Box tree caterpillar: how to spot, prevent and treat it pest

How do you spot box tree caterpillar?

The bush is stripped and laced with white silk. Young caterpillars are greenish yellow with a black head, full-grown ones up to four centimetres long, greenish with black and thin white stripes. They gnaw the bark as well, which can girdle a shoot. The pupa is hidden in a white cocoon between the leaves. The moth has white wings with a brown edge.

How do you prevent box tree caterpillar?

Look inside the bush from early spring on: the caterpillars overwinter small, between leaves spun together, and go for food on the first warm days. There are at least two generations a year and they feed from March to October, so one inspection is not enough. The moths fly well and are drawn to light.

What works against box tree caterpillar?

Pick the caterpillars off by hand while there are few of them. As biological protection use Bacillus thuringiensis, which works only on caterpillars and only while they eat it off the leaf, so the application has to reach the inside of the bush and has to be repeated for the next generation.

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Which plant gets box tree caterpillar? 1

Ornamentals 1