Garden expert says now is the time to act to save your box hedges from destructive, invasive pests

Although hedges are usually low-maintenance additions to our gardens, except for their regular haircut, there's a huge threat to their health right now that you may be misreading as something else.

As one of the best plants for privacy, box hedges are a hugely popular choice for most people's gardens, but they are unfortunately susceptible to common invasive pests. You may have noticed whilst getting ahead on your September gardening jobs that your hedges are covered in spider's webs; however, chances are spiders have nothing to do with the covering.

Garden design expert and influencer Ish Kamran (@gardening.with.ish on Instagram) has warned homeowners that they need to act now to stop box hedges from falling victim to this overlooked pest.

When sorting your garden out this month, you may have spotted that your box hedge isn't looking exactly right; it might even be covered in some sort of webbing.

"If your box hedge is starting to look like this and is covered in some kind of a spider's web, it needs to be acted on fast. Let me tell you what's actually going on," says Ish.

"First of all, that's not a spider's web; that is caterpillar silk, and more specifically, it's box caterpillar. They accidentally got introduced into the UK about six or seven years ago now, and they are running rife. So they need to be taken care of; it is invasive," he adds.

Similarly to how invasive plants that can grow in your garden can quickly take over, the box caterpillar can breed out of control rapidly.

"The way that it works is once one is in there, you'll end up with thousands in a few weeks; they really do breed quite fast. How do we deal with this?" asks Ish.

"The first thing you want to do is order yourself some nematodes. You can find them online, you can find them on Amazon, you can find them even in garden centres as well. Now, they come in a little sachet; you pop it in some slightly warm water, give it a shake, and you spray it directly over this," he explains.

"What it does is, effectively, it's harmless to children, to us, to our pets, but these tiny little microorganisms make their way inside of the caterpillar, and as a result eat them from within," Ish says.

Should you be participating in the rewilding trend, you may want to find other ways to remove these pests, but unfortunately, due to their invasive nature, there's not much that will help aside from nematodes.

"Now, if you've missed the boat on box caterpillar and you're getting box moth, you can get box moth traps as well. But if I don't deal with it now, this hedge, well, it won't be a hedge in two weeks," Ish warns.

"If you've got the little topiary balls, that's probably about a week, so you need to act fast; otherwise, these guys are gonna win," he finishes.

It's a good idea to keep checking on your hedges; spotting these pests early can make all the difference and will stop you from having to lose your hedges entirely.

Box hedges are a great way of boosting your home's value as they add that all-important layer of privacy to a property without it being an eyesore.