Boxwood Leafminer Fact Sheet

Adult flies swarm around boxwoods about the time that the weigelas bloom.

Boxwood leafminer fact sheet.

We have seen severe leafminer populations kill boxwood. Boxwood leafminer presence is indicated by blistering or irregularly shaped swellings on the leaves. These flies are less than inch long and can often be seen swarming around boxwoods in the spring. The adult leafminer is a yellow to orange red fly that looks like a mosquito.

This is the most serious insect pest that attacks boxwood. Boxwood leafminer monarthropalpus flavus. Conspicuous egg punctures in leaves. Common boxwood buxus sempervirens symptoms.

The good news about the boxwood leafminer is there are effective control options. The infested leaves appear blistered from late summer through the following spring. The leafminer is the larva immature form of a small orangish mosquito like fly. When the boxwood s new growth appears in spring the females mate then insert their eggs into the underside of the leaves.

This feeding results in blotch shaped mines in the boxwood leaves. The boxwood leafminer continues to be the primary pest we deal with in boxwood. Boxwood leafminer is the most destructive insect pest of boxwood. Blistering is most apparent on the undersides of the leaves and becomes most obvious late in the.

Mines are not evident for several weeks. Infested leaves are spotted yellow and may drop prematurely. Over the period of several years a lightly infested plant can become discolored brown and even defoliated. The larvae of this fly feed on the tissue between the outer surfaces of the leaves.