The Boxwood Blight Working Group (BBWG) has released Version 1.1 of the Boxwood Blight Best Management Practices (BMPs) to reflect the pathogen’s ability to infect Pachysandra in natural settings. Greenhouse and laboratory studies at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) had previously shown that under optimal conditions and with heavy infection pressure
Cylindrocladium pseudonaviculatum, the fungus that causes Boxwood Blight, can infect Pachysandra. However, it wasn’t until early July when confirmation of infected Pachysandra in a landscape planting bed was reported, also from Connecticut.
The number of states with confirmed discoveries of Boxwood Blight remains at ten with no additional new state finds since late March of this year. However, states where the disease had been discovered in landscapes continue to find it on homeowner properties.
Version 1.1 of the Boxwood Blight Working Group BMPs can be found at
www.boxwoodblight.org.
For the CAES report of Boxwood Blight on Pachysandra click
here.
