It usually starts near the base of the tree and works its way up. If there is any Alaskan who is a climate denier, then they simply don't have their eyes open. He's authored several books on organic gardening; his latest is "DIY Autoflowering Cannabis: A New Way To Grow." Let me help: If you think there is something wrong with one or more of your spruce, check out this guide from the state Department of Natural Resources at on.adn.com/2fDP4qD. Just for giggles, take a white piece of paper, hold it under an affected branch and shake it — the branch, not the paper. Symptoms and Damage. Photographed Sunday, May 15, 2016. And, do not cut flush to the trunk. Take a class on Sept. 25 at 12 p.m. and Sept. 29 at 8 p.m. "Bulbs for Beginners" at the Alaska Botanical Garden. This means being extremely careful with weed-eaters, mowers and tractors. They turn brown first. So, since we don't have an Extension pest scout anymore, it's necessary for you to do a bit of research on your own so you can figure out what might be going on. It's a great starting point. Mulching with a tree's own needles is always a must and not compacting soil around the roots is extremely useful. His columns won the 2020 gold medal at the Garden Communicators International conference. Blue spruce varieties are very susceptible to Rhizosphaera. The needles won't grow back and the tree will look sparse. The dead zone is all in the inner area of the tree, starting closest to the trunk. Get out and plant as many as you can! It is baaaaack. © 2020 Anchorage Daily News. Jeff Lowenfels has written a weekly gardening column for the ADN for more than 40 years. Again, the infestations are a direct result of our climate getting warmer. The Inner Needles Are Turning Brown on My Blue Spruce Diseases. Finally, spruce aphid (Elatobium abietinum) has become a real problem, especially down Homer way, but it is moving up, I am sure. This allows wind currents to get under and into the canopy. Click here for a more extensive tree list. The careful way to remove limbs, incidentally, is to make a cut through the bark UNDER the limb first and then cut into this from the top. I have noticed a few things in general, however. The needles display neat rows of black dots. Join Chitin Anderson and learn mushrooming. Then, of course, there is spruce bark beetle damage. Tree check: Most often, this fungus attacks spruce trees, especially Colorado blue spruce trees and Engelmann spruces. The problem in asking me is that there are all manner of reasons why a spruce tree would have needles turn brown, from sawflies and budworms to fungi, viruses, mites and bad weather. Symptoms of Rhizosphaera Needle Cast Disease. And stressed trees are also more susceptible. Reach him at [email protected]. Spruce trees can show brown needles starting from the lower limbs and progressing up the tree. First, most spruce trees will loose up to 10 percent of their needles annually. Many people are complaining about losing only inner needles, so these trees probably have something else going on, most likely some form of fungi. Affected tree trunks have a few characteristics: distinct borings where the insect entered the tree; sap flows where the tree tried to protect itself; dust at the trunk; and, ultimately, a dead tree. First and foremost is to treat them well. However, it is easy to spot spider mites with a hand lens. Unfortunately, I am not a pest scout, and even if I had the training, it is pretty hard to give an answer from an emailed photo. All rights reserved. (Charles Wohlforth / Alaska Dispatch News). Spruces can suffer from Rhizosphaera Needle Cast, a fungal disease that causes needles on spruce trees to turn brown and drop, leaving bare branches. Trees planted close together in groups or close together in a tree line tend to especially be affected by this disease. Next, spider mites can turn a blue spruce red, so to speak, but these usually come out when it's dry or when we have a drought. And if they are, an application of dormant oil this time of year should smother them. Spruce aphids have stripped needles from trees near Marian Beck’s Saltry Restaurant in Halibut Cove. There really isn't much you can do in these parts in terms of spraying. That does not seem to be the case this year. More specifically, yardeners are concerned about needles turning red and dropping off. Then look for: Jeff's Alaska garden calendar for the week of Sept. 22, Bulbs: If you want spring flowering bulbs, now is the time. There is nothing you can do about it. Leave a "collar," a bit of the limb, so that the tree can form a scar and heal the cut. Here is another reason why I wish we still had our Cooperative Extension office in Anchorage. (Did you email the Regents?) (alaskabg.org/event), Mushroom Walk: Sept. 28, 6-7:30 p.m. at the Alaska Botanical Garden. Spruces can suffer from Rhizosphaera Needle Cast, a fungal disease that causes needles on spruce trees to turn brown and drop, leaving bare branches. You should be able to collect mites if they are there. It means giving your lawn water when we are in dry seasons. You can check for this fungus by looking at the needles with a magnifying glass. Second, make sure air can circulate. First, most spruce trees will loose up to 10 percent of their needles annually. The most likely listed in the internet literature is called Rhizosphaera needle cast. Right now, I am getting questions about spruce trees. Lots of them. It’s really bad’: Anchorage nurses under pressure as COVID-19 pushes busy hospitals to the brink, ‘An absolute powerhouse’: Short film tells the incredible survival tale of Ada Blackjack, Tracking COVID-19 in Alaska: 2 deaths and 656 new cases reported Saturday, Police investigate death of 5-year-old boy in East Anchorage as homicide, Anchorage will return to a monthlong limited ‘hunker down’ in December. Several arborists suggest carefully removing bottom limbs up to as high as 6 feet or so. The increased incidents of these infestations is a direct result of warmer springs along with earlier and more frequent freeze-thaw cycles. In fact, it never went away. Note that mite attacks impact the whole tree. When the limb breaks, it won't peel off bark. One common needle disease in Minnesota, Rhizosphaera needle cast, is caused by the fungus Rhizosphaera kalkhoffii. Cooperative Extension office in Anchorage, ‘It’s bad. Why are my spruce trees turning brown and dying? 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