To those who have been keeping up to date with our posts, firstly, thanks. Secondly, you probably read a post about a battle HSM had with a caterpillar. 

Box Tree Caterpillar, to be exact.

Well…It’s back. So it’s time to refresh our memories and give this a little once over again. 

Battle Of the Box. Letters to home style.

For the ‘Too Long, Didn’t Read’ people out there, skip right to the very bottom paragraph for a quick version of how to deal with Box Tree Caterpillar. 

Hopefully we caught it early enough this year that it doesn’t decimate our lovely Buxus this year! 

Happy Spraying! 

21^st July.

Somethings happening, Ma. We got word from the Sarge that something big is coming, something bad. No natural predators, toxic. We spotted a squadron of Moths buzzing around earlier, we didn’t see where they landed though. We don’t know when they’ll attack, but we gotta be on the lookout. Box Tree Caterpillar. Eating leaves and webbing. They’re the obvious signs we gotta keep a lookout for.

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How do you want your garden?

There’s no set way to gardening or planting. That lovely aspect of this area in life means we can have a great deal of fun thinking up and planning out how we want our little piece of heaven. Everything can be just how you like it, from the paths to the fences, beds to colour. It’s all in your control.

Not everyone likes to just go wild and follow their heart though (this can make our lives, as gardeners, a million times easier by the way) and instead, decide on something a bit more…predetermined in the plans they have for their garden.

Three of the more popular and most common ones are… drum roll please …

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This is a relatively new problem and one we encountered last year for the first time, but like many people, we put it down to Box Blight. These pesky little critters completely decimate Buxus/Box. So it’s a good idea to start keeping an eye out on any Buxus/Box that you have in your garden.

What is Box Tree Caterpillar I hear you ask? Well…handily the RHS has all the info we need to help us stop the pests and save our precious Box!

“Box tree caterpillars are the larvae of a moth that feeds on box (Buxus) plants. It is native to East Asia and it became established in Europe in 2007. Although adult moths were first found in the UK in light traps in 2008, it was not until 2011 that larvae were reported in private gardens in the home counties. By the end of 2014 the moth had become established in parts of London and surrounding counties; in many cases the caterpillars had caused severe defoliation indicating that the moth is likely to become a serious problem.

Symptoms:

Gardeners are likely to become aware of box tree caterpillar when they find webbing and caterpillars on box plants.

The pale yellow flattish eggs are laid sheet-like, overlapping each other on the underside of box leaves.

Newly hatched caterpillars are greenish-yellow, with black heads. Older caterpillars reach up to 4cm (1¼in) in length and have a greenish/yellow body with thick black and thin white stripes along the length of the body.

The pupae are concealed in a cocoon of white webbing spun among leaves and twigs.

The adult moth usually has white wings with a faintly iridescent brown border, although the wings can be completely brown or clear. The moth has a wingspan of around 4cm (1¼in).

The caterpillars eat box leaves and produce webbing over their feeding area. Plants may also show patches of dieback which may be especially apparent on trimmed plants. This is not to be confused with dieback caused by the disease known as box blight.”

Article source:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=760

Garden pests. Great fun, aren’t they?!

Written by David & Stu. Posted by Stu.

Thankfully the weather turned a bit cooler and wetter today than it has been for the last 4 weeks. But that prolonged period of dry weather will have taken its toll on your plants. It’s important to keep them watered, or the new growth will start to struggle and die off! Plants like Ceanothus and Buxus need watering during these weather conditions to keep them healthy. So head out at the start of the day, or towards the end, to give them a nice drink. Avoid watering in full sun could cause more damage to the foliage with scorching.

Written & Posted by Stu.