For many years I have grown houseplants, having 53 at one time in my
home. I also gave houseplant advice on a well-known website. Now
that I no longer live in the city and have four acres of beautiful
trees, I find myself a "babe in the woods" when it comes to tree
problems.

I have 10 beautiful blue spruce trees placed in different areas around
my home. I love these trees as not only are they beautiful but they
also cut down on the southwesterly winds. My problem is that they
appear to be getting a blight of some sort. At first, I thought it
might be root rot, as the brown patches seem to be coming from the
inside of the plant out (underwatering is usually the opposite), but
the patches are sporadic. This tells me it's a blight. Is anyone
familiar with this same problem, and if so, how can I go about saving
the trees?

My brother-in-law owns a Christmas tree farm and he is having the same
problem.

On Sun, 07 Nov 2004 08:49:46 -0800, Beth Pierce wrote:

For many years I have grown houseplants, having 53 at one time in my
home. I also gave houseplant advice on a well-known website. Now
that I no longer live in the city and have four acres of beautiful
trees, I find myself a "babe in the woods" when it comes to tree
problems.

I have 10 beautiful blue spruce trees placed in different areas around
my home. I love these trees as not only are they beautiful but they
also cut down on the southwesterly winds. My problem is that they
appear to be getting a blight of some sort. At first, I thought it
might be root rot, as the brown patches seem to be coming from the
inside of the plant out (underwatering is usually the opposite), but
the patches are sporadic. This tells me it's a blight. Is anyone
familiar with this same problem, and if so, how can I go about saving
the trees?

My brother-in-law owns a Christmas tree farm and he is having the same
problem.


This sounds very much like the spruce aphid damage.
http://gardening.wsu.edu/column/07-09-00.htm
I see this quite a bit here in washington state, unsure how badly this
will affect you in pennsylvania though. As far as your brother-in-law is
concerned, I *highly* suggest that he contacts the local Ag officer in his
county. This is what they are there for. If he doen't get a handle on it
quickly it could mean thousands of dollars of loss to his business.

There are other insects that could cause this damage. The spruce
spider mite:
http://bugs.osu.edu/~bugdoc/Shetlar/...pider_mite.htm

or possiblity of the balsam tree aphid:
http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/en.../baltwaph.html

At this time am I unaware of a disease that will cause this type of
damage as you describe it.
Better luck to you.

--
Trees are like children, train them right when their young.....
or spend a lifetime trying to correct them.

Thank you very much, Timothy. I'll print out the page and keep it on
file. I have a horticultural soap spray I can use (Bioneem). The
only problem would be to somehow knock the snow off the tree to spray
it. But I'm determined! These same trees bent over last year after a
severe ice storm and I propped them back up. They're looking fine
now.

Timothy wrote in message news:1099851896.
This sounds very much like the spruce aphid damage.
http://gardening.wsu.edu/column/07-09-00.htm
I see this quite a bit here in washington state, unsure how badly this
will affect you in pennsylvania though. As far as your brother-in-law is
concerned, I *highly* suggest that he contacts the local Ag officer in his
county. This is what they are there for. If he doen't get a handle on it
quickly it could mean thousands of dollars of loss to his business.

There are other insects that could cause this damage. The spruce
spider mite:
http://bugs.osu.edu/~bugdoc/Shetlar/...pider_mite.htm

or possiblity of the balsam tree aphid:
http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/en.../baltwaph.html

At this time am I unaware of a disease that will cause this type of
damage as you describe it.
Better luck to you.