If the boxwood looks dried out in spring and doesn't want to sprout, you don't have to pull it out straight away. With a strong pruning and the right care, such a dead-looking specimen often still has a chance.
What to do if the boxwood doesn't sprout?
If a boxwood does not sprout, this may be due to winter damage or pest infestation. To save the plant, you should cut it back vigorously, apply a slow fertilizer and ensure a balanced water supply. Pruning between March and April is ideal.
Winter damage often causes a lack of growth
Dried shoots and brown leaves are not always a sign of a pest or fungal infestation. Especially after a rather dry, perhaps even frosty winter, the boxwood can suffer severe drought damage. It practically dries up during the frost period because its roots can no longer absorb water in the frozen ground. If there is also bright sunshine, the disaster is perfect: the sun in turn increases evaporation through the leaves, while no more moisture comes in from below - as a result, the leaves and shoots turn brown. In spring, winter damage also becomes apparent through a lack of shoots: the weakened plant simply has no capacity left for fresh shoots.
You can do this
The roots of the boxwood are probably attacked and the plant is already so damaged that it dies. However, you can try to save them:
- Provide the boxwood with a slow-acting fertilizer.
- Organic fertilizer such as compost enriched with horn shavings (€32.00 on Amazon) is best.
- Alternatively, you can also use a special boxwood fertilizer.
- Mulching is also useful to keep the moisture in the soil, which is important for regeneration.
- Cut the boxwood back to the he althy wood.
- You should do this cut as early as possible in the year.
- The best time for heavy pruning is between March and April.
- Also ensure a balanced supply of water.
Damage caused by borers & Co. – Does the boxwood still have a chance?
If the box is severely weakened by fungal diseases or a massive pest infestation, cut it back heavily. If the infestation occurred in May or June, even an already bare plant has a good chance of recovering. A late infestation from around August or even September, on the other hand, is a death sentence - the bare bush will probably not survive the winter and will not sprout again in the spring.
Tip
Do not prune already weakened boxwood after the end of July, as the new shoots that emerge afterwards would not survive a cold winter and would freeze back.