Boxwood honey(Psylla buxi) is one of the most common pests of boxwood. We will notice the symptoms of its feeding in May. At the tops of the boxwood shoots, you can see spoon-shaped deformed leaves, resembling cabbage heads. Fortunately,combating boxwoodis not difficult. We will deal with the pest effectively by regularly pruning boxwood and byecological spraying against boxwood pests
Symptoms of boxwood feeding
Fig. Salicyna, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Boxwood honey - symptoms
Boxwood honeycomb develops one generation a yearIts young larvae hibernate under bud scales and in spring, after waking up from hibernation, they start feeding by sucking juices from the leaves. As a result,young boxwood leaves bulge and bend in a spoon-like shape, creating a shape resembling a cabbage head.In such deformed "cabbage heads" the honeycomb larvae have a great hiding place.Leaves are also often covered with white waxy secretion produced by the larvae of honey extracts
The larvae of this boxwood pest are small. The length of their body does not exceed 0.5 mm. Usually, therefore, we will not see them with the naked eye, and we will only observesymptoms of honey feeding in the form of leaf deformation, white, waxy threads and honey dew covering the leaves
Leaves deformed by a boxwood honey extractor
Fig. © Aleksandra Dziugan-Smoleń
In June the larvae turn intoadult, winged insects, greenish-yellow and 4-5 mm longTheir wings are slightly longer than the body. However, it is hard to see these insects, because when disturbed, they quickly jump away.
In July, boxwood honeys lay their eggs in the outer scales of the top boxwood budsand overwinter in this form. The larvae will hatch again in spring. Unless we interrupt them: -)
The white fluff on the boxwood is the effect of feeding honey
Fig. forum.PoradnikOgrodniczy.pl
Boxwood honey - combating
Fortunately, boxwood honey does not cause a lot of damage , and we can combat it in a simple and ecological way.First of all, the annual spring pruning of the boxwood helps. It is best to perform them at the turn of March and April. When cutting, we shorten the ends of the shoots, and they are the most populated by the honey plant.
Boxwood honey - an adult insect
Fig. Mick E. Talbot, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
The second helpful treatment ispre-spring oil spray , eg Promanal 60 EC or Emulpar 940 EC. Spraying is done outside the growing season, preferably in February or March. Both of the above-mentioned preparations do not contain any poisons, only oil, which sticks to the bodies of pests and prevents them from breathing, leading to suffocation. In addition, the ecological Emulpar 940 EC can also be used during the growing season, sospraying with Emulpar can also be done in April after boxwood trimming
I believe thatecological control of boxwood honey is enoughHowever, if we have abandoned these treatments, and we see the pest feeding symptoms, spraying with insecticides such as Polysect Boxwood 005 SL Ultra and Mospilan 20 SP will help.
All the above-mentionedpreparations for the protection of boxwood against pestscan be ordered in the shop of our guide. To view the offer, press the button below.
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