Boxwood bugs - Ask Extension
My boxwoods are covered with tiny white flying fluff pieces. They congregate at the joint between the leaf and stem. There seem to be thousands. What ...
Knowledgebase
Boxwood bugs #930109
Asked April 30, 2026, 8:27 AM EDT
My boxwoods are covered with tiny white flying fluff pieces. They congregate at the joint between the leaf and stem. There seem to be thousands. What are they? Should I be treating the shrubs?
Baltimore County Maryland
Expert Response
Treatment for this common insect is not usually necessary. The white material is a type of wax produced by an insect called Boxwood Psyllid. They can often be reduced in number enough to make them unnoticeable by simply blasting the shrub's foliage with a strong spray of plain water from a garden hose. Some boxwood psyllids (it was recently discovered that we actually have two species in our region) cause the tender young foliage on the branch tips to become distorted and cup-like, while the other species does not. The cupping is only aesthetic damage because it doesn't significantly impact plant health or growth long-term, but if it appears, you can lightly clip off the deformed tips and new growth will eventually replace what was removed. Otherwise, if no leaf damage is apparent -- which seems to be the case here from the photo -- no intervention is needed. The psyllids only have one generation per year and will soon be gone.
Miri
Miri
Awesome!! Thank you!!
On Thursday, April 30, 2026, 10:24 AM, Ask Extension wrote:
You're welcome!
