Boxwood Leafminer Fact Sheet

Boxwood leafminers over winter as partially grown larvae in the leaf blisters.

Boxwood leafminer fact sheet.

Pruning boxwood back by about 1 3rd to remove the stems with infested leaves will help reduce this pest. Long distance spread of the pathogen is through the movement of infected nursery material. Boxwoods buxus spp are enjoyed in a range of landscapes as hedges or screens background plantings topiary pieces and other uses. See section titled insects related pests.

Boxwood leafminer monarthropalpus flavus. There are few known natural enemies of the boxwood leafminer. Numerous pests and diseases may. Severely shearing the foliage before adult emergence or after egg laying ends will reduce the overall population.

Microphylla littleleaf boxwood and var. These flies are less than inch long and can often be seen swarming around boxwoods in the spring. This is the most serious insect pest that attacks boxwood the leafminer is the larva immature form of a small orangish mosquito like fly. Dispose of the clippings.

This fact sheet from clemson includes using spinosad for control when the leafminers are present in the leaves. In may the adults force the pupal skin out of the mine where it hangs for a few days after the fly a gall midge. As always read and follow label directions paying particular attention to the protection of pollinators restrictions including delaying applications until. Remove and destroy severely affected plants.

Leafminers on boxwood shrubs. Spinosad is the least toxic to the environment. Boxwood leafminer monarthropalpusi flavus is a common and destructive pest that causes significant damage to boxwoods here in the dayton area although the symptoms are often mistaken for winter injury rather than insect infestation since boxwoods are such a popular shrub it s important to control leafminers so they don t spread to neighboring plants and properties. When the days warm in spring the larvae become active and grow rapidly feeding between the upper and lower leaves for the balance of the summer.

This should eliminate the need to use an insecticide. It is difficult to control the adult leafminers because of their short adult. Merit marathon and generics and dinotefuran e g. Effective control options for boxwood leafminer include applications of neonicotinoids such as imidacloprid e g.