Sprinter^® Boxwood Buxus microphylla

To the post about the plants splitting, I bought 2, 2 gallon plants last spring at Lowes specifically because they did have three plants in each pot. I split them up, repotted them and let them grow out until fall, then planted them in the garden. They are doing great.

I bought two Sprinter boxwoods last year to replace two Green Velvet boxwoods (one had died, the other was dying-I think it was a soil issue). I noticed late last year that a split had developed in the middle of one of the boxwoods, and then this early summer I realized the vastly increased "split" was actually the increasing growth of two different boxwood shrubs. I dug up one of them and planted them elsewhere - both of the one-became-two are doing great. Now I notice that a third boxwood I bought this spring and planted in a container ALSO is actually TWO boxwoods, two separate trunks. All three of these original sprinter boxwood shrubs I bought at Home Depot. Has anyone else experienced this? Is this from the grower planting two seedlings in one container to achieve faster-looking results or do Sprinter boxwoods create multiple trunks?

I originally ordered 10 of these boxwoods through Home Depot. They are going on 3 years in the ground now. They have done so well in my central Texas area that I've added 2 more in the landscape and a few in pots. I will be adding more in this year. My advice is to clip them to strengthen the stems. I want mine in round balls and have trimmed to that shape. When they first went in, they did flop after a rain. Pinching them to encourage more branching has helped and I'm not seeing the drooping anymore. Very pleased with them.

I am a landscape designer I bought 7, gallon-sized sprinters from a local nursery in March 2022 for my own yard. By early summer I started noticing spider mite damage. I diligently sprayed with neem oil every week, and and when that didn't work I alternated between neem oil and bio-advanced miticide. I continued to spray occasionally throughout the winter. This spring it was clear that four of the boxwoods were beyond saving. I spent nearly $200 replacing those four boxwoods. I continued to spray and monitor the remaining three sprinters. This past week I could see the remaining three sprinters had some new growth and all of it was stippled with spider mite damage. growth all has spider mite damage. I also saw damage on the new growth of my four new sprinters. I figured they had been infected by my old boxwoods. However, as I inspected them I discovered well-developed mite webbing deep inside the shrubs. I believe these proven winners shrubs must have arrived at the nursery infected with spider mites. I have winter gem boxwoods in my yard that still have no spider might damage despite the close proximity to the sprinters. It seems sprinters are especially susceptible to spider mites. I regret that I have previously specified sprinter boxwoods to clients on planting plans. Obviously I will no longer be recommending this cultivar. I noticed in a recent Garden Answer YouTube post, Laura mentioned her favorite boxwoods were Green mountain and North Star. I was shocked that she didn't talk about sprinters as she used to frequently sing their praises. In the recent Garden tour post she said that North star and Green mountain were the only varieties she had not battled spider mites. So I think she has been dealing with the same issues.

I planted four sprinter boxwood (one gallon size) last spring. They have almost doubled in size and despite being located in a windy non protected location they suffered just a bit of wind burn on the tips this past winter. Note to the reader who fertilized with Hollytone, boxwoods shoud not be fertilized with Hollytone. A fertilizer such as Plant Tone should be used instead. Could this contribute to the bronzing problem?