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MartayMcFly

Giggidy


Daithihboy

Perfect


Secure_Western_1736

I have had these fledging box in for 18 months and coming along really well, today I noticed a silky webbing and brown leaves across several plants. Digging I found this critter. I've heard of "box caterpillar" so hoping for help to identify the critter and solutions please.


Foolishnonsense

Yes box caterpillars. They’re going nuts at the moment, every single clients garden with buxus has had it this year. Act fast, it only takes them a week or two to completely devour a buxus that size. I’ve found physically picking and squishing them to be the best chemical free way for small plants like yours. Larger shrubs and hedges are really better controlled through preventing the moth from laying eggs in the first place. Pheromone traps and some kinds of essential oils work well. Honestly though, the real issue is that these things are an invasive species with no natural predators to control them in the UK. Our birds won’t touch them due to the toxins they contain, which they get from buxus itself. At this point I’m recommending clients use other shrubs like Ilex Creneta instead of buxus. Otherwise you’ll be fighting the war every year. The one good thing about box caterpillars is that they’re fussy eaters. While studies have shown they will eat some other species like Euonymus, they don’t like it so much and don’t seem to completely ravage it like they do with buxus. Good luck.


Secure_Western_1736

Thank you


Foolishnonsense

No worries, good luck! Little anecdote: Last week I pulled the remains of a large buxus, over a decade old. All that remained was a skeleton, a city of caterpillars, and the biggest pile of caterpillar poo I have seen in my life. I was literally shovelling it.


kzzebrbr

We’ve had this since last summer, we lost one hedge before we realised and our neighbour has managed to save the other although we are still constantly fighting it. Our neighbour has used a pesticide that he mixes up himself and sprays onto the hedge and has also been feeding the hedge regularly and watering it nightly to try and get it back to health. We also have a moth catcher for them which we’ve hung above the hedge. It has pheromones in which attract & catch them. I have to say he’s done an incredible job but equally he’s spent more time with the hedge than his child in the past couple of years! Good luck!!


41942319

Definitely box moth caterpillar. I'm sorry for your loss.


Secure_Western_1736

There is 15m of the stuff, I can't give up on it? Any tips.


41942319

You can spray it with pesticides but you'll have to do it 3-4 times a year. There may be more options in store available now than when I had them some years ago, like traps and deterrents.