The evergreen boxwood looks best when it is growing densely branched and developing lush green foliage. However, if the shrub is neglected for years, it will bare from the inside out and will no longer appear as nice and dense and compact. You can prevent this with regular pruning.
The boxwood is bare in places where no light can reach
Regular pruning counteracts baldness
Basically, the bare interior is absolutely normal in an otherwise compact and green boxwood, after all little or no light gets here - the result is that no foliage is formed. In this case, you don't have to do anything except continue to take good care of the box and cut it back regularly. Without this annual pruning - which can even be done several times a year in the case of topiary trees - the box grows old and becomes bare on the outside over time. The plant is no longer compact, but visually falls apart. The cutting season is between April and September.
Cut old boxwood
It is best to cut back a bare, broom-like box well into the woody area, which should be done before budding in spring if possible. Fear not: Buchs takes such a radical pruning very well, but after that it doesn't look very appealing for a while. But be patient, the plant will certainly sprout again and then shine in new beauty. Depending on the depth of the cut, however, this can take two to three years, as new growth from the old wood is slow.
Bare interior as an indication of disease or pests
In some cases, however, the lack of pruning care is not the cause of the bare interior, but a fungal disease or even the dreaded box tree moth, whose caterpillars prefer to stay inside the plants. In any case, it is advisable to regularly check the book for the offspring of the small butterfly and to remove them if necessary. The box tree moths, which overwinter as eggs in a protective web inside the box, hatch at temperatures of around ten degrees Celsius, which is why you should start looking for them from mid-March if the weather is suitable.
tips
Always work only with sharp and well-disinfected tools, and clippings from diseased or infested boxwood should always be disposed of with household waste.