Boxwood Leafminer Fact Sheet

This feeding results in blotch shaped mines in the boxwood leaves.

Boxwood leafminer fact sheet.

The adult leafminer is a yellow to orange red fly that looks like a mosquito. When the boxwood s new growth appears in spring the females mate then insert their eggs into the underside of the leaves. These flies are less than inch long and can often be seen swarming around boxwoods in the spring. The good news about the boxwood leafminer is there are effective control options.

Conspicuous egg punctures in leaves. Over the period of several years a lightly infested plant can become discolored brown and even defoliated. The leafminer is the larva immature form of a small orangish mosquito like fly. The adult fly dies soon after.

Blistering is most apparent on the undersides of the leaves and becomes most obvious late in the. The larvae of this fly feed on the tissue between the outer surfaces of the leaves. We have seen severe leafminer populations kill boxwood. Boxwood leafminer presence is indicated by blistering or irregularly shaped swellings on the leaves.

Common boxwood buxus sempervirens symptoms. Mines are not evident for several weeks. Infested leaves are spotted yellow and may drop prematurely. Boxwood leafminer is the most destructive insect pest of boxwood.

Boxwood leafminer monarthropalpus flavus. New leaves do not show signs of mining until late summer when the larvae are larger. Oval water soaked swellings on the lower leaf surface evident from midsummer until shed. This is the most serious insect pest that attacks boxwood.