Thanks, Claire. I spent some time googling this but since I'm on an old laptop that's seriously challenged in the apps departments, I didn't find anything I could read (all pdfs) about this disease.

Do you know how severe it is? A killer, or just a nuisance?
- DtD

Good of you to post this, Claire. Had read the links under your post then this morning, via email, I received a letter from a local nursery with the below link attached. I have Green Mountain and Green Velvet which thus far, appear healthy. Sincerely hope this does not become a devastating blight. The Halloween Arborgeddon was bad enough.

Jane

Here is a link that might be useful: Fox, CT News, Boxwood Blight

Thanks for the new link, Jane. This really sounds like a serious disease and gardeners should keep a close eye on their boxwoods.

I have a very big old, inherited, no-id boxwood, two little Vardar Valleys and two little Rochesters, and I really don't want to lose any of them.

Claire

Thanks, Claire. I read your links, then saw two or three articles locally, including one in this morning's paper. Hoping that this doesn't become widespread.

Dee

Wow... I only have a few boxwoods, but will keep an eye on them!

I think this important ID by CT Ag Station scientists is just one more reason the residents of CT need to make their voices heard LOUD and STRONG next time the state suggests cutting that institution or its incredible staff. They are worth their weight in GOLD and we're lucky to have them!

I just got an email from the UMass Extension:
.........................................................

BOXWOOD BLIGHT FOUND IN MASSACHUSETTS

In December 2011, the UMass Extension Plant Diagnostic Lab working with samples collected by MA Dept. of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) inspectors positively identified boxwood blight (Cylindrocladium pseudonaviculatum) in Massachusetts. Beginning in early December, MDAR inspectors performed trace forward surveys of nurseries and garden centers identified by USDA APHIS PPQ as having received boxwood plants from nurseries in CT known to have some boxwood blight infected plants.

In the mid-1990?s, plant pathologists in the United Kingdom first identified the fungal disease. By 2002, boxwood blight was present in New Zealand. How the fungus arrived in the United States is unclear, but within the last year, it has turned up in Virginia, North Carolina, and Connecticut landscapes, garden centers, and nurseries.

The most susceptible species appear to be English (Buxus sempervirens 'Suffruticosa') and American or common boxwood (B. sempervirens), although many species of boxwood are susceptible to infection. Asymptomatic but infected plants of resistant varieties can introduce this pathogen to uninfected areas. The fungus colonizes all aboveground portions of the plant. Initial symptoms appear as dark or light brown circular leaf spots. Infected leaves then turn brown-tan, which is rapidly followed by defoliation. In addition, black lesions often develop on twigs and stems. Plants are not killed by this disease, but become so defoliated as to be aesthetically unacceptable. Infected plants introduced into older, well-established plantings will rapidly spread the disease to healthy plants.

This disease is spread primarily by water (rain splash, irrigation, runoff, etc.) and by the movement of plant material in the trade. The best management strategy at this point, before more is known about this pathogen, is to not introduce any boxwood from unverified sources, either into the nursery or landscape. For more information about this emerging issue, go to UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery, and Urban Forestry web site at umassgreeninfor.org for a fact sheet with a detailed description of boxwood blight and its management.

Ellen Weeks
UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Program
French Hall
230 Stockbridge Rd.
Amherst, MA 01003
(413) 545-0895
Fax. (413) 577-1620
umassgreeninfor.org