruning, spraying then feeding the box plant work????
Mine looks almost dead.
Also what is the best food for the plant.
I would spray and feed with miracle grow. If no new leaves begin to show in a month you can safely say the plants are dead dead. I have seen box plants recover from, to the eye, appearing dead. I would not hard prune
Thank you so much for your advice. Much appreciated. I will certainly try that.
Informative video. Thank you…
Hi,thanks for all your useful information!could you please advise me,is Resolva Bug Killer you’re talking about?
Many thanks!
Yes (yellow box). Sorry about typo I only realised today i had spelt it wrong
Hi my hedge is full of them, picked off 30 this morning after spraying a bug spray last night, these were all alive still munching away, ordered some proper spray now, will check again for more this evening, should I not trim the hedge this year? Give it a chance to regrow better?
I would let it green up then trim
@getin348
Be warned that, like a freshly mowed lawn, a trimmed box tree gives off a stronger odour than an untrimmed plant, acting as a beacon for female moths to lay their eggs. If you do trim them, (a) wait till late November, when the breeding season is over and (b) pick up any cut leaves and toss them into the bin.
i have this problem this year, i have a garden full of box and have been successful in tackling the problem... i have been spraying the plants heavily every couple of days with green fairy liquid in water , deep inside the plant and on the outside. i took off a few caterpillars, put them on a plate, sprayed them to see the effect and they died in a few minutes. it cost nothing and has had no effect on the health of the plant.
I've been doing exactly the same experiment with washing up liquid and it seems to work about 80% of the time. I've also noticed that having killed them off, others quickly appear, so there must be eggs that are very difficult to see, and they must grow very fast.
@@michaelbacon561 I think it may be in the spraying technique and spray nozzle, I brush the plant with my hand and spray at the same time, if you can get under the leaf I think it will be 95% effective. I’ve had zero comeback since late June and the plants are doing great, it’s a pain in the ass and would normally give up but I have to many plants to give up the fight easily.
Hello, just lost several big box balls ,,,, giving up. A question, what about a 'power wash' to strip the plant of caterpillars ? Or would this just kill the plant itself ? I am moving to an old house whose garden is all box hedging and on my last visit it wasn't infected. I am loath to structure the new garden around the existing box edging if it will end up infested in time and ruin my garden plan. I am looking into golden yew, Rosemary and lavender instead ,,, what do you think ?
Hi Stephanie, thanks for your message. In our experience, we have found that spraying the infected plants is enough to keep the problem under control. The key is early detection. I would not bother with power washing the plants.
Whether you keep the box plants in your new garden really depends on the level of attention you intend to give the garden. If you intend to keep a watch on the box plants and treat them at the earliest signs, I would suggest keeping the box. If, on the other hand, you will not be in a position to give the garden the attention it needs I would still keep the box in and only take it out if it becomes a problem. I work in North London and its a massive problem. I have a garden in Bedford with Box plants and I’ve had no signs of the problem at all.
Don't power wash Box you can end up with Box blight. It can cause high humidity and this can cause a fungus, with looks as bad.
Thank you 🙏 definitely subscribing ☝️
Can you recommend a spray? I can only find bug spray!
We use Resolvo bug spray. That worked fine
what to feed box plants?
Miracle grow
Thank mate. 👍
Absolutely destroyed my family's ones that we planted a few months ago
Sparrows and Starlings eat the caterpillars.