
Connecticut plant regulators are recommending that those who receive shipment of boxwood plants this spring monitor them for boxwood blight.
Shipments should be isolated for about three weeks to observe the plants for any sign of the new fungus. Scientists lack a reliable test to determine if asymptomatic plants harbor the fungus. This puts all plant regulators – including those at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station – in a tough position because of the risk in certifying a boxwood crop "clean" when in fact it may show infection later on, said the Connecticut Nursery & Landscape Association. Station inspectors will instead use the term "apparently free of disease."
For a fact sheet on boxwood blight, go here: http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/publications/fact_sheets/plant_pathology_and_ecology/boxwood_blight-_a_new_disease_for_connecticut_and_the_u.s.__12-08-11.pdf
Photo courtesy of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
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