WASHINGTON, DC & COLUMBUS, OH - USDA NIFA awarded a confederation of researchers a multiyear grant to help elucidate the mysteries of boxwood blight and its management.

The Boxwood Blight Insight Group, or BBIG, has several key areas of focus over the next four years, including the following.

• Conduct impact analysis to generate data that better resonate with state and federal policy makers, such as disease loss estimates and model economic analysis of best management practices.
• Identify critical control points in nursery production to help pinpoint best sampling points and develop site-specific best management practices.
• Assist landscape managers to better manage the disease by looking at potential biological control agents, agents that activate boxwood plant defenses, fungicide optimization, and mulch optimization.
• Build boxwood resilience through identifying resistant cultivars, understanding the soil microbiome, and breeding efforts utilizing modern technologies.
• Create a better understanding of boxwood blight infections (symptom and disease development and expression) in the Pacific Northwest through expanded nursery surveys.
• Develop an extensive outreach network including materials such as a pictorial guide of symptoms under certain environmental conditions, videos to help scouting efforts, and materials to help train industry, research, and extension personnel.

Industry has much to gain from the research. Bennett Saunders, General Manager of Saunders Genetics and former President of the American Boxwood Society, commented, “When boxwood blight hit the United States, we were deeply concerned that this might be the end for Boxwood. In Europe, there was very little research and there were very few answers. However, the research community in the United States was up to the challenge. They embraced the dire situation and began giving us answers very quickly.” 

“This most recent grant will continue to give boxwood growers practical, understandable, and effective tools to combat boxwood blight. We look forward to seeing their work and their results!”

HRI has joined BBIG in their efforts as a collaborator on the outreach team. HRI’s role includes hosting the materials generated on its website, distributing newsletters, and working closely with the researchers on presentation of information. The new website is accessible through www.hriresearch.org and www.boxwoodhealth.org.

Ken McVicker, President of HRI, welcomed the opportunity by saying, “Boxwood blight continues to threaten nursery production and landscapes, and much needs to be learned and understood. We at HRI are excited for this announcement both for the discovery of critical information that will help us manage this disease and also for the opportunity to grow HRI’s outreach program. Working with BBIG is a wonderful opportunity for HRI to improve our efforts to connect research to industry.”

That connection begins with a series of boxwood research webinars launching on March 18, 2021 with Boxwood Blight: A 15-Year Love-Hate Relationship, with speaker Dr. Thomas Brand, Chamber of Agriculture of Lower Saxony. This session will summarize the 15 years of research and share the successes and difficulties of blight control in gardens and parks in Germany, where the fight for boxwood has been ongoing since 2004. Attendance is free and more details are available at: http://bit.ly/3rrnWxu.

The Horticultural Research Institute (HRI) proudly supported the funding of BBIG. Back in 2013, HRI established a special research initiative dedicated to boxwood blight research shortly following its identification in the US. HRI reopened the fund in 2018 to work with researchers towards a standardized protocol where boxwood varieties can be assessed for boxwood blight resistance. This research continues through the USDA ARS’s Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative (FNRI), also supported by HRI. The BBIG project will take boxwood blight research to the next level and will benefit both production and landscape management of boxwoods.