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Box Tree Moth & Caterpillar

How did it get here?

Box Tree Moth & Caterpillar

Learn about the history and reasons behind how the pest has ended up in the UK.

Where is it?

Box Tree Moth & Caterpillar

What Can I Do?

Box Tree Moth & Caterpillar

Learn how to deal with and eliminate the hungry critters.

Quick Summary

  • The moth lays pale yellow eggs in clusters of 5-30 on Buxus leaves
  • When the eggs hatch the greenish yellow caterpillars eats the leaves and produces a cobwebbing & a trail of pellets in it’s wake
  • Caterpillars can survive over winter down to -30c
  • Becomes a pupae in a chrysalis before emerging as a white semi-transparent moth
  • The season for Cydalima perspectalis is from mid March to the end October (subject to temperatures)
  • In the UK 2-3 life cycles each per year depending on temperature, these last around 45 days
  • Preferred temperature 21-33c
  • Only feed when temperatures are 15c or above
  • When all leaves have been eaten, the caterpillars will remove bark to eat the green cambium layer which can then causes the branches to dry up and die
  • During their life time female box moths fly around 10km from where they are born
  • Male moths live only half as long as females, but there are twice as many of them
  • Box trees can survive being attacked as long as the larvae don’t eat the bark of the main stems and they don’t suffer repeated infestations
  • In Northern Europe, the caterpillars have no natural predators that control their spread

How Did It Get Here?

The Pests Impact

Since 2007 box moth caterpillars have been devastating parterres and other topiary in domestic, commercial and historic gardens across Europe.  However, the impact is not just in gardens.  The caterpillar is decimating large areas of Europe’s natural box woodlands.  The Northern Caucasus as well as Bulgaria, NW Italy, Romania and southern France have all been badly affected.  In the UK wild box is now under threat with small infestations reported at Box Hill, though currently no reports at other large areas of natural box such as the Chilterns.

Wild Box – Tarn Valley, France
Photo by Mark Chaplin
Wild Box – Tarn Valley France
Photo by Mark Chaplin

The severity of the infestations is demonstrated dramatically in Germany’s Grenzach-Whylen Nature Reserve which contains the country’s largest box tree forest.  Between 2009 and 2010, the caterpillars attacked all the box trees causing more than 90% de-foliation and 27% lost all their leaves.  Although the population of moths then decreased, having eaten most of its food source, by 2012 the trees that had been fully defoliated died as their bark had also been eaten and thus exposed the trees to fungal infection.  Observations show the eco-system in the forest is beginning to change with new ground cover taking the place of the B. sempervirens which will likely now only remain in smaller clumps. [1]

Box tree caterpillar removing bark to eat green cambrium layer between the bark and the wood – killing the branch if it rings the branch

Where did the pest come from?

The moth is native to East Asia, but it has spread a long way since 1859 when it was first identified and now covers large areas of the continent of Europe.

The consensus is that the wide scale spread is not caused by the flight of the moths, but by commercial movement of infected plants where leaves are carrying undetected eggs.  An example of this was at the 2012 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.  During the build-up, Italian box was imported for planting in the Olympic village where Russian experts then found Cydalima perspectalis in the site.  Control measures using Aktelik, a non-systemic organophosphorus insectoacaricide product with enteric-contact action, failed, resulting in a rapid spread into the natural boxwood in the territory of yew-box grove in the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve.  It has since spread further across Georgia and where all the Buxus plants have suffered from the caterpillar.  Damage has also been observed on Rubus spp., Ruscus colchicus, Ruscus fruticosus and Smilax excelsa. [2]

Map data from ‘Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859) (Leipidoptera, cranambidae) and the threats for the nature 2000 habitat 5110 in Liguria (NW Italy)’

Box Moth were first described by Francis Walker (1809-1874) in 1859 when he was working for the British Museum collating their specimens.  They were recorded in the List of the specimens of lepidopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum.

Since its initial description and classification, it has been placed in a number of genera, including Glyphodes perspectalis (Walker, 1859), Neoglyphodes perspectalis (Walker, 1859), Palpita perspectalis (Walker, 1859) and, most commonly in the UK, Diaphania perspectalis (Walker, 1859).  However, in 2010, it was reclassified as being part of the Cydalima genus, so it is now known as Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859) – the bracketed ‘Walker, 1859’ indicates that Walker described perspectalis, but that is has since been reclassified to a different genus.

Francis Walker (1809-1874) Wikipedia
Francis Walker (1809-1874) Wikipedia

Life Cycle

This lasts around 45 days depending on temperature and light levels as each stage requires a number of degree days (a value based on hours of sunlight and temperature).

Box moth egg sacks by Dr Stephanie Bird of the RHS

Eggs – 0.8-1.0mm diameter are laid in a flat sheet and coloured greenish yellow at first with black dots appearing as the larval head capsule is formed.

The eggs develop and hatch in about 3 days.

Temperature threshold for egg development >10.9c

© cydalima-perspectalis.de
Box tree caterpillar

Caterpillars/Larvae – When they hatch are greenish yellow in colour, developing black heads and light & dark strips with spots along their length as they grow.

There are 7 larval stages of development and it takes about 2 weeks to reach maturity.

Fully grown they are about 4cm long, living for about another 2 weeks after reaching maturity.

Temperature threshold for this state is >8.4c

© cydalima-perspectalis.de
Pupa where the caterpillar transforms into a moth

Pupa – These are cocooned in white webbing spun around leaves and are between 1.5-2.0cm long.

The pupa takes about a week to transform from caterpillar to moth.

Temperature threshold for this state is >11.5c

Pupa hatching into male moth
The two different variants of the box tree moth

Moths – Have a wing span of about 4cm and either has a thick dark brown border around a white coloured wing with distinctive dots halfway down the leading edge of the wings (common variant) or less commonly the wings are almost entirely brown with white dots (Melanic variant roughly 10-20% of the moths).

The females start laying eggs 2-3 days after they start flying.

Male moths only live half as long as female moths.

Caterpillar hiding in webbing between two leaves

In the UK over the last couple of years the life cycle has normally repeated twice.  Whilst in Central & South Europe, the life cycle of C. Perspectalis can be repeated three and sometimes four times depending on the combination of temperature and light as they need a specific number of ‘degree days’ for each stage of their cycle. When the day-length drops below about 13.5hrs the larvae will ‘diapause’ (the dormant stage of a developing insect) so that it can overwinter in a web spun on Buxus leaves.  In this state, it can survive temperatures down to -30c.  In spring it will come out of diapause and continue it’s development, eating the new box leaves, before changing into the pupae stage.

What Can I Do?

Quick Guide

If your box bushes have been attacked by the caterpillars, just follow these instructions and your plants will almost certainly grow back again.

Spraying

Always read the manufacturers instructions carefully and use appropriate personal protection equipment.

Make sure you do not spray adjacent plants or allow sprays to drift to other plants – they may be home to other insects that are benefical to your garden.

  • Spray your plants with a biological insecticide (see list below) or if you don’t like using sprays pick off the remaining caterpillars by hand (kill them off by dropping them in a jar of water with few drops of washing up liquid in it)
  • Carefully comb through the plants with a small hand claw/rake to remove the cob-webbing and green balls of frass and clear away the debris under the plants – sometimes easiest to put a cloth under the plant to catch the debris
  • Water the plants at their base, avoiding wetting the leaves as this can cause the conditions that allow blight to take hold
    • EBTS UK does not recommended using a pressure hose/jet wash to remove caterpillars/debris as it will cause damage to the plants and could cause the conditions for blight
  • Keep your eyes peeled for any returning caterpillars and pick off or re-spray as necessary depending on level of re-infestation
  • Setup a pheromone trap (see details below) to catch the male moths thus reducing the number of fertilised eggs that get laid by the females

Getting rid of the moths

Pheromones

Pheromone traps have been used in scientific research for recording numbers of specific insects.  They work by using a lure impregnated with a synthetic pheromone of the female insect to entice the male into a trap so that numbers can be assessed.  The RHS website, under ‘Non chemical control’ measures, only suggests traps be used for monitoring adult activity.

Experiments in France as part of the SaveBuxus project (2014-18) looked at their use as a control measure, on the basis that trapping the males reduces the number of fertilised eggs and thus disrupts the breeding cycle.  Their research established that the funnel-type trap is the most effective design for catching male box moths.  Other types such as sticky traps, where the moths become stuck to a surface, need replacing too regularly to be effective in high pressure infestations.

Traps alone did not control the population levels enough to stop damage to the test area.

They also tested different lure types which come in a variety of forms from impregnated rubber tips, plastic vials to a thick sticky liquid – all work in the same way by slowly defusing the synthetic pheromone.  Different lures last for differing times with the earlier forms lasting from five to six weeks whilst the latest designs can last up to eight months before the pheromone is depleted and needs to be replaced.

Traps only?

In a test over a 5km2 area of the Val-de-Marne rose garden, outside Paris, which has large amounts of box hedging round it’s rose beds, 50 BUXatrap® traps equipped with GinkoBuxus lures were arranged with a trap per 100 m².  This showed there were only 23% of caterpillar’s present compared to the control area, similar results were found in the other test sites at Castle Park of Champs-sur-Marne, Vieux Moulin, Gradignan & Château Haut-Brion in Pessac. However, just using the pheromone traps didn’t protect the rose garden and in Autumn 2016 the boxwood was totally defoliated.

A new version of the Ginko Buxus lure produced by Sumi Agro was released in 2017 which use the same pheromone used in earlier versions but has a slow release mechanism that make it effective for eight  months.  This means you don’t have to remember to change the lures during the season making it much easier for users as they then only have to empty the traps.  The lures are widely available in France but are not currently easy to purchase elsewhere (it is now available in the UK from greengardener.co.uk following work by EBTS UK to connect the makers with retailers).

Pheromone traps are a useful tool to identify pest pressure levels and should be used in conjunction with spraying or biological controls.

Impregnated rubber bung (lasts 4 weeks)
Sticky gel in a syringe (lasts 3 months)
Full season lures (lasts 8 months)
Example of a pheromone trap from Bayer the BuxaTrap
Example of a pheromone trap from Bayer the BuxaTrap

Trap location

From a number of years experience, the location of the traps is important.  Try to place them where moths are likely to hide from sunlight during the day time, this might be a near by hedge or larger boxwood plant of bush.  The trap can be located just inside the bush so that when the moths are about to start their night time flights, they are more likely to fly into the trap prior to heading towards the box in search of female moths.  The height of the traps can be anywhere from ground level to 1.5m, a shaded area seems to be more important than the height.

Getting Rid of the caterpillars

Using pheromones effectively for mating disruption

Pheromones can be used to cause mating disruption.  This is achieved by using higher concentrations than in the lures (around 7x stronger) and applying it at even spacings in the area of box plants that need protection.  The effect of this is to cause confusion in the male moths as everywhere then smells of female moths which means the males can’t find the females to mate with them.  This means the females eggs are not fertilised and therefore no caterpillars hatch.

There is still the potential for a fertilised female to fly in from another area, but the use of mating disruption can significantly reduce caterpillar damage.  For example in France, gardens like Versailles, Marqueyssac and Eyrignac use a product from M2i with a 95% reduction of damage to their plants.  The product, Box T Pro Press distributed by Syngenta in the UK was registered for use by professional in the UK in 2021 and is available from Fargro.

At present this method of control is only available to professionals with suitable licences.

Biological insecticide

Most reports consider Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) to be the best option for killing box tree caterpillars as they stop eating within an hour of ingesting a treated leaf.  The US Environment Protection Agency has not found any human health hazards and has no known effect on wildlife such as mammals, birds, and fish.  In some countries, including Australia, Canada and the USA a number of products have organic certification. [5] 

Products like XenTari, Dipel & Bruco are based on the Bt bacterium which contains protein endotoxin crystals and living spores.  There are fifty subspecies, the most commonly used for caterpillars are subsp. Kurstaki (in Dipel & Bruco) & aizawai (in XenTari).  When the targeted insect eats a treated leaf, the toxins dissolve in the high pH of the pest’s stomach, causing holes in the lining which allow the spores into the gut.  These then germinate causing the death of the insect within a couple of days.

Spray plants when caterpillars are spotted, but remember the caterpillars will only start eating the box leaves when the temperature is 15c or above i.e. below this they might be moving about, but they won’t be causing damage.  To make the application effective i.e. the caterpillars are going to eat the treated leaf, don’t spray until you know the temperature will reach this threshold.  Bt doesn’t stay active on leaves for more than ten days as it breaks down under UV light and needs to be ingested to work.

Bt based products are not specific to box tree caterpillars, so it will kill all caterpillars that eat sprayed leaves, it is therefore important not to spray other plants or allow the spray to drift to other plants as this might kill other beneficial caterpillars.

Note: Currently Bt based products are not registered for domestic use in the UK, they are available to professionals, however it is hoped that it will be registered for UK domestic use in 2023.

Chemical Insecticide

There are a large range of different types of chemical insecticides available from garden centres, though many are not safe to use around bees, fish and other garden beneficial insects – so always read the instructions carefully before use.

Pyrethrum based products…

  • Py Spray Garden Insect Killer
  • Bug Clear Ultra
  • Defenders Bug Killer
  • Growing Success Fruit & Veg Bug Killer
  • Growing Success Shrub & Flower Bug Killer

Deltamethrin based products such as…

  • Bayer PROVADO Ultimate Bug Killer
  • Bayer Sprayday Greenfly Killer

Lambda-cyhalothrin products such as…

  • Westland Resolva Bug Killer

Note: Make sure you treat the affected area thoroughly and be careful not to spray whilst plants are flowering so you don’t affect bees and insects that are pollinating the plants.  This is best done during still weather, preferably in the morning before insects become active.

Nematodes

These are small worms that are supplied as a powder that is mix with water and apply with a watering can or hose attachment and repeated 2 more times at 7 day intervals.  The nematodes need to be sprayed directly onto the caterpillars as they work by contact.  It kills by entering through natural openings in the bodies of the larvae and producing bacteria that disrupts their digestive system.  Having made contact they then reproduce in the dead caterpillars and spreading to others until they have nothing left to eat, at which point they die.  However they also die if the surroundings aren’t moist or the temperature drops below 12c.  As nematodes are a live product they can only be stored for a maximum of 4 weeks and must be kept in a refrigerator during this time.  They can be very effective if applied at the right time.

Natural Predators?

In the UK there are no natural predators that keep the caterpillar and moth in check, however we are beginning to see our native birds start to get a taste for the caterpillars.  However, they are not eating enough to control infestations so additional control methods are still required to keep box plants alive.

A wasp eating a box tree caterpillar.
Thanks to Louise Nicholls of Adventures in Horticulture – loujnicholls.blog

Use a Professional?

Professional spraying can be done using biological insecticides such as Dipel & Bruco or a chemical insecticide like DECIS (active ingredient: deltamethrin) which lasts for around 5-6 weeks and is in a stronger concentrations than is available to domestic gardeners (needs to be used with care around bees).

Search Google for suitably qualified professional in your area.

Here are some of the current things in development that haven’t yet made it to commercial products or are just becoming available on the market in the UK.

Essential Oils & Plant Extracts

In her dissertation, Stefanie Gabriele Göttig, details tests that were carried out using six plant extracts, seven essential oils and one seed oil.[3]  The tests looked at the repellent effect of different concentration of the extracts and oils when applied to Buxus leaves and therefore the number of egg laid by the female moths.  A second observation was made on the toxicity of treatment on the caterpillars when they eat the leaves that had been treated.  The plant that was most effective was Elder Sambucus nigra followed by Thymus vulgaris which reduced egg laying significantly.  However, when also looking at the toxicity of the treatment, the S. nigra had no effect on the caterpillars whereas only 7% survived with the T. vulgaris at 5% concentration which was mixed with distilled water & Tween 20 (1%) as an emulsifier.

Göttig concludes that essential oils & plant extracts can act as a repellent causing a significant reduction in egg laying by the female moths.  This could be because the leaves of the treated plants have a slightly different optical property and texture due to the ‘obvious fatty spray layer’.  Whilst this didn’t affect the plant it did deter the moths from laying eggs and where caterpillars eat the treated leaves, they died in around twenty-four hrs.

Green frass balls (excrement from the caterpillars) evident where feeding is taking place

Frass Vials

In June 2017, researchers in Hungary published a paper in the Journal of Pest Science (Vol.90 Issue 3 pp873-885) called ‘Synthetic blend of larval frass volatiles repel oviposition in the invasive box tree moth, Cydalima’ that looked at the ‘frass’, excrement produced by the caterpillars when eating box leaves. [4]  They noticed that whilst the caterpillars were feeding on leaves, the female moth didn’t lay eggs in the vicinity.  They wondered why this might be and looked at various possibilities, from visual cues to smells.  Given the amount of excrement (frass) produced by the caterpillars, they decided to do a chemical analysis using coupled gas chromatographic–electroantennographic detection and found three chemicals that when they did electrophysiological testing on the antenna of the male & female moths caused responses.  These three compounds, guaiacol, (±)-linalool and veratrole, were present for a couple of days after the caterpillar had produced the frass.  The next step was to produce a synthetic version of this chemical mixture and put it in a bottle with a wick and place it near some potted box plants.  The results were impressive, reducing the laying of eggs by around 75% compared to the control environment.  They concluded that the chemical mixture may pave the way ‘to the development of successful control methods for the preservation of boxwood populations in Europe.

2019 Deterrents Update

EBTS UK in conjunction with a German company & the National Trust are currently trialling the Frass Vial deterrent at Ham House in Surrey along with another deterrent based on the Essential Oils deterrent effect of Thymus vulgaris.  The results of the trials will be posted here when they are concluded after this seasons rounds of moths.

2020 Deterrents Update

Further trails were conducted in 2020 despite the pandemic – for further information click on the link below.

Trichogramma

These are parasitoids in the form of small wasps that lay their own eggs inside the egg sacks of the box moth eggs and when they hatch they eat the box moth eggs.  These can be very effective, however, as they are a live product they have to be purchased and applied in a timely manner normally within 48hrs.  The distribution method is often a biodegradable cardboard carrier that is hooked onto a branch inside a box plant.  Low emergence rates and a sex ratio unfavourable to females means they don’t reliably sustain their population – generally treatment lasts about two weeks before it should be repeated.

If the trichogramma are applied as soon as eggs have been laid and a minimum of two consecutive treatments are applied to the first set of eggs in the year it is possible to achieve 90% efficiency.

A lot of work has been carried out in France on producing products to release these natural predators, which are native to the Drôme region (though not in numbers high enough to control the spread of the box moth). Bioline AgroSciences won first prize for innovation for its product Tricholine®Buxus.  However, whilst effective, from an ease of use point of view, they require exact timing of orders, delivery and application as the trichogramma as it is a alive product.

2019 Trichogramma Update

Bioline AgroScience in conjunction with EBTS UK member Topbuxus, hope to get a licence to import the Tricholine®Buxus product into the UK in 2020.

2019 Trichogramma Update 2

DEFRA has rejected the import of the trichogramma on the grounds that not enough information was provided to prove they weren’t dangerous to UK native insects.  The product is available in the rest of Europe.

Citations

[1] John R, Schumacher J (2013) Der Buchsbaum-Zünsler (Cydalima perspectalis) im Grenzach-Wyhlener Buchswald – Invasionschronik und Monitoringergebnisse. Gesunde Pflanzen 65:1–6

[2] Citation Assessment of Forest Pests and Diseases in Native Boxwood Forests of Georgia Final report by Dr. Iryna Matsiakh Forestry Department, Ukrainian National Forestry University.

[3] Stefanie Gabriele Göttig, Dipl.-Biol., Technische Universität Darmstadt Development of eco-friendly methods for monitoring and regulating the box tree pyralid, Cydalima perspectalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), on invasive pest in ornamentals. 14.07.2017

[4] Molnár, B.P., Tóth, Z. & Kárpáti, Z. J Pest Sci (2017)

[5] USA Bacillus thuringiensis: A Cornerstone of Modern Agriculture, by Matthew Metz CRC Press, 24 Nov 2003