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Box hedge caterpillar?

Wheelie1Wheelie1 Posts: 10
edited August 2023 in Problem solving
I've had very little experience of care of box hedging, having only needing to trim them in the past. Judging from what I'm seeing on this site I'm assuming the damage to these is due to the box hedge caterpillar. Can someone please confirm this is the case.

Posts

  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Looks very much like it to me I'm afraid. If you part the branches and peer closely, can you see any small green caterpillars and is there a nasty smell?

    I removed all my box balls and hedging last year as I didn't want to use sprays. There's no easy answer.  I left just one or two bits of hedging to see what happened but the moth has come back this year.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    edited August 2023
    @Wheelie1 I have recently moved but found them on a box in my old garden as early as April.
    It was the tiny cobwebs that were the give away inside tiny caterpillars. I checked every day or two, it was time consuming to say the least. I won't be investing in Box for my new garden.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    Definitely caterpillar damage. It's either just 'a bad year' for them or they've now got such a strong foothold that it's likely to be the same every year from now onwards😢
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    Just adding my agreement that it's the dreaded caterpillars. 
    To be honest l wouldn't waste time trying to fight them, although there are treatments you can try. Unfortunately that wouldn't be a one off application, you'd be waging war for evermore.

    There are alternatives to box that you could try such as Ilex crenata or Lonicera nitida if you wanted a similar look, or you could go for something completely different. 
  • muckyhandsmikemuckyhandsmike Posts: 239
    yes box caterpillar. I have two bushes at the front of my house. Picked them all off and cut back the bushes a month or so ago but I’m back to square one. Will be digging out roots and planting something else there .. box just not worth the effort in my opinion.
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