In a favorable location and with good care of your Thuja hedge, you will hardly have to deal with pests. However, there is one exception: the leaf miner. How do you recognize these pests and what is the best way to combat them?

Brown spots on the thuja indicate pest infestation

Which pests can occur?

There are hardly any insects that appear as pests on a tree of life. Only the leaf miner can become a real problem.

If the shoot tips of the Thuja first become translucent and then turn brown, you should check the tree for pests so that you can fight them in good time.

Recognize and combat miner moths on the tree of life

There are two types of leaf miners that infest the tree of life: the juniper leaf miner and the thuja leaf miner. The juniper leaf miner flies in May and June, while the thuja leaf miner appears a little later, in June-July. During these times, the pests lay their eggs on the thuja, which later develop into larvae and eat into the shoots.

Signs of a leaf miner infestation:

  • first translucent, later brown shoots
  • hollow inside (feeding tunnels)
  • black dots on the tips (faecal deposits)
  • small caterpillars in the tips

Fight leaf miners immediately

A healthy thuja usually copes quite well with a light infestation. Simply cut off the affected shoots generously.

If the infestation is very severe, there is a risk that it will spread to the entire hedge and kill the trees of life. In this case, you have to resort to a radical pruning and, if necessary, treat the thujas twice with appropriate products from the garden store.

Fungal diseases are more common

The death of shoots is indicated by brown tips, which, however, do not have any feeding tunnels on the inside. Fungal infestation is usually caused by an unfavorable location that is too damp.

By regularly thinning out the thuja and not planting too close together, you can prevent infestation by fungi.

If possible, do not water from above as often and never in the evening, as the shoots will then no longer dry properly.

tips

Brown tips of the thuja do not necessarily indicate a pest or fungal infestation. Sometimes they just dry up. The tree of life has to be watered more frequently, especially at the beginning, whereby waterlogging must be avoided at all costs.

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Trees