Boxwood Leafminer Fact Sheet

The boxwood leafminer continues to be the primary pest we deal with in boxwood.

Boxwood leafminer fact sheet.

These flies are less than inch long and can often be seen swarming around boxwoods in the spring. Boxwood leafminer presence is indicated by blistering or irregularly shaped swellings on the leaves. New leaves do not show signs of mining until late summer when the larvae are larger. The good news about the boxwood leafminer is there are effective control options.

The leafminer is the larva immature form of a small orangish mosquito like fly. The adult fly dies soon after. Common boxwood buxus sempervirens symptoms. Boxwood leafminer is the most destructive insect pest of boxwood.

This is the most serious insect pest that attacks boxwood. The infested leaves appear blistered from late summer through the following spring. Infested leaves are spotted yellow and may drop prematurely. Blistering is most apparent on the undersides of the leaves and becomes most obvious late in the.

Over the period of several years a lightly infested plant can become discolored brown and even defoliated. When the boxwood s new growth appears in spring the females mate then insert their eggs into the underside of the leaves. The larvae of this fly feed on the tissue between the outer surfaces of the leaves. Conspicuous egg punctures in leaves.

Oval water soaked swellings on the lower leaf surface evident from midsummer until shed. We have seen severe leafminer populations kill boxwood. Boxwood leafminer monarthropalpus flavus. Adult flies swarm around boxwoods about the time that the weigelas bloom.