Continued boxwood support - Ask Extension
Hello! I’m writing for follow up advice (#0129912 and #0131312) on two boxwood shrubs suffering from mite damage, leaf miners, and low soil pH.
...
Knowledgebase
Continued boxwood support #872925
Asked June 13, 2024, 11:13 AM EDT
Hello! I’m writing for follow up advice (#0129912 and #0131312) on two boxwood shrubs suffering from mite damage, leaf miners, and low soil pH.
I’ve been following your advice – I removed some deep mulch and soil build up; added some calcitic lime in March; and have been spraying insecticidal soap for mites about every week or so (with a lot of spraying when I thought leaf miners were active). The only pruning I’ve done is to remove dead branches. A licensed professional applied imidacloprid to the roots (which actually was not my intent as I don’t use synthetic pesticides/ neonicotinoids). I know this can increase mite pressure.
I think the boxwoods are looking a little better, and there was a small amount of new growth. I plan to add some additional lime this summer (slow process, I know), and keep spraying. I’m wondering if there is anything else I could be doing to help these boxwoods. In particular I’m wondering if I hand pruning of the tips of branches with no new growth would help stimulate new growth. Or should I just leave my poor boxwoods in peace?
Thanks very much!
Montgomery County Maryland
Expert Response
I should have mentioned that I have not fertilized these boxwoods this year.
Pruning can stimulate new growth when plants are healthy enough to produce a second flush of foliage. Pruning the tip few inches of boxwood stems can also remove the majority of leafminers present. However, since insecticide for treating them was already applied, it might be best to just wait and let the plants leaf-out again when they're ready; it's not uncommon for boxwoods (if not pruned often) to just leaf-out once in spring, putting on a few inches or less of growth, and then being done with active growth for the year. (This pattern is typical of many shrubs, so not unique to boxwood.) Keep in mind that each trimming could potentially increase the density of foliage as regrowth occurs, which is not necessarily ideal for the health of the plant, since denser foliage could make the plant more vulnerable to a pest or disease outbreak. The advantage of more new growth would be mainly aesthetic for now, which is that it will be undamaged by mites or leafminer, so will look its best and help cover-up any remaining mite damage more quickly.
There probably isn't one right answer in this situation, but we'd lean towards not pruning and just letting them plants process the insecticide treatment and recover, since they will still be growing and developing leaf buds for next year's growth that will lie dormant on the stems until next spring, so at least they are still growing, albeit in a not very noticeable way. You don't necessarily need to fertilize, though a modest dose of a general-purpose formulation could be applied once you feel that the mites and insects are under control, since otherwise supplementing nutrients with an ailing plant can actually benefit the pests more than the plants.
Miri
There probably isn't one right answer in this situation, but we'd lean towards not pruning and just letting them plants process the insecticide treatment and recover, since they will still be growing and developing leaf buds for next year's growth that will lie dormant on the stems until next spring, so at least they are still growing, albeit in a not very noticeable way. You don't necessarily need to fertilize, though a modest dose of a general-purpose formulation could be applied once you feel that the mites and insects are under control, since otherwise supplementing nutrients with an ailing plant can actually benefit the pests more than the plants.
Miri
Thank you very much! I'll just leave them alone for the rest of the summer to hopefully recover.
You're welcome.