Any arborists / foresters / tree surgeons / etc aboard?

[Indy_Guy_77]

Reason for asking:

I've got about 30 year-old Blue Spruce tree in my yard that I THINK is slowly dying.

There's only about 18" of green on the exterior of the branches. Further in towards the trunk, it's brown and/or bare.

Is this normal for a spruce? Is the tree dying? Or would a good pruning and/or thinning help?

-J-

 

[lovemachine]

When in doubt, chop it down!

 

[shibumiseeker]

It's hard to say without seeing it, but it's probably normal. All needle based trees self-prune the inner needles once they no longer get enough light.

 

[Fishersjohn48]

May or may not be normal for the tree. Needles are shed on the inner branches as new needles form at the end of the branches so this normal. Other causes may be spruce mites that can cause some pretty serious damage. We are seeing damage show up now from infestations last year. Spruce mites can be found easy enough by placing a white sheet of paper under a branch and tappong the branch sharply a couple times catching anything that falls off of the branch. Rub your hand across the paper and see if there are any streaks of "bug juice". You might also be able to see them crawl around if you have good eyes or a magnifying glass.

 

[Woodsman]

It's hard to say without seeing it, but it's probably normal. All needle based trees self-prune the inner needles once they no longer get enough light.

I've seen the same thing with the spruce trees I have here. The first time I saw noticed this I thought aww crap. Since the outside of the tree appeared healthy I just left them alone. That was about 10 years ago, so I quit worrying about it.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

When in doubt, chop it down!

I ain't got no tools fer that!

It's hard to say without seeing it, but it's probably normal. All needle based trees self-prune the inner needles once they no longer get enough light.

Spruces CAN get quite dense, this was a thought of mine as well.

. Other causes may be spruce mites that can cause some pretty serious damage.

I'll look for mites! Thanks.

I've seen the same thing with the spruce trees I have here. The first time I saw noticed this I thought aww crap. Since the outside of the tree appeared healthy I just left them alone. That was about 10 years ago, so I quit worrying about it.

I'd SWEAR this tree is in worse shape now than 2 years ago when we moved in. Could be, now, that I realize what a money-pit that owning a house can be and I'm in "aww crap, what now?" mode.

Thanks everyone.


-J-

 

[singlestacksig]

Common Diseases of Blue Spruce

 

[shibumiseeker]

I
I'd SWEAR this tree is in worse shape now than 2 years ago when we moved in. Could be, now, that I realize what a money-pit that owning a house can be and I'm in "aww crap, what now?" mode.

Thanks everyone.


-J-

Worse shape is relative. Needles live 2-3 years on average, and there might have been some optimal growing conditions the years preceding when you bought the house, so it might have had more lush tip growth (growth at the tips of the branches), which then in turn led to more shading of the interior which then in turn caused it to self-prune more.

My area of specialty really isn't conifers, but my best friend in the world is a professor of forestry at Oregon State University and runs several of their extension offices, and his specialty IS conifers, so I've picked up a lot from him.

 

[ATOMonkey]

Plant more trees. They're recyclable.