Content
- Boxwood: detecting, treating and preventing infestations with the boxwood calculator
- Recognize
- To treat
- Prevent
- Tips
The caterpillars from the boxwood cinder cause great damage
Boxwood: detecting, treating and preventing infestations with the boxwood calculator
The Boxwood Borneo is a butterfly that probably came to Central Europe from Asia in 2019 with plant imports. The moth lays its eggs on the leaves of the boxwood, where the finally hatched caterpillars cause serious damage - often to the death of the infected plants. To save the book, often a quick action is necessary.
Recognize
Unfortunately, an infestation is often detected only when it is almost too late: The green-colored caterpillars are well camouflaged and difficult to discover on the green foliage of the boxwood. In addition, they pull themselves with the slightest shock quickly back into the interior of the crown, where it is difficult to find. To detect an infestation at an early stage, the hanging of yellow boards in the vicinity of the bush plants is useful from the spring, especially in surrounding woody plants. The moths caught there provide information as to whether or not there is actually an infestation with the boxwood thinner. Typical signs of an actual infestation include:
Boxwood growers are up to five inches long and are colored yellow to dark green.
To treat
The most effective remedy against the boxwood is the regular collection of caterpillars. Since these often live deep in the crown and are difficult to get out there, you can practically blow them out with a leaf blower or a high-pressure device. For this purpose you should cover the floor area of the infested plants with a foil, in order to be able to collect the fallen out caterpillars afterwards more easily. Even with a vacuum cleaner, the pests can be vacuumed. This works best if you use a crevice tool. Other effective measures against spreading are:
Make the garden bird friendly: So far, the caterpillars had no natural predators, now it seems that especially sparrows have discovered them as a welcome food source.
Prevent
To prevent infestation, you should cover the box trees from the beginning of March with tight-meshed nets to complicate the egg-laying of moths. These live only a few days, so that the failure of the first generation means that only a few offspring arise. In addition, you can pollinate the endangered plants with algae lime, and the animals do not seem to like it either.
Tips
The caterpillars hibernate in fine webs inside the boxwood. A vigorous pruning in early spring and a thorough, preventative flushing with a neem preparation can prevent the worst.