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Lydia

Spruce branch die back

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post-5486-0-94724500-1398519457_thumb.jpgpost-5486-0-49040300-1398519469_thumb.jpg    Eight of our mature spruce trees have branch die back that started from the lowest brances and continues up the tree. There are two healthy-looking spruce that do not appear to be effected (yet). We also have twenty oak and maple trees that tower above the spruce. If it is a lighting issue, how did the spruce grow to be thirty to forty feet under the same conditions.
 

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We often see spruces loose their lower limbs due to the upper limbs growing faster (usually in more sun) and shading out the lower limbs causing them to weaken and dieback. They can become susceptible to diseases too.

The light situation changes as all of the trees grow so the plants light conditions are constantly changing. These spruces look thin and have probably been in part shade for awhile.

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Could it be Cytospora canker fungus?.  I just lost 5 Colorado Blue Spruce do to same situation in your photo.  In doing research including speaking to an arborist:   Colorado Blue Spruce are not native to Michigan and believe it or not our summers sometimes get too warm for them so this fungus can flourish  especially when heat dries them out.   It spreads through the air and with the rain so not much we can do about it.  The die-back starts from the bottom and goes up. There is no spray for this.  It weakened my trees so bad that with that past November wind storm around Thanksgiving, several were uprooted.  Now my once total shade garden, is now full sun!  I had to take 5 of them down, and 3 more which line my driveway, are on their way out.  They were around 45 yrs old, so age too figures into the weakened state so the fungus can more readily take over.  So sad.  I miss my mighty giants. 

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It could be the Cytospora but I didn't see any of the white sap that is usually drips from the cankers onto the lower branches or on the trunk.

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(above) This is a canker dripping sap.

 

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(above) Over the years we've come to the conclusion that the Colorado spruces are at best a short lived 25 to 40 years in our area of Michigan. Even in full sun and what seems to be good growing conditions they just seem to all loose their lower limbs and get sickly within that time frame. We've written about Cytospora here: https://gardenatoz.org/whats-up/ensemble-editions/early-spring/what%27s-up-138-spruces,-talking-to-plants/

 

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