help - hedge dying and I dont even know what it is...

Hi,

our hedges (unknown type) have been dying for the past 2 years (been many other things to deal with in that period so yes I realise this is very late). Problem is I dont know what they are, just that they are quite old. Total length is about 100m, 25% is affected...

Pictures attached if anyone can tell me which type of hedge it is. FYI this is in north western Spain if that helps....

thanks
jim

 

Oh dear.
It is a Buxus sp. Common name Box.
Often used in topiary and hedges.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=buxus+hedge&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ep23Ue6FH87I0AXh3oCYDA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=967

I fear that is has Box blight.

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=96

 

Thanks Silver surfer!

It doesn't sound good then. Looks like I will be cutting and burning tonight :-(

 

If it is Box Blight I'm surprised that the surrounding hedge looks so healthy ... I would have expected to see symptoms all along the hedge.

Have you got brown dots on the leaves of plants that are looking sick?

 

Kristen,

it does seem odd - uploaded a few more pics. One showing a wider section of hedge where you can see healthy/unhealthy patches. The second one is a close up of where a plant seems like it is starting to die - it seems to lose colour, leaves eventually dry up and fall off.

 

Hmmm ... not convinced its Box Blight ... but it might be.

No chance there has been some weed killer put down in that area - which has maybe run, with rain water, onto some Box plants?

Some images of box blight:

Did it die out at the top, like this, before whole plants died?


I would expect leaves to start with dark, or maybe light, brown spots:

and then the leaves will turn a sandy colour.

Yours look mottled?

 

Certainly the leaves end up as a sandy colour - but they don't seem to have the spots you mention. Weed killer is not the culprit - I dont use any. We have a lot of voles (not seen any, just lots of holes) - could they be damaging the roots and affecting the hedges this way?

 

Possibly, but I would have expected them to have destroyed plants before - those Box plants have been there quite a while