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Midwest Gardening Garden Clinic garden

Is this Boxwood Blight?

last year

I'm wondering if my Green Velvet boxwood row has been contaminated by boxwood blight. I'm in Zone 5b/6a Michigan. Planted the entire row last fall. One boxwood showing majority of symptoms out of 10 but the others in the row are also starting to show similar symptoms. Leaves turned to bright green then eventually die and fall off the plant. There are halo like spots on the leaves. They get average water and I do not fertilize them. I know it's not curable so at this point I don't want to waste fungicide on something that will end up dying anyway. Would rather pull out and replace with Japanese Holly or something similar that isn't affected by blight.

Featured Answer

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

last year

Yes, I’m afraid that is does appear to be the start of Box Blight.

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Comments (10)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
here in our MI ... weve had a very hot summer.. with some good drought up until the last few weeks ...

im seeing a lot of leaf damage across ALL PLANTs i see driving around.. and its not really telling me anymore than its september in MI after a bad summer moisture wise ...

soooo.. dont freak out.. and be leery of any treatment this late int eh year.. especially on deciduous plants .. its better to invest in cleaning up all the fallen leaves.. rather than using chemicals on leaves that fall off.. this time of year...

i never grew a single boxwood.. go figure on that.. so im not fluent with box disease ... nor even if your are deciduous or not ...

the fear you are living.. is partially a function of planting a monoculture... if one gets sick.. you have the potential to lose them all .. so... you lived this box dream.. but if ..AND WHEN .. the project goes south.. dont keep replacing them with more box ... forever ... move on to other things ...

with recent transplants.. and drought.. a non fully established plant can show leaf damage late in the summer ... so your watering protocol may have been a bit deficient ... but almost good enough.. if you get my drift ... if this isnt disease.. keep them well watered.. deep into november... and hopefully by next spring.. they should be mostly self sufficient.. unless there is another august drought. ... in if so.. give them a long deep trickle drink in mid august ... and they should be all set ... in drought its all about getting water down into the root zone .. where the plant needs it.. not sprayed on the surface ...

ken
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
btw..there is a shrub forum ... just fyi
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man WHAT A GARDEN .... !!!! thx for showing us ... this is one argument against a monoculture.... when one goes.. its like dominoes.... any interest in becoming enabled in mini conifers... we can fill up all those spots real fast .... pic below is a bunch of mini.. and small conifers surrounding my patio ... much more interest.. than a monoculture.. and as trees.. if you pick the right ones.. will NEVER need to be trimmed.... and will need absolutely NO CARE ..once established ... pop on over to that forum if you wish ken
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if its just that one sprig.. i would guess shipping damage.. as in some dude grabbing and hoiking the plant with that handful .. damaging such ... it looks like each leaf was folded in half .... someone would have some real hell to pay ... if they were providing blighted stock to the market .... it would be a total failure of Ag dept inspections ... its possible .. but imo ... most likely.. rare ... ken
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I actually thought it was blight based on my google of pics and not mites. Cut and paste of their diag. I'll grab some more cuttings later when @ home. Diagnosis/recommendation: The boxwood sample submitted is negative for boxwood blight. The spots on the leaves are injury from boxwood leafminer. A factsheet on this pest can be found here: https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/boxwood-leafminer-shrubs At this time of the year, the adults have already emerged from the foliage, have mated, and have laid their eggs inside new foliage. You can see that the new foliage is rippled and bumpy looking – these are eggs that have been laid and the larvae within has already started to feed. The best time for treatment is in early June, getting good coverage on the undersides of leaves. Apply the active ingredient acephate, carbaryl or malathion. Spinosad can also be used as an organic method. Damaged foliage can be pruned out. Since adults have already laid eggs in new foliage, the new foliage should be pruned out while the plant is still dormant very early next spring to help break the lifecycle of the insect. If not treated, boxwood leafminer can cause significant damage to your boxwoods. Since these are new plants, you will want to keep them watered throughout the summer and through the fall. Make sure the boxwoods go into the winter with enough water around their roots to bring them into the spring. When the ground freezes, plants are not able to pull up moisture, but they are still transpiring and losing moisture through their foliage. Ensuring good, deep irrigation
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
i just happened to look out my window.. and my kwazan cherry tree has lost about a third of its leaves since the storm a few days ago..

just reinforcing my comment its been a rough year ..

ken
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
last year
'Green Velvet' is moderately susceptible. Not as bad as some varieties but certainly not resistant.
nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
last year
last modified: last year
my guess is leaf miners and psyllid infestation..an extension office diagnosed my samples with these diseases..mine looked like yours..

treatable but I removed mine..
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
last year
Perhaps. But I’m looking at the circular and oval patches, consistent with a fungus, and dry brown dead foliage. I don’t see any miner tunnels.
nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
last year
last modified: last year
floral..when I took my samples in a guy tore off a leaf..there was a "bubble" (my term) on the underside..ripped it open and there was a "worm" (my term) in it..I never knew such a thing existed..

now that you mention it I don't recall tunnels on mine..

I received an email from the extension office listing those conditions with treatment recommendations..
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
last year
Yes, I know what leaf miner damage looks like. Not always tunnels. They leave empty blotches with the top and bottom leaf surfaces intact. But I don’t see anything like that in the photos.
nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
last year
a screenshot..mine looked like this..

I read that blight has black stems..mine were damaged but didn't have blight according to the extension office..

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