Boxwood hedges line front walks and foundation beds across Long Island, and state inspectors have now confirmed the pest that strips them bare in Nassau County. The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets announced on Oct. 16 that box tree moth was found in the Nassau County area in mid-September, the first detection outside the state’s quarantine zone.
The department is asking Long Island residents to inspect their boxwoods for chewed leaves, webbing and frass, the droppings caterpillars leave behind, and to report anything suspicious.
A First Find Far From the Quarantine Zone
Inspectors with the department’s Plant Industry Division confirmed the Nassau detection. The state’s announcement did not give a specific location or say how the moth was found.
Until now, the pest had been confined to upstate New York. New York’s quarantine, set up in 2024, covers 34 upstate counties, and earlier finds were in Niagara County near the Canadian border and in Monroe, Wayne and Cayuga counties along Lake Ontario, according to the department. The quarantine bars selling or moving boxwood out of the quarantine area and requires sellers to keep sales records for inspection. The department said it will revise the boundary as surveys warrant…