- Pruning when it rains encourages fungal growth
- Cutting in the sun causes sunburn
- When is the best time to prune the boxwood?
Easy to care for, easy to cut and suitable for all sorts of imaginative figures and shapes: boxwood is a true all-rounder in the garden. Even if pruning doesn't bother the popular tree, the right time is important: If you cut during continuous rain or during a dry period of fine weather, this can have unsightly consequences for your boxwood.
It is better not to cut boxwood when it rains
Pruning when it rains encourages fungal growth
Pruning in the rain is particularly dangerous, as the dreaded cause of boxwood dieback, the fungus Cylindrocladium buxicola, is transmitted as a result of damp or wet weather. Open interfaces and wounds make it easier for the pathogen to penetrate a previously healthy plant - and infect it within a very short time. But not only Cylindrocladium buxicola uses rainy weather for an infection, other fungal pathogens also appear preferentially. After all, moisture causes mushrooms to sprout. What's true for tasty wild mushrooms is also true for mold and other pesky fungicidal pathogens.
Cutting in the sun causes sunburn
But even when the weather is dry, sunny and hot, you should leave the pruning shears in the shed. During such phases, the boxwood, which has little tolerance for drought and heat, is stressed anyway, and pruning also poses a risk of sunburn. Since you expose previously shaded parts of the plant and leaves when you cut them, they burn in the suddenly unfamiliar sunshine: the box turns brown in places and leaves, and some shoots dry up.
When is the best time to prune the boxwood?
On the other hand, it is better to cut the boxwood on a dry and overcast day. If this is not possible, for example because the nice weather phase has lasted for a long time and a pruning is unavoidable because of pest infestation, you can postpone the measure to the evening hours. At this point, the sun's rays are no longer as intense, so the shrub can cope better with the cut. You can also do something good for your Buchs by pampering it with fresh fertilizer after pruning: mature compost, horn shavings (€32.93) and rock dust (€14.13) are perfect for this purpose.
tips
You should check your boxwood plantings carefully for an infestation with the boxwood spider mite, especially during a hot and dry period of fine weather.