New Jersey Expands Its Box Tree Moth Quarantine to a Third County

A moth most homeowners have never heard of is now the subject of a state quarantine covering three New Jersey counties, a federal shipping restriction, and a proposed permanent regulation open for public comment through early November 2026. The box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis) was confirmed in Cape May County in mid-2026 — a USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) federal notice cites a May 20 detection date, while New Jersey's own quarantine order documentation points to a June 10 detection specifically in Middle Township within the county, so the precise first-detection date differs slightly depending on which document you read. What isn't in dispute is the response that followed: in the months since, it has escalated from a single-county order to a multi-county quarantine with no sign of narrowing.

What's actually being restricted

New Jersey's Department of Agriculture issued its first quarantine order on June 24, 2026, restricting the movement of live boxwood plants, plant debris, and dead plant material out of Cape May County without a signed compliance agreement, according to the department's press release and the order text itself. APHIS followed on August 21 by adding Cape May County to the federal quarantine list, meaning interstate shipments of boxwood from the county now require both a compliance agreement and a state-issued certificate accompanying each shipment — a dual state-and-federal layer that reflects how seriously plant health regulators treat an insect capable of moving easily in nursery stock. On August 26, New Jersey's State Board of Agriculture expanded the order again, bringing Cumberland and Atlantic counties under the same restrictions and explicitly reserving the authority to add further counties if the moth's range continues to grow. APHIS followed suit at the federal level on October 1, adding Atlantic and Cumberland counties to the federal quarantine as well — the most recent step in a response that has kept expanding rather than settling.

The restrictions aren't temporary improvisation. New Jersey has proposed codifying the Cape May quarantine as a permanent administrative rule (N.J.A.C. 2:20-11), with the public comment period open through November 7, 2026 — meaning the regulatory response to this specific detection is still actively being finalized as of this writing, not settled policy from months ago.

Why boxwood specifically, and why it spreads easily

Box tree moth is native to East Asia and was first detected in Europe — Germany and the Netherlands — around 2006, almost certainly carried in on imported Buxus (boxwood) nursery stock, according to a fact sheet from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. It has since become established in roughly 30 European countries. Its larvae feed on boxwood leaves and bark and spin webbing through the foliage as they go; because the species can produce multiple generations in a single year, a heavily infested plant can be stripped down to bare stems within one growing season, and repeated defoliation can eventually kill the shrub outright.

The insect's North American spread traces directly back to nursery trade. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's fact sheet notes the first North American detection was in Toronto in November 2018. Penn State Extension's box tree moth page traces the US timeline from there: a 2021 introduction in New York tied to imported Canadian boxwood shipments that were also distributed to Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee; further detections in Michigan (2022) and Ohio (2023); and a Pennsylvania detection at two Erie County cemeteries in September 2024, which is now under its own quarantine. By late 2025, Penn State Extension also lists reported occurrences in Delaware, Massachusetts, West Virginia, and Virginia — meaning New Jersey's 2026 detection extends an already-widening footprint along the East Coast rather than representing an isolated incident.

What property owners with boxwood hedges should actually watch for

Boxwood is an especially common landscaping shrub for hedges and formal plantings, which is exactly why a pest that targets it specifically, and spreads through the nursery trade that supplies it, is difficult to contain once established. Rutgers' Plant & Pest Advisory program has been tracking the New Jersey detection and quarantine as part of its ongoing pest monitoring coverage. For anyone with boxwood plantings in or near an affected county, the practical signs extension sources point to are webbing across the foliage, skeletonized or chewed leaves concentrated on the interior of the plant before spreading outward, and green frass (insect droppings) caught in the webbing — distinct from more common boxwood issues like leafminer damage or winter bronzing, which don't involve webbing at all.

• Box tree moth was confirmed in Cape May County, NJ on May 20, 2026, prompting a state quarantine on June 24 and a federal quarantine addition on August 21.
• The quarantine expanded to Cumberland and Atlantic counties on August 26, with New Jersey explicitly reserving the right to add more counties.
• A permanent rule codifying the restrictions is open for public comment through November 7, 2026.
• Multiple generations per year let larvae strip a boxwood plant's foliage down to bare stems within a single season if left unchecked.
• The US spread has tracked directly with nursery shipments since a 2021 New York introduction, with confirmed detections since in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Massachusetts, West Virginia, and Virginia before New Jersey's 2026 case.

A boxwood hedge showing unusual webbing or interior leaf damage is worth a closer look before it's dismissed as a routine seasonal issue. A free Sevacorp inspection can help confirm what's actually affecting ornamental plantings on a property.

• Sources:
• USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service — Federal Order DA-2026-30 — https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/da-2026-30.pdf
• USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service — Federal Order DA-2026-44 (Oct. 1, 2026) — https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/da-2026-44.pdf
• New Jersey Department of Agriculture — press release, box tree moth quarantine (June 25, 2026) — https://www.nj.gov/agriculture/news/press/2026/press260625.shtml
• New Jersey Department of Agriculture — Box Tree Moth Quarantine Order — https://www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/pi/pdf/2026_BTM%20Quarantine%20Order.pdf
• New Jersey Department of Agriculture — Box Tree Moth Quarantine Order, Expanded (Aug. 26, 2026) — https://www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/pi/pdf/2026_BTM%20Quarantine%20Order%20Expanded%208.26.26.pdf
• New Jersey Office of Administrative Law — Proposed rule, N.J.A.C. 2:20-11 (PRN 2026-047, 58 N.J.R. 1945(a)) — https://www.nj.gov/agriculture/legal-notices/rules/proposal%20pdfs/PRN%202026-047%20(58%20N.J.R.%201945(a)).pdf
• Rutgers Plant & Pest Advisory — "Box Tree Moth" (tag archive) — https://plant-pest-advisory.rutgers.edu/tag/box-tree-moth/
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency — "Box Tree Moth" fact sheet — https://inspection.canada.ca/en/plant-health/invasive-species/insects/box-tree-moth/fact-sheet
• Penn State Extension — "Box Tree Moth Management Guide" — https://extension.psu.edu/box-tree-moth-management-guide