Boxwood has yellow leaves

Provide boxwood with sufficient water

Of the Boxwood, Buxus sempervirens, has many small leaves and requires frequent watering when it is not raining. Water often and abundantly. Make sure that no waterlogging occurs. If your book is in a bucket, add some gravel to the bottom of the planter before potting the plant. This is how the water drains off.

The boxwood often shows yellowish leaves after winter. This happens in dry and sunny winters, when the boxwood continues to evaporate water through its leaves. In winter, remember to provide your plant with water. This applies to all evergreen plants.

To ensure that your plant survives the winter, give it plenty of water again at the end of autumn. This makes the soil moist and the roots absorb this moisture in winter as long as the soil is not frozen.

Yellow leaves due to lack of nutrients

Another cause of yellow and withered leaves can be a lack of nutrients. Container plants in particular, but also planted specimens, are dependent on regular fertilization.

To provide nutrients, use a box tree fertilizer, which you can get in every nursery. This is tailored to the needs of the crops. Use the fertilizer as directed by the manufacturer. Overdosing it will damage your plants. Since the box tree grows slowly, it needs little fertilization.

As an alternative to boxwood fertilizer, you can use other means such as horn shavings. If you have a compost heap in the garden, work in the spring compost into the ground.

Buchs - pest infestation and diseases

Your book gets brown or orange spots as a result of the fungus Cylindrocladium buxicola, which leads to the death of shoots. This is a dreaded disease of the plant known as boxwood cancer. Cut off infected leaves, shoots and twigs immediately, otherwise the fungus will spread further. Treat your boxwood with an anti-fungal agent that you use on your hedge, for example.

Above all, there are pests that discolour the leaves in brown and yellow insects. The boxwood spider mite causes light discoloration on the leaves, but does not cause any great damage. Brush the leaves with oily agents such as paraffin or neem oil.

The leaves also change color if you are infected by the boxwood gall mosquito. You can recognize the infestation by small bubbles with a dark point in the middle. This is where the larvae are located. If individual sheets are badly damaged, they will fail. Cut off severely affected shoots. If the animals have already hatched, use an insecticide.

Sick leaves - causes and measures 

root cause	Damage image	measures
Lack of water	yellowish leaves	water often and abundantly
Nutritional deficiency	withered leaves	Boxwood fertilizer
Fungal attack	Instinct death	Remove shoots
Boxwood spider mite	bright discoloration	oily agents
Boxwood gnat	small bubbles	Remove shoots