Box Hedge Moth

[TurquoiseDreamCatcher]

We have two box hedges outside our house, we inherited them with the house. About a week ago, I noticed that one looked dead which I thought was odd as it seemed to have died almost over night.

Then on the school run, I noticed that someone else’s hedge looked the same. Woke up this morning and our second hedge has been decimated!

A bit of research shows it’s the Box Hedge Moth. On closer inspection, we found loads of caterpillars around the bottom of the hedge. No doubt on their way to destroy another hedge. AI suggests killing them, I can’t bring myself to do that!

Has anyone else had these little buggers?

https://www.rhs.org.uk/biodiversity/box-tree-caterpillar

That's the same guy I follow.

I followed his advice last year, this year I thought I'd avoided the moths but saw the startings of damage so sprayed last week. Looked him up on insta for more advice and he'd posted to repeat every two weeks.

My main problem is he stipulates set dates but says spray on dry leaves with no rain for 6 hours, I live in Wales the September and October spray is somewhat iffy with my weather 🫤

If I had a random box hedge (not to create formality) I'd change out but I have 10 box balls (five are huge) I'd lose a big part of my winter structure so I've decided its a hill worth drying on for my garden.

Any suggestions for alternatives to box? I'm thinking maybe mahonia but open to other ideas.

Same here. We battled with spray for a year or so but if you miss the first signs and don’t spray then they completely destroy the plant.

I would always advocate natives such as yew, hawthorn, hazel, holly etc (mixed is lovely).

Can't have yew as it borders a horse paddock. Already have a long mixed native hedge. The box is on the corner and was planted by a previous owner and tbh is rather dull for the location. Mahonia would give early colour and nectar which is the attraction.

Another vote for xen tari nematodes.

Well, go for the mahonia then! Great for pollinators and birds love the berries.

Yep, us too. Our hedges were lovely but after the third bout, we gave in. Very sad as we'd grown them from plugs.

There are several houses on my walk to work where the hedges have been overwhelmed.

We were at Wisley and asked them about a replacement. We'd been thinking of Japanese Holly but the RHS have researched and say it's not great. They suggested yew among others. There's an article on their website about replacements.

We are going with something totally different (although it's on the RHS list of potential box replacements) and our Teucrium × lucidrys arrives tomorrow! Wish us luck 🤞

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/types/shrubs/box-alternatives-how-to-choose

we used nematodes and it worked. We now keep a watching eye for the little webs!

I just wanted to see if there were any other good ideas. Could probably fit 2 shrubs in as there's a lot of box. Anything that's wildlife friendly is welcome.

Weigela is nice, or jasmine? If you want some pink alongside the yellow.

Thanks I hadn't thought about weigala. That whole section of hedge is quite dull and doesn't attract many insects. I think the previous owners just chose the planting for being evergreen which is nice in it's own way but not what I would have chosen. The section I planted has hawthorn, dog rose, crab apple wild plum and self seeded ash.

I tried Japanese holly. Never got one of them to survive. They seem to be really fussy. Like bloody Goldilocks plants. Not too hot. Not too dark. If y have slightly the wrong type of soil they die. I read the tags as I can say in my garden the tags were a lie.

We had a well established box hedge in our front garden: two years ago box caterpillars killed it within a fortnight. We saw a few moths, went away on holiday, came back to a dead hedge.

We pulled the whole thing out, and replaced with mixed hedging. We've got yew, berberis (two types), choisya, and pittosporum (two types) along the side, and then dwarf buddleja and lavender along the front. So far so good even though my neighbour has put up a massive fence alongside the planting.

We had to dig up about 40 box hedge plants last weekend due to this issue and will be planting a plain ole privet hedge !

It went through our estate in about 4 weeks last year. Literally there is not one box hedge left. I'd just rip the thing out now!

Yes this is what happened in my neighbourhood. Some have left the dead shrubs in place - probably not aware of what happened.