Box Care Guide

BOX (BUXUS SEMPERVIRENS) AND RELATED VARIETIES - CARE GUIDE

WATERING
Water your plants regularly; in dry times, at least twice weekly. After September, do not water from above just around the roots.
FEEDING
Feed the plants every two weeks during the summer. Liquid feed such as Burgeon & Balls ‘Topiary & Foliage Plant Fertiliser’ with seaweed extract. This does not encourage flowering which tends to take too many nutrients from the leaves. This product can be bought in good garden centres or from specialist growers such as ourselves.
PEST TREATMENT
As a precaution treat plants for vine weevil during the end of June or early July.  When buying from your local garden centre, ensure that this is a spray which you mix with water so that you can saturate the root system in the plants. Watch for red spider mite and spray in May to prevent infestation.
CLIPPING
Try and clip your plants before they develop too much growth when it will be more difficult to keep the shape. Look for specialist shears that are not too heavy and have wavy edged blades. These make the job much easier. If you are clipping in an open space, special long handled shears are available which are particularly good in preventing back pain, if you have a lot of plants to cut. Some box is susceptible to Box Blight (the fungus, Cylindrocladium), particularly Buxus Sempervirens Suffruticosa which is mainly used for dwarf hedging. It is important to remember to use insecticide to clean your tools so that you do not carry around any disease which may be present in the garden. When clipping dwarf hedging it is important not to let them become too dense so that the air can move freely through the hedges. As the hedges get older a little thinning of the foliage is necessary and this is done by putting your hand into the hedge and cutting out some of the branches.
GROWING IN CONTAINERS
Box is a sturdy plant which looks good and grows well in containers. In time it will begin to look a little tired if it has been in the same planter for too long. You will need either to move it to a larger planter or to root trim the plant. Root trimming should be done in autumn or winter, not in the summer months. Having done this and put it into new compost the plant will quickly improve. Remember to note which way the container faces and turn this around from time to time so that it does not develop more on one side than the other. 

If you have any further queries or problems you can contact us and we will do our very best to help.