Blue Spruce browning, dropping interior needles..

[paslaz]

Hi..

We just (Summertime) planted 7 beautiful, 12' Colorado Blue Spruce as landscape trees at our home.

I noticed a few days ago that many of the interior needles on each of the trees are various shades of yellow and brown. Some of the brown ones feel 'crispy' and fall off at the touch, which would lead me to think they did not get enough water.

We'd been watering regularly after they were planted (couple of times/week, about 30 minute trickle on each tree), but had some October rains lately. The garden bed soil outside of the perimiter of the trees felt overly damp a couple of weeks ago, so we pulled back on the watering a bit - maybe haven't hose watered in a few weeks. Our landscaper did tell my wife just about then that we could stop watering pretty much altogether and rely on what the rain provided as they would be entering their "dormant" phase for the winter. Now I am wondering if a couple of weeks of only getting rain was enough to dry these out to the point that the interior needles are dying off rapidly?

Searching google, I found that a symptom of drought is that the trees yellow from the TOP, and from the outside in. This is not what's happening to these - they are yellowing from the inside out - and mostly not at the top at all (that I can tell - but, they are 12-14' off the ground!). The top outermost needles are green, as are the outermost needles on the rest of the tree surface. (No yellowing on the needle exterior growth from this year).

I also found an article that says Evergreens drop some interior needles at this time of year, and that stress adds to the amount dropped.

I assume this is what's happening? As the trees just got planted this summer, I assume they are extremely stressed - and are dropping even more than normal.

We live in Michigan (N of Detroit by 25-30 miles). Sorry I don't know what zone that is. Soil is clay on one side of the house, sand on the other (the trees are on both sides - 3 on the W side, 4 on the East).

Would appreciate any and all suggestions/help. We do have the landscaper coming out this week to look, but are really worried about these.

Thanks -

Jim

[Marley1372]

your trees are fine, they are shedding thier inner most needles like many evergreens do in the fall. Your landscaper gave you horrible advice, as you should keep watering them into november, especially the first year.

Toad

[Gary]

I concur - Your trees are probably just doing their normal fall thing. I have several pine trees around my yard, and they drop their inner needles every fall. The needle drop is heavier some years than it is in other years - probably depending on moisture, how hot the summer was, or other factors. When the needles are dry, you can rake them up and put them in paper bags. Makes great kindling for fireplaces and woodstoves, but don't use too much at once, as it makes a roaring fire rather quickly! :-). Gary

[Phil]

This is completly normal. My spruce do this every fall too.

[Vox Humana]

While your trees may be normal, you should read about spruce needle cast disease. I lost one to this in the spring and another is looking bad.

[paslaz]

Thanks, everyone! Great info and I'm glad to hear this is "normal".

Jim