Pine tree issues

[Huskie]

What type of animal, I see squirrels around, will chew off the last foot or so of a ponderosa pine branch. The trees are 30 ft. tall and each once in a while I'll find tips of the branches on the ground. Also something is eating the pinecones that drop to the ground.

I also have a few spruce trees, younger ones that have the tips dying off, brown needles the last 3 or 4 inches of the branch, is that an insect problem of some kind?

[pureinsanity]

Maybe the pine tip moth & caterpillar

[Huskie]

Is there a spray of some type for it? I'll google it and see what I come up with, thanks.

[Steve Foss]

On the pines, squirrels will sometimes chew off the ends of several pinecone-bearing branches and then scurry around on the ground to gather the cones.

On the spruce, it could be either a pest or environmental. How long since the trees were planted, what type of spruce, and how tall are they? It could be that the trees were planted too deeply, are too heavily mulched around the base, or suffered from dried out rootballs at planting. There also could be boring insects involved. It's the kind of thing you probably need a professional to come take a look at, because it could be caused by quite a few things, and such cases are hard to diagnose online. Pictures of a whole spruce and a closeup of an affected branch would help.

[Powerstroke]

I agree with Steve about the pine branches/squirrel thought.

On the spruce, is this only on the new growth from this year? The symptom you describe is typical of salt or herbicide damage or from insect damage. Is there any swelling where the needles have died? This would indicate a spruce gall. You can search eastern spruce gall or cooley spruce gall and see if this is what is looks like.

If you're unsure or you'd like to get it diagnosed and treated I would contact a local forester either with the city you live in or the county or else contact a local tree service that has a Certified Arborist on staff. You should not have to pay for a consultation, although some companies are starting to charge for service calls.

If you're in the cities I could take a look. I worked for a large national tree company for 5 years.

[Steve Foss]

Andy, what a team we'd make if we went into the arborist business together. Shame my name isn't Amos.

[Powerstroke]

LOL Steve! I would work with you just to run some of your saws.

I did go through some of my resource books and it seems a huge indicator would be if its just the new growth or it involves 2nd year growth. There are a couple of fungal disorders that could look like this, but they are less likely.

[Huskie]

Looks like insects to me, I've had a bottle of liquid sevin in my garage for a few years, would that work on an evergreen tree?

[Steve Foss]

IMO, you need to find out for sure whether it's a disease or a pest before you start spraying. Sevin is fine for evergreens, but doesn't target all insects. Maybe you have insects. Maybe you don't. Maybe, if it is insects, Sevin will control/kill them. Maybe it won't.

Spraying Sevin on the tree willy nilly is like going to a lake without knowing what fish are in it and throwing a spinnerbait hoping to catch something.

[BoxMN]

like going to a lake without knowing what fish are in it and throwing a spinnerbait hoping to catch something.

I represent that statement!!!

On some spruces on my neighbors place (actually mine too) there are some browning needles all over the tree. Not every needle, but plenty that the tree has a kind of brown/tan "hue" to it. THere are little tiny bumps on the underside of the needles. I think he talked to a nursery and brought a branch in, and they told him it was some type of fungus I think, and that it would take about 2-3 years before it would go away, but that there is nothing really to do... ?.... These are trees about 12-15' tall, and I believe trees that grew on thier own, not planted by him. Does that sound similar? Is there a such fungus? I think these are white spruces, but not totally sure.

[Big-Al]

From the DNR-

Are my spruce trees dying? Mike Albers, MN DNR Div of Forestry

No your spruce trees are not dying and yes it is too late in the season to spray anything on the trees this year. Many homeowners in northern Minnesota have noticed their spruce trees turning tan or orange recently. The needles are infected with a spruce needle rust fungus. It is more of an aesthetic problem and seldom a tree health problem. The spruce needle rust fungi, Chrysomyxa ledi and Chrysomyxa ledicola, look bad but aren’t serious for most trees. However they can be tough on newly planted trees and Christmas trees. The rust is most common on blue spruce but can also infect white and black spruce as well.

The infected current year needles will turn yellow and fall off the tree later this fall. The tree will not grow new needles in place of the needles that fall off. However, the tree will have healthy buds on the ends of the branches and these will produce new needles next year. The fungus only infects the current year needles. It does not infect the shoots or branches of the tree or older needles on the tree. So healthy trees, survive the infection with little or no long term damage. And next year, homeowners probably will not see any infection on their trees.

In some years, like this one, spruce needle rust is very common; but in most years it’s hard to find. The fungus requires other plants such as Laborador tea or leather leaf to complete its life cycle. In early summer, the rust fungus produces spores on leaves of Laborador tea or leather leaf. If the wind blows these spores onto current year spruce needles and if the weather is wet and cool, the spruce needles become infected and turn yellow, orange or tan in July and August. The rust fungus produces spores on infected spruce needles and these are carried by wind and rain splash to Laborador tea or leather leaf infecting them. The spores produced on spruce trees do not infect other spruce trees.

Once spruce needle rust becomes obvious on the trees it is too late to use a pesticide. When the needles start to turn color they are already infected and fungicides cannot cure the infected needles. Pesticides are seldom recommended because the infections usually won’t damage the tree health. Additionally, because there is no way to predict which years the rust will be a problem, pesticides would have to be applied every year.

The best thing you can do for your trees is to keep them well watered if the weather turns dry. Avoid using sprinklers though because they get the needles wet and lead to needle and twig disease problems such as needle rust. It is much better to just lay the hose on the ground under the tree to soak the ground. Keep weeds and grass mowed around small trees so winds can dry the needles better and prevent infection. Mulching around yard trees is also recommended because it keeps the soil moist and also helps keep the weeds and grass away from them. Mulching also keeps your lawn mower and weed whip away from your trees reducing injury to the stem. These are likely to do a lot more damage to your trees than spruce needle rust will.

Additional information can be found at the following web site:

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/M1265.html#spruceneedlerust

[BoxMN]

That's it! Thanks Big-AL!