We need to help the Virginia Cooperative Extension keep track of this disease and its spread! Contact the local Extension Office if you suspect boxwood blight. bring 1 foot of diseased and healthy plant along with 2 cups of soil that includes feeder roots to the local Virginia Cooperative Extension Office.Ĭ. cut samples of infected stems and double bag them in Ziploc bags, and then spray the outside of the bag with Lysol or a similar product (to kill any hitchhiking spores).ī. If you suspect you may have found boxwood blight,Ī. Therefore, the soil under an infected plant can serve as inoculum for new infections in the following seasons.Ģ. The spores can hide and can remain viable for several years even after leaves have fallen from the plant. Birds, insects, animals, wind, rain, and runoff of irrigation water are also capable of moving the spores between properties. This could be anything from grass cuttings, leaf litter, debris of infected plants, clothing, and any gardening or lawn maintenance equipment. The spores are sticky and must attach to an object for transport. Seasons of extremely wet conditions, high humidity, and warmer temperature ranges - which we’ve had a lot of recently - are ideal for fungal spore generation. If the disease has been identified in one’s neighborhood, then there is a heightened risk of local spread of the disease. Sometimes the disease is spread accidentally by landscape equipment that carries the disease spores. Holiday greenery containing infected boxwood can also introduce the disease into a new location. There’s some evidence that boxwood blight was introduced in Virginia via an infected plant purchased from a national retail store. For a list of specific fungicides labeled for control of boxwood blight in the landscape for use by non-professional applicators, refer to Table 2 in VaCoopExt/Best Management Practices for Boxwood.īoxwood blight is typically initially introduced into a new location when someone plants an infected boxwood or other susceptible plants (pachysandra and sweet box). Scientists are working to develop effective control of boxwood blight for home growers with fewer fungicide applications.
#BOXWOOD BLIGHT TREATMENT PROFESSIONAL#
Professional landscapers have other product options, though they can be expensive. Currently, fungicide options for home gardeners are limited, although preventive fungicide treatments can protect uninfected plants. Once boxwood blight has been introduced into a landscape, it is very difficult and costly to control with fungicides. Prevention is the key since fungicides cannot eradicate the disease from infected plants.
#BOXWOOD BLIGHT TREATMENT HOW TO#
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. This disease causes rapid defoliation, decline, and death to American and English boxwoods.
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It has become a serious issue in the Farmington/Ednam neighborhoods, in Lynchburg, and now in Charlottesville city (Rugby area). Boxwood blight is a fungal disease caused by the pathogen Calonectria pseudonaviculata.