This is a huge problem affecting many countries and areas with buxus. The culprit is the box tree moth laying it’s eggs in webbing in the plants thus providing an instant feed for the emerging caterpillar grubs.
There are many chemicals on the market that you could spray the plants with. Should, like me, you prefer to deal with this in a cultural way try diluting washing up liquid in water, spraying the plants and picking the caterpillars off and cleaning the eggs and the detritus left by the young grubs. A gentle spray of the plant after using your hose, should see off all else. It would be important that anything that fell on the soil should be cleaned and disposed of.
The only time I would use a chemical product is next spring around March when the moth is first seen. This will hopefully break the cycle of egg laying.
Buxus (box)
This is a huge problem affecting many countries and areas with buxus. The culprit is the box tree moth laying it’s eggs in webbing in the plants thus providing an instant feed for the emerging caterpillar grubs.
There are many chemicals on the market that you could spray the plants with. Should, like me, you prefer to deal with this in a cultural way try diluting washing up liquid in water, spraying the plants and picking the caterpillars off and cleaning the eggs and the detritus left by the young grubs. A gentle spray of the plant after using your hose, should see off all else. It would be important that anything that fell on the soil should be cleaned and disposed of.
The only time I would use a chemical product is next spring around March when the moth is first seen. This will hopefully break the cycle of egg laying.