I'm asked daily about the boxwood Blight as I mentioned in past posts. With fall upon us and cooler temperatures, I backed off the spraying from every 7 days to every 14 days. However, we must remain vigilant. This pathogen, a fungus, thrives in humid conditions at 65-80* F. Keep in mind, I look at things from a science oriented, plant pathology background that is coupled with 20+ years in the business and 17 years at HCC, observing plant and pathogen behavior. NC State research shows the best line of defense is PREVENTATIVE applications of Daconil and T-Methyl. These treatments are nearly 100% effective. Curative applications, those made after a positive disease ID, are ineffective. This is critical! Let me be clear, if you want to save your boxwoods, you need to treat. If you don't, you will not have any within the next 3 years. Period. I can't tell you how many times I hear, "my boxwoods look fine, I'm keeping an eye on them." These are the folks most at risk. Please understand this is a swift acting fungi. You won't have time to spray when you notice it. It will be too late. It will happen at a time you leave town for 2 weeks and return home to scorched earth. Please take my word on this. Here are other thoughts I have, based on dealing with pathogens in this environment:
Who is most at risk:
1. The homeowner who uses the most inexperienced an uneducated Maintenace outfit. Are they cleaning their tools between jobs? Are they even using the right chemicals and rates?
2. The homeowner who can't commit to spraying. It needs done at a minimum, every 14 days. Fungicides wear off or are metabolized by the plant to levels that leave them exposed. If you know you will be away for 21 days, you have 1 week that you are gambling. Like I always say, grass, plants, fungi and insects don't care about the seasonal nature of HCC. I work long hours for this reason. Living organisms don't stop working because it's Labor Day weekend and you have guests in town. Think of it like this: if you want teeth, you have to brush them. You can't brush them 6x a day for 5 years and then skip the next 2 years and rationalize that you brushed 2-3x a day, on average, for 7 years. Living in southern Appalachia proves this point. Many examples in these parts.
3. Those who fail to accept reality. This was not a normal summer. Remember, fungus grows in damp, shady environments. We are 42" below average rainfall. If next year proves to be "normal" with regards to rain, mark my words, all hell will break loose with regards to this Blight.
Other thoughts:
1. If you treat every 14 days- adequately, you will be fine. It's a bummer, but it's easy to do and doesn't take much time provided you don't live in the Biltmore Estate. Even then, pay someone to do it. If you live in a house with 300 rooms, I think you can afford a 2 gallon bean sprayer and some part time help. If you can't, maybe it's time to see a financial advisor. That's a story for another blog.
2. If you do see damage to boxwoods and you are treating, don't panic. Tighten the interval from every 14 days to every 7. Be sure you are getting adequate coverage and not just misting them. You need to spray to the point of runoff dripping from leaves.
3. My opinion is to resist the urge to immediately cut and dispose of infected plants. Doing this in the middle of the season only creates what I call a giant mushroom cloud of live spores! Rather, keep treating the infected plants like the others so the contact fungicide has a chance to work. When winter comes, remove the plants you feel are too far gone because the fungus is now dormant. It can certainly still spread but it isn't a radioactive hydrogen bomb at this point.
4. If you have the urge to continue to plant boxwoods, only buy from trusted sources that are able to guarantee they come from isolated nurseries. If you buy boxwood from a roadside stand or at a flee market, you might be a redneck...no, I mean, you might be at risk. This is the equivalent of buying a dog at a puppy mill. Well, sort of but not really. Like my dad always told me...if it's too good to be true, it probably is. If you can buy a 36" BW for $15, read that last sentence again! If you bring diseased plants onto your property, you will spread it to your healthy plants. My recommendation is to use boxwood alternatives as much as possible until we get a better handle on this. Remember in 2002, most said we will NEVER plant hemlocks again due to the wholly Adelgid? Well, I am now comfortable planting them in mass quantities because I've learned treating them is always effective and inexpensive. It's a great tree!
5. Keep in mind, people profit from emotion. Again, going back to the hemlocks, a lot of landscapers made a lot of money drilling holes in your trees and inserting those rediculous capsules while they could have bought bulk product, done soil injections that are more effective and 10x less expensive. But seeing those capsules sticking out of the tree for a week made us feel like we really got something done. It was purely physiological. My point, be a smart consumer and if you feel you are being taken for a ride, call me before you sign and I will be happy to review the treatment program- use me as a resource! Unfortunately Highlands has a minority of folks who prey upon wealthy second homeowners. Let me say this: for $52 in materials from Reeve's hardware, sprayer included, I can mix 60 gallons of fungicide. I estimate the average person will use no more than 2 gallons per application. At my house, I have roughly 15 boxwoods, all in the 18"-24" range (got a great deal on them at the Franklin flee market...$10 each for 24" shrubs) and I use 0.5 gallons/week to treat. This means my initial $52 investment will last 120 treatments or 120 weeks- over 2 years! If anyone tells you different, they are lying. Of course, this doesn't factor in time, labor, overhead etc. But again, be a smart consumer and don't let someone use jargon to have you believe this is more complicated than it really is. Also, treating year round isn't required. April-November only.
Unfortunately life doesn't occur in a vacuum, or perfect environment. My job is dealing with mother nature's curve balls and this is just one more on a list of many others. It also won't be the last one nor the worst one. I'll be happy to answer questions but unfortunately can't commit to treating given the number of boxwoods and members! Commit to it and we'll ride it out together!
