Help with my box hedging please

[angie]

Not sure if this is the place to post this ( Maggi help ) 

I am looking for some help with my box hedging.
Early summer we trimmed back as usual but this time we noticed all this white dust ,being novice gardeners we did not know what this was and we carried on, but since then I have read up on it and found out this was spores. There was only a small area but now its really spreading.
I read in the RHS The Garden September 2009 magazine that there is nothing available on the market to treat this condition. I would hate to lose my box hedge so out of desperation I thought the SRG members wouldn't mind me asking even though its nothing to do with alpines. Thanks everyone.
Angie

[Michael J Campbell]

Angie, froget the RHS and spray your box hedge with Captain,if you cannot get that try Liquid copper or Dithane.
Pick a nice dry day (if such a thing exists anymore) and spray early in the morning. the Captain will kill it for sure if you can still get it. I think the EU is taking it off the market, like everything else that was effective.

[angie]

Hi Michael
Thanks for getting back to me, I shall phone around my garden centres straight away and see if they have Captain , I have seen liquid copper there. Thanks Michael and I would just like to say to you thanks for showing your plants, you must have a fantastic collection there.
Thank you Angie

[mark smyth]

Michael it could be woolly aphids. When I worked at a garden centre all the box that came in from Italy were covered in woolly aphids. I notice 'dandruff' falling from the plants when I was moving them

[angie]

Hi Mark

I have had this hedge for around 8 years and it was just looking perfect, the only thing that I can think of is I purchased two variegated box balls this summer and maybe they had some sort of virus I don't know much about how it can transfer. Would a bird have taken it here, I am only guessing what could have happened to my box. But thanks Mark any help is appreciated.
Angie

[Michael J Campbell]

If it is woolly aphids a good  dose of Malathion should do the trick.

[angie]

Hi Michael
I had a look and no sign of woolly aphids. I didn't manage to get Captain but got Dithane and copper fungicide, bought both just in-case.I will do it first thing tomorrow morning.
Thanks again for your help
Angie

[angie]

Sorry folks , it's been 120 days since ( so I was told) brilliant this forum. I asked this question about my box hedge all that time ago.
Last year I thought about digging it out but I thought no I will give it a chance.
Well this year it's covered in White woolly stuff so Mark you were right. I sprayed yesterday with provado bug killer.  Today I looked under my microscope and I can see a little mite waving at me. Can anyone tell me how long these chemicals take to work , maybe  I never soaked the plant enough. It said fast acting, it's not fast enough for me.

Angie

[Maggi Young]

Hit the little blighters again, Angela.... and give them a good soaking because it's tough to get them properly wet and so get the poison to them.

Good luck!

[Maren]

Hi Angie,

the chemicals kill the adults but not the eggs or larvae. So you have to use it 3 times, once every ten days, to get rid of all.
Good luck. By the way, Captain is known as Captan in the trade. It's a fungicide, which will probably have no effect on your wigglers.

[angie]

Hi Maren

When I first noticed the damage to my box there was no sign of bugs so I thought it might be box blight so last year l sprayed with a fungicide. But I can clearly see all this white between the leaves. I have just noticed that this chemical  says it's a high risk to bees, not really happy about this. I think I shall pop to the garden centre and see what else there is. Thanks for the advice I will spray again in ten days.

Angie

[ArnoldT]

Angie:

Are the leaves curling?

[jomowi]

Angie, Try putting a few drops of washing up liquid in with your spray, it helps to wet the surface, especially with something like box which is quite waxy.

[mark smyth]

Go with Maren's tip

[angie]

Sorry never replied sooner but was dragged to the cinema tonight.
Arnold the leaves are not curling. I just noticed two days ago when I brushed past the hedging all this white coming off, and when I looked at the hedge it was covered. I never noticed it a week ago. Some leaves are going brown already. I will spray again in ten days. I looked again tonight( under the microscope ) at that mite and its still moving , will be interested to see if it's still alive in the morning. Maybe I haven't soaked the hedge enough. I just gave it a light spray, always scared to use to much chemicals. If they are still alive tomorrow I think I will give the hedge a good soak again, Maggi get over here, you sounded powerful when you said hit the blighters again. You could maybe scare them off for me 

Good tip that Maureen.

Mark you were right.

Angie