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Baby Blue Spruce Showing Distress #805687

Asked August 10, 2022, 7:05 PM EDT

Help we have two baby blue spruce which are showing distress trying to figure out if it is heat, or disease, they were so pretty when planted growing new green tips and now one half of tree if brown at tips and losing needles the other side seems to be okay relatively speaking.  

Douglas County Colorado

Expert Response

Hi Bonnie,

I'm sorry to hear about your tree!  It looks like it might be drought stress, but I would like to ask you a few questions to see if I can be more certain of that.

1. How long ago did you plant the tree?

2. is the tree being watered, and if so, how much?

3. Have you noticed any pattern to the needle browning and drop--that is, is it going from the inside out, or the outside in, or everything all at once?

Thanks,

John

An Ask Extension Expert Replied August 11, 2022, 5:47 PM EDT
Can you call me?

On Thu, Aug 11, 2022 at 3:47 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:
The Question Asker Replied August 11, 2022, 6:09 PM EDT
We plantef trees roughly end of April early May it looks great all the way up until maybe mid June …there are three drips on each tree originally free flowing my husband recently put on heads so it’s more controlled flow and the originally started with brown tips and then the backside of that front tree and they were brown all the way down to the trunk and the needles are falling down on parts of branch but it’s just so hard because we felt like we had it under wraps and now we’re not sure if it’s too much water not enough water we have checked soil deeper and it was damp not soaking wet friend came over and gave it a fish fertilizer treatment because he said he uses it on his trees and I can’t say that I’ve noticed a difference it looks pretty much the same but that was like a 5 gallon bucket that he use for each tree so I decided that we just keep watching it and praying that we’re not gonna lose them
This is a voice text response so forgive me if it isn’t fully free of errors!!!

On Thu, Aug 11, 2022 at 3:47 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:
The Question Asker Replied August 11, 2022, 6:09 PM EDT

So my husband also said that the drips were on every day for about two weeks then he backed him down to like four days a week then three days a week because that’s what the guy that put them in suggested and they were doing fine so that’s why we’re trying to figure out now if it’s been super hot and we try to put the water on early in the morning and then after the sun is setting and we even mist it in between in the first thing in the morning and and when the sun is setting to keep the needles moist as we did that with one of our trees but that doesn’t seem to make a difference not every day but really hot ones  
On Thu, Aug 11, 2022 at 3:47 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:
The Question Asker Replied August 11, 2022, 6:15 PM EDT
Here are a few more pictures of branches that look like the may potentially have a bug let me know you thoughts ?
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On Thu, Aug 11, 2022 at 4:13 PM Bonnie Stanford <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

So my husband also said that the drips were on every day for about two weeks then he backed him down to like four days a week then three days a week because that’s what the guy that put them in suggested and they were doing fine so that’s why we’re trying to figure out now if it’s been super hot and we try to put the water on early in the morning and then after the sun is setting and we even mist it in between in the first thing in the morning and and when the sun is setting to keep the needles moist as we did that with one of our trees but that doesn’t seem to make a difference not every day but really hot ones  
On Thu, Aug 11, 2022 at 3:47 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:
The Question Asker Replied August 12, 2022, 10:48 AM EDT

Thanks for the photos and information.

From what I can see, I do not think you have insects or disease, but rather stress from transplanting--a combination of heat stress and drought stress.  You're taking the right steps in checking for soil moisture and spraying the trees down in extra-hot weather; it may be too late to save them though.  Hopefully your extra TLC will make a difference.

If you do end up needing to replace them, be sure to dig a wide, saucer-shaped hole--3 times as wide as the root ball.  After planting water daily by hand to make sure the rootball is being adequately wetted.  Drippers are often not on long enough to accomplish this.  Check the tree regularly by sticking your finger into the rootball (not the surrounding soil), and watering if the top inch or two is dry.  In hot weather, this could be daily.  If the rootball is damp, you need not water the tree, but a spritz in the late afternoon over the foliage can be helpful to mitigate heat stress, as you have been doing.

I am sorry about your trees and hope this is helpful.

Cordially,

John

An Ask Extension Expert Replied August 12, 2022, 3:35 PM EDT

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