A project supported by the

Horticultural Research Institute and AmericanHort Foundation
Boxwood Blight Insight Group

About BBIG

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 Team Capacity-Building Seminars

Systems approach

Science, partnerships and collaboration

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

BBIG systems approach to boxwood blight mitigation

Five objectives

Specific Objectives & Approaches

01

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)

Diagram for objective 1: preventing blighted plants from entering the nursery trade Boxwood blight research illustration

02

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

03

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

Diagram for objective 3: building resilience into boxwood production

04

To ensure all recommendations are economically viable by

  • Developing baseline production model
  • Analyzing cost/benefits of changes in blight mitigation practice
    • Partial budgeting
    • Performing sensitivity tests
  • Determining the economic return of long-term investment in blight mitigation
  • Assessing the overall project impacts

05

To put research into practice – helping stakeholders and the next generation of scientists and educators to achieve sustainable boxwood production and gardening

  • Translating research into products, protocols, and recommendations
    • Project newsletter
    • Image and video library
    • Practical knowledge
    • Products and protocols
    • BMPs for different clientele groups
  • Delivering to end users
    • Outreach website and online knowledge center
    • Field demonstrations
    • Webinars and virtual meetings
    • Partnering with national ‘networks’
    • Workshops and symposia
    • Presentations and recordings
  • Next generation scientists and educators
    • Citizen science projects
  • Documenting project impacts
    • Changes in knowledge
    • Changes in practices
    • Changes in conditions

Diagram for objective 5: putting research into practice

Team training

Team Capacity-Building Seminars