Box-tree moth

[Antonia]

2017 our hedges were ravaged by Box tree moths so badly that I thought they would never survive.
Was advised to spray them with this and have been using it ever since.
https://www.comptoirdesjardins.fr/produ ... s-uab.html
From April until October, every 15 days. It's taken a few years but they are now back to what they were.

[Quiksilver]

The BT products are widely available in supermarkets, bricos and GCs. It does work as a preventative but takes several applications once the caterpillars are established. As with any attack on a plant, feeding and watering will help it to recover, as it will if you need to prune hard.
There are several strains of BT now, to deal with various voracious caterpillars. It was also recommended as a treatment for sciarid flies, aka those pesky compost flies, but I didn't find it very effective in that instance.

[RobertArthur]

Box-tree moth continued: once upon a time there were also two other members of the buxus family in our garden. We tried to save them, but:

[niemeyjt]

But those still have leaves - was it moth or blight?

[Lori]

Sad.

[Antonia]

That doesn't look like moth damage. I've a couple of small Buis that have died like that this year. I assumed it was the drought. I hadn't heard of blight until now. Perhaps I should start treating.
https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/g ... ox-blight/

[Blaze]

@Antonia Thank you for the link and brilliant video by Monty Don - I'd never heard of box blight before. We have a couple in pots that may just be suffering from dryness but I'm going to cut them back anyway.

[niemeyjt]

Box generally recovers from the moth - it doesn't from blight - hence my earlier comments.

Mrs N hand-picked loads of the larvae and our boule recovered.