Boxwood Blight Insight Group Objectives & Approach

This project takes a systems approach to boxwood blight mitigation through focused science and application studies, stakeholder partnerships and international collaborations.

Specific Objectives & Approaches

1. To prevent blighted plant materials from entering the nursery trade by

Developing on-site commercial strip-test kits for pathogen detection
Surveying Oregon nurseries for boxwood blight
Bridging major knowledge gaps in the blight epidemiology
Latent infection under Oregon climatic conditions
Pathogen colonization, latency and phenotypic diversity
Cultivar and relative humidity impacts on pathogen sporulation
Field epidemiology
Identifying critical control points (CCP) at production nurseries to inform development of best management practices (BMPs)

2. To better manage the disease at sites of contamination by

Evaluating antidesiccants (antitranspirants) for their potential as a physical barrier to mitigate blight development under field conditions
Further developing biocontrol agents into final products
Enhancing boxwood self-defense through
Systemic acquired resistance inducers and selective fertilization
Silicon treatment and ultraviolet radiation
Integrating three key existing technologies
More resistant cultivars
Mulching
Fungicide program
Preventing less susceptible boxwood cultivars from becoming a ‘Trojan horse’ while encouraging their adoption

3. To build resilience into boxwood production and gardening by

Developing more resistant boxwood cultivars
Cataloging and manipulating boxwood microbiome against the boxwood blight pathogen
Facilitating adoption of more resistant boxwood cultivars