brubel
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Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:17 pm
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What To Do About Dwarf English Boxwood Winter Injury

Hello despite my best efforts coming out in the two feet deep snow to desnow my DEBs one of my four DEBs in front developed winter injury. I believe this is the one that had the ice on it I couldn't get off so I left it.

Didn't know all about winter injury then and am still learning. However all of the articles I am reading on it just talk about how to prevent it; none seem to say what happens once you get it.

I have trimmed the offending branches several times. Just once on the side because they got softer and more normal after that. However the leaves on the top got immediately white after doing it so they have been trimmed a couple of times and now this shrub is a couple of inches shorter than the one next to it.

What can be done about the winter injury on my boxwood? Since it matches in size and shape the one next to it I don't want to replace it.

brubel

bullthistle
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Location: North Carolina

If want it to match prune back the others to its size and put an A-frame over the plants come winter if ice is a problem. Yes they may look tacky but 9 months out of the year they will all look the same. Or move the plants and put in something that ice will not damage that much.

brubel
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Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:17 pm
Location: MD

Yes I know that I can trim the others so that they will match its size.

I guess I didn't give enough information in my previous post; this isn't what I was asking.

I have trimmed the offending DEB several times and the boxwood is still very dry at the top where the winter injury occurred. What can be done to stop that?

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uniquegardenplants
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Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 8:36 pm
Location: North Carolina

Boxwoods tend to grow slowly, (especially dwarf english), and your plant may take a while to recover from such a tough winter. First of all, scratch the bark on some of the stems to make sure you see green, this will help identify how far down the winter injury has occurred. If the branches are brittle and brown, then that section of the stem is most likely dead. Go ahead and fertilize with a general tree and shrub fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 14-14-14 to stimulate some new growth. Then give it some time and watch where the new leaves are beginning to emerge, that will tell you where you need to trim back to. It may not match the other boxwoods next to it but should catch up in time.

If the boxwood is on the downhill decline and keeps dying back..there really is not much you can do to stop it. Don't flood it with water, that will kill it faster. Keep lightly moist, make sure it dries out between waterings.

Hope this helps!

brubel
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Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:17 pm
Location: MD

uniquegardenplants wrote:Boxwoods tend to grow slowly, (especially dwarf english), and your plant may take a while to recover from such a tough winter. First of all, scratch the bark on some of the stems to make sure you see green, this will help identify how far down the winter injury has occurred. If the branches are brittle and brown, then that section of the stem is most likely dead. Go ahead and fertilize with a general tree and shrub fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 14-14-14 to stimulate some new growth. Then give it some time and watch where the new leaves are beginning to emerge, that will tell you where you need to trim back to. It may not match the other boxwoods next to it but should catch up in time.

If the boxwood is on the downhill decline and keeps dying back..there really is not much you can do to stop it. Don't flood it with water, that will kill it faster. Keep lightly moist, make sure it dries out between waterings.

Hope this helps!
Uniquegardenplants,

Thanks. I stopped watering it so much and stopped cutting back the top where the leaves are yellow. I took your advice about fertilizer but used cottonseed meal because I desired an organic solution. It does appear to be looking up, but as you said it will progress slowly. When is the next time I should fertilize? I did it about two weeks ago.

brubel

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uniquegardenplants
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Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 8:36 pm
Location: North Carolina

Brubel, if you have already fertilized, I would just hold off until fall. You don't want to feed them too heavy during the warmer summer months,(may stress them a bit when temperatures get high). Around labor day or shortly after would be a good time for the next application.
Glad to hear things are looking better, just watch your watering through the summer and they should gradually come back to life.



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