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Leaf Curl
Thursday, July 12, 2012    
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The foliage on my boxwood hedge has cupped or curled. What happened and how can I correct it?

The boxwood leaf curling or cupping is the results of the boxwood psyllid. It’s a small insect that lays eggs in the edges of the new foliage buds, and somehow causes the new leaves to curl and cup around the young insects as they hatch out…creating a house for them. It’s really more aesthetic than damaging to the plant, and can be sheared off with pruning, or the psyllid can be controlled with May sprayings of soaps, oils or spinosad, as well as systemic insecticides applied in the fall or early April. Or, you can do nothing and let it be.