As we posted about previously, Spruce trees in our area are under attack from several diseases.
Another disease affecting Spruces is Rhizosphaera Needle Cast. This is also caused by a fungus and can severely damage your tree. Again, this will rarely kill your Spruce but it will become unsightly. After several years of the disease you will usually only have the current growth of needles on the tree. The way this one works is needles become infected in spring, and often you will not know until the late summer when they start to become spotted with yellow or reddish blotches, and they fall off the following spring and the cycle starts over and spreads.
Making sure your tree is not stressed as mentioned in the previous post is one way to avoid this disease. Also make sure that plants near the Spruce are pruned for better air circulation. Needle Cast does have a chemical treatment, but it only works if caught early. Morton Arboretum can test to see if Needle Cast is the disease your tree has, and they can advise you on treatment. However, one of our landscape designers also stressed that these treatments can be expensive and will not be effective if your neighbors do not treat their Spruces as well, so trying to trim the disease out may be the better option, or you may have to replace the tree.
As we posted about previously, Spruce trees in our area are under attack from several diseases.
Another disease affecting Spruces is Rhizosphaera Needle Cast. This is also caused by a fungus and can severely damage your tree. Again, this will rarely kill your Spruce but it will become unsightly. After several years of the disease you will usually only have the current growth of needles on the tree. The way this one works is needles become infected in spring, and often you will not know until the late summer when they start to become spotted with yellow or reddish blotches, and they fall off the following spring and the cycle starts over and spreads.
Making sure your tree is not stressed as mentioned in the previous post is one way to avoid this disease. Also make sure that plants near the Spruce are pruned for better air circulation. Needle Cast does have a chemical treatment, but it only works if caught early. Morton Arboretum can test to see if Needle Cast is the disease your tree has, and they can advise you on treatment. However, one of our landscape designers also stressed that these treatments can be expensive and will not be effective if your neighbors do not treat their Spruces as well, so trying to trim the disease out may be the better option, or you may have to replace the tree.