Picea pungens banding/spotting of needles

rfwoodvt

rfwoodvt

New member
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Hey All!

A cust has a group of 3 Picea pungens in thier front yard and all have spotting/banding of the needles with necrosis and chlorosis.

Though the entire tree has the problem, the overall appearance of the tree, at least at the moment, does not indicate that there is something going on.

The Customer simply noticed a slight change in appearance and called us in. The overall change is so slight I wasn's sure anything was happening until I looked closely at the needles.

Anyhow, I have looked into the "big books" and searched online but have found nothing that looks quite like what I am finding.

Several descriptions seem to come close, until I look at the pics and find no resemblance to the client's needles.

Tree itself has full foliage with the typically expected no foliage in the interior. Since the outer canopy is so dense, virtually no light penetrates the beyond the outer 8 to 10 inches or so of the canopy. Anything interior to that layer has no needles.

Anyhow, I'll post some pics showing what we have.

Any help would be appreciated!
 
So, what do you think: Pathogen, Pest or Abiotic?

I tried a pic of the 4" stem I had to show the distribution but because the spots are so well disbursed nothing really shows in the pic. Suffice it to say that better than 2/3 of the leaves have the spots and the spots can appear anywhere along the leaf.
 
I will be no help at all, but I find this sort of thing interesting.

The spots resemble nutrient deficiency that I see down here pretty commonly. But I couldn't find any correlating info for spruces.

Oedema is another possibility. Too much moisture/humidity, not enough transpiration.

I'm leaning towards deficiency.

Told ya I'd be no help.

Good luck, Rick!
 
Rick, where are the trees located within their greater environment?
Picea pungens are very sensitive to pollutants (gaseous or chemical). Are they downwind from any industrial source or freeway?
Have any neighbors been spraying anything that could have drifted? Any agricultural fields around? Lawn herbicides, etc., etc.?
 
The Trees are located in a residential area about 20 years old, former pasture land.

The trees themselves are about 15-25 feet tall.

There are 6 trees on the customer's property. All are showing these symptoms to some degree. The 3 worse ones are located roadside (street corner), next to a swale at the corner of the lot. This also happens to be the low point of the lot so all water essentially drains to this point.

Drainage at the corner consists of a swale to a culvert that diverts to a stormwater drain.

The 3 lesser affected trees are located in the back yard about 100 feet away.

No freeway or industrial anything nearby. Active Ag fields are 3/4 mile away, or more. Everyone uses lawn services including the customer.

very little spraying (if any) that can drift is allowed in our region except for fruit trees. There is one orchard a mile away, cross wind to the prevailing winds.

the lesser affected trees are closest to the orchard.

Maybe I should offer a prize for the person who can identify this one eh?!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the update, Rick.
This is great to know.
-Diane-

[/ QUOTE ]

I will second that as I use these threads for furthering my education also. I was leaning towards the nutrient deficiency myself with a backup on pollutants (so was pleased to hear others with those thoughts).

Further detail and information were greatly appreciated.

Sylvia
 
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