How to Save Dying Spruce Trees
- 1). Grow your spruce trees where they receive full sun exposure for optimal development. Avoid crowding your trees by spacing them far enough apart.
- 2). Use a drip irrigation system to deliver deep watering to your spruce tree as spruces thrive in moist soil. Maintain well-drained soil to prevent waterlogging. Water until the middle of August and stop until after leaves have dropped during autumn, according to the Montana State University Extension Service.
- 3). Add a 3- to 4-inch layer of organic mulch beneath the canopy of your spruce tree without pressing the mulch up against the trunk. Use a material like wood chips or pine needles as mulch to improve moisture retention, stabilize soil temperature and repel weeds that can attract pests to the home landscape and compete for nutrients with your spruce tree.
- 4). Examine your tree for pest infestations like the common spruce pest: the white pine weevil. Look for brown, snout-faced bugs that measure approximately 1/4 inch in length and appear in spring. Weevils destroy the uppermost 18 inches of your spruce tree's stems, and that makes your tree look as though it's dying. This is the characteristic damage caused by weevil feeding.
- 5). Employ a control program once you have identified a pest infestation, beginning with cultural control and moving onto biological and chemical management to cause as little damage as possible during treatment. Control weevils by removing and destroying affected plant parts and then releasing natural enemies of the weevil. Some insects kill weevils without causing any harm to your spruce. Purchase fly larvae and parasitic wasps from a garden supply store, catalog or online retailer.
- 6). Choose to use chemical control if infestation is severe, but realize that most chemicals will kill your beneficial insects. Apply horticultural oil as a low-toxicity insecticide that kills on contact but provides no residual control. For higher toxicity and greater control, choose an insecticide with the active ingredient acephate, according to the University of Idaho College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
- 7). Examine your tree for needle diseases that cause needle drop and the inhibition of regrowth and death of random branches. Root rot is another problem, which leads to mushroom growth and poor tree growth.
- 8). Prevent tree death by contacting your local county extension agent or a licensed professional to determine the particular problem challenging your spruce tree. Attain an expert opinion, as symptoms of different fungal infections are similar. Create and follow through with a control program tailored to your tree's particular problem.
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