Boxwood blight was find on plants sold at retailers during the spring sales season in Michigan . greenhouse grower should be intimate with the symptoms and vigilant when inspecting their own livestock and purchasing in Cartesian product from other nurseries .

byHeidi Lindberg , Michigan State University Extension;Jan Byrne , MSU Plant & Pest Diagnostics;Monique Sakalidis , MSU Departments of Plant , Pest , and Microbial Sciences and Forestry ; and Elizabeth Dorman , MDARD

Boxwood blight was first detect in Michigan on implant and containerize boxwood in the fall of 2018 and in December 2018 it was also detected in box wreaths . These detections werereported by MDARD(Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development).Michigan State University Extensionpublished anarticle on properly disposing septic wreathsand update adownloadable fact sheet about the disease .

Article image

During the 2019 spring sales season , MDARD detect more infected boxwood at retail fund . Unfortunately , many Turkish boxwood industrial plant had already been trade and this increase the likelihood that boxwood blight has been more wide spread in Michigan .

pic by Mary Hansen , Bugwood.org

To prevent next outbreaks of boxwood blight , MDARD created theBoxwood Blight Cleanliness Program . It is a voluntary program that is extremely effective in reducing the losses from the disease and the participants get a special credential . Nursery cultivator desiring to grow any of the server flora and ship them to either Pennsylvania or Tennessee must comply with theBoxwood Blight Cleanliness Program . Those concerned in the broadcast should require their MDARD nursery inspector .

The host plant of boxwood blight are : all boxwood ( Buxus spp . ) , sweetbox ( Sarcococca spp . ) or pachysandra ( Pachysandra terminalis ) . All nursery growers should watch these seven worldwide recommendation to reduce the danger of boxwood blight in their harvest :

Keep in intellect that there are numerous other trouble that can cause similar symptoms in host plant . standardized to the winter of 2014 - 2015 , the gelid vortex that come about this past wintertime caused manyboxwood plant to exhibit winter wound . Other box problems that also cause the Robert Browning of leaves and defoliation include common salt legal injury , winter injury , Turkish boxwood leaf miner , drought stress and the fungal pathogen , Volutella .

For more information on look - alike boxwood problems , understand “ Browning of boxwood : Is it boxwood blight ? ”

If you suspect you have taint box , it is extremely authoritative to send in a sample for the trouble to be name . Please send a sample toMSU Plant & Pest Diagnosticsat[email   protected]or 517 - 432 - 0988 . Please double bag the suspect plant within the box shipped to Plant & Pest Diagnostics . They will evaluate the flora textile and body of work to notice spores and typical structure produced by the boxwood blight pathogen . MDARD may be consult in cases where box blight is confirmed on fabric in commercial-grade yield .

For more information for landscapers and homeowners , check out , “ Preventing the spread of box plague in landscape . ”

germ : Michigan State University