Hey guys,
Any clue what might be causing winter dieback on a spruce?
The leaf tips die back every winter. It starts around January/February. It starts from the very tip and moves backwards. There are no spots on leaves no oozing of sap, no abnormal growth on the tree, no borers. The needles simply turn brown and fall off. It happens all over the tree on every branch. Usually the buds survive, and leaf out strong, with no issues all year, 'till winter comes.
Sometimes I loose entire branches.
I keep it in a greenhouse every winter close to freezing, tried it keeping it frozen, wetter, drier no change.
The roots look healthy.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Any other Pictures of the trees needles before they brown and fall off.
The reason I ask is that I have a Colorado blue spruce that was infected with rust, one of these two, Chrysomyxa weirii or Chrysomyxa ledicola, Weir’s cushion rust or spruce needle rust.
Wiring technique will lead to die back also.
Unfortunately I don’t have any more pics, but I don’t think it’s fungus. There are no fruiting bodies or spots on the needles at all even under a magnifier. The needles seem to just dry out, no yellowing transition.
Fungus was my original idea so I treated it last summer throughout the growing season alternating with copper and sulfur based fungicide s, and twice during fall and winter.
This year the issue seems to be less severe for some reason. The only thing I changed was to keep it in full shade withouth any direct sunlight.
As for wire, I haven’t touched the tree in about 3 years to get try to get it back to health.
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