Problem with Blue Spruce Trees

[Beth Pierce]

For many years I have grown houseplants, having 53 at one time in my home. I also gave houseplant advice on a well-known website. Now that I no longer live in the city and have four acres of beautiful trees, I find myself a "babe in the woods" when it comes to tree problems.

I have 10 beautiful blue spruce trees placed in different areas around my home. I love these trees as not only are they beautiful but they also cut down on the southwesterly winds. My problem is that they appear to be getting a blight of some sort. At first, I thought it might be root rot, as the brown patches seem to be coming from the inside of the plant out (underwatering is usually the opposite), but the patches are sporadic. This tells me it's a blight. Is anyone familiar with this same problem, and if so, how can I go about saving the trees?

My brother-in-law owns a Christmas tree farm and he is having the same problem.

[Timothy]

This sounds very much like the spruce aphid damage.

see this quite a bit here in washington state, unsure how badly this will affect you in pennsylvania though. As far as your brother-in-law is concerned, I *highly* suggest that he contacts the local Ag officer in his county. This is what they are there for. If he doen't get a handle on it quickly it could mean thousands of dollars of loss to his business.

There are other insects that could cause this damage. The spruce spider mite:

possiblity of the balsam tree aphid: this time am I unaware of a disease that will cause this type of damage as you describe it. Better luck to you.

[Beth Pierce]

Thank you very much, Timothy. I'll print out the page and keep it on file. I have a horticultural soap spray I can use (Bioneem). The only problem would be to somehow knock the snow off the tree to spray it. But I'm determined! These same trees bent over last year after a severe ice storm and I propped them back up. They're looking fine now.