- Location
- Canmore
Hey everyone,
I came across a declining spruce today and have had a tough time identifying what is wrong with it.
Essentially, it has undergone rapid chlorosis, shifting from a healthy green, to a bright yellow (almost like out of 'The Golden Spruce'). The tree is around 17 years old, so quite young. All of the neighbouring spruce, planted around the same time, are all healthy.
Client says it was a healthy colour around 7 weeks ago. All needles have changed colour, with the slight exception of some shaded portions of the tree. These are still very yellow.
Needles fall from tree to the touch. In shaded areas, they do not fall, they still have life left in them.
Mulch is present but not great. The client is in the process of replacing it. There is landscaping tarp surrounding all of the trees, but this is the only spruce that is having issues.
We have had a few heat waves this year, but nothing crazy. Again, all of the neighboring spruce are unaffected.
I am in the Canadian rockies, hardiness zone of 2ish, so not many species are capable of surviving. Many of the colorado blue spruce in the area are heavily affected by winter burn, hypoxylon canker, siroccocus tip blight, all the good stuff, but I have not yet encountered somethink akin to this fine specimen.
My thoughts so far:
- Maybe a sulfur/nitrogen deficiency, but why would this only affect 1 spruce
- Some sort of needle blight or cast, but the needles do not present any fungal fruiting bodies, plus the rapid onset (last 2ish months), does not indicate towards it
My disease and infection ID is not the greatest, but I'm working on it. Any advice would be appreciated!
Let me know what you think. The client is pretty dead set on having the tree removed, but I want to save it, if we can.
I came across a declining spruce today and have had a tough time identifying what is wrong with it.
Essentially, it has undergone rapid chlorosis, shifting from a healthy green, to a bright yellow (almost like out of 'The Golden Spruce'). The tree is around 17 years old, so quite young. All of the neighbouring spruce, planted around the same time, are all healthy.
Client says it was a healthy colour around 7 weeks ago. All needles have changed colour, with the slight exception of some shaded portions of the tree. These are still very yellow.
Needles fall from tree to the touch. In shaded areas, they do not fall, they still have life left in them.
Mulch is present but not great. The client is in the process of replacing it. There is landscaping tarp surrounding all of the trees, but this is the only spruce that is having issues.
We have had a few heat waves this year, but nothing crazy. Again, all of the neighboring spruce are unaffected.
I am in the Canadian rockies, hardiness zone of 2ish, so not many species are capable of surviving. Many of the colorado blue spruce in the area are heavily affected by winter burn, hypoxylon canker, siroccocus tip blight, all the good stuff, but I have not yet encountered somethink akin to this fine specimen.
My thoughts so far:
- Maybe a sulfur/nitrogen deficiency, but why would this only affect 1 spruce
- Some sort of needle blight or cast, but the needles do not present any fungal fruiting bodies, plus the rapid onset (last 2ish months), does not indicate towards it
My disease and infection ID is not the greatest, but I'm working on it. Any advice would be appreciated!
Let me know what you think. The client is pretty dead set on having the tree removed, but I want to save it, if we can.
