Controlling Box Blight on a Box Hedge

Last autumn 2013, I was asked to look at a couples box hedge that they said was suffering from the dreaded box blight and on closer inspection I agreed that it did indeed have it.

I am a great believer that many of the diseases plants that plants suffer with can be prevented or cured from with right nutrition. And, with this in mind I proposed to the client that I would do a soil test for them. The soil test showed up some soil deficiencies including, magnesium and iron.

As a result of the soil tests, I prepared a fertilizer mix to replace the nutrients that were low to bring them up to the correct levels as per a Reams soil test. I also gave them some Effective Microorganisms or EM to help suppress the fungal spores of box blight. They were also given some GrowBest to apply to the soil, an organic fertilizer that contains seaweed fertilizer, rock dust and worm castings.

This May 2014 I was pleased to be informed by the clients that the box hedges were growing back more healthily than before, with regrowth in areas that had previously been badly affected by the box blight.

I too was pleased to see that my theory, that this disease could be controlled by restoring the nutrient of the soil was a correct one, as you can see in the picture of the same part of the hedge as above.

Regrowth of Box Hedge after Box Blight

The hedge has now been cut during June and further sprayed with Actiferm (Effective Microorganisms) to stop any infection that may be lurking from entering any wounds.

7If you too would like me to assess you box hedge or would like to prevent this disease from affecting your box hedge, then please get in contact via my website www.shop.embiotechsolutions.co.uk