Looking for some off-season help

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PSU4ME
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Looking for some off-season help

Post by PSU4ME » February 20th, 2023, 2:14 pm

Looking to see if anyone is able to help here. I planted, in a row, about 10 different evergreen trees a few years ago. They have been doing great but I have one, blue spruce, that is starting to deteriorate from the bottom up. It’s losing its needles from the bottom up. I’m not seeing anything weird, webbing, mites or anything like that but I also don’t know what to look for specifically. I have a lot of chemicals here but I don’t wanna just start spraying stuff without a strategy.

I’m attaching some pics but if anyone can help, happy to grab more/different views.

Thanks
Bryan
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PSU4ME
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Re: Looking for some off-season help

Post by PSU4ME » February 20th, 2023, 2:16 pm

A few more pics

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Looking for some off-season help

Post by MorpheusPA » February 21st, 2023, 6:46 pm

You can cut the dead branches off but don't remove any branch with greenery or that's still living; it won't sprout back or sprout greenery off the branch past the cut point.

Did you plant those in their burlap bags? Is that one tree particularly wet or dry?

I can't see if it's a disease or not (although my first guess is Cytospora from the symptoms)--not in February--but I can say I don't like the color of the tree. There's no new growth, unlike the others, and the tree doesn't appear to have tried to produce anything in the last year, at least.

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PSU4ME
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Re: Looking for some off-season help

Post by PSU4ME » February 21st, 2023, 8:54 pm

Hey Morph,
Yes they were planted with the bottom half of the burlap bag and metal basket, whatever I couldn’t cut off once it was in the hole. It isn’t any more wet than the others but I am going to make sure the sprinklers are not hitting it when I fire them up this year.

I was assuming some kind of needle cast, rhizosphaera or as you mention cytospora cankers…….I do plan to first trim out the dead branches. It did get new tip growth last year.

Any type of a general treatment? I saw some recommendations to treat with a fungicide at 1/2” new tip growth and then again 4 weeks later.

Thanks for the help

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Re: Looking for some off-season help

Post by MorpheusPA » February 21st, 2023, 9:19 pm

Barring taking the cuttings to your local Extension office for a formal diagnosis, yes, I'd spray a good copper solution or anti-fungal per bottle and disease instructions and give it a try. Most fungus infections on blue spruce can't be cured, but at least you can slow them down. For a while, anyway.


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PSU4ME
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Re: Looking for some off-season help

Post by PSU4ME » February 22nd, 2023, 10:24 am

I reached out to the umass ag department to see if they think they can help but also asked if they think IDing it would change any recommendation.

I’m looking at 3 diff sprays:
Bonide Fung-onil
Bonide Mancozeb
Or something like Kocide 3000 (bit expensive)

Any thoughts on a preferred spray? I’m going to trim and clean the area as well, it’s very crowded in the area where it’s dying off.

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Re: Looking for some off-season help

Post by MorpheusPA » February 25th, 2023, 2:36 pm

I have no initial preference without also having a definitive diagnosis, but I might say that I could possibly be convinced to go with the Fung-onil, maybe. Or a copper-based spray as they tend to be extremely wide-spectrum, very effective, and also provoke an immune response in the plant (just don't overdo with copper as it can be toxic to the soil).

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Re: Looking for some off-season help

Post by PSU4ME » February 28th, 2023, 1:22 pm

Sample is sitting with UMass at this time so hopefully I’ll get something back this week. I’ll report back with the diagnosis and hopefully the Drs thoughts on recommended treatment plans. I’m starting to see similar dead branches on the Norway spruce next to it so I gotta control this now.

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Re: Looking for some off-season help

Post by PSU4ME » March 20th, 2023, 10:13 am

OK Morph, I just got the results back this morning - they had to incubate the sample for a bit. They came back with Phomopsis dieback, tip blight and Canker (Phomopsis sp./spp.).

Option 1 - fully remove the tree

Option 2 - Prune and treat - I feel that this is a possibility given that the tree isn't too gone. I'm wondering how much I can save and get growing after the dead trim.

I can def do a treatment schedule but I'd be interested in your thoughts on the chemical/fungicide plan - happy to alternate them as well if you think it'll be worth it.

I'm also going to visit my sprinklers to make sure they are not hitting the trees.

Let me know what you think - i'll get the order in.

Thanks!

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Re: Looking for some off-season help

Post by MorpheusPA » March 29th, 2023, 6:39 pm

Sorry, I got delayed. Again.

You can certainly try a prune and treat and see where you go. As you noted, it's already hitting surrounding trees, so prune those and treat everything, even trees that don't seem to be impacted....yet.

You're not going to eat anything from the tree, so Mancozeb is on the table here. Just wear gloves and don't inhale the stuff. Alternate with a copper fungicide every 2 weeks and see how it goes.

I can honestly say the worst-off tree probably isn't going to go that well, but the others probably have a chance. And I'd be happy to be wrong on the unhappy tree. If/when it dies, replace it with something that's immune to that fungus, because the soil is now infested with the stuff.

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PSU4ME
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Re: Looking for some off-season help

Post by PSU4ME » March 30th, 2023, 9:12 am

No worries Morph! Nothing budding yet.

I heavily pruned the OG tree and those around it. As you stated, the surrounding ones look like they'll be OK. My plan was to see if the OG tree looses any more branches this spring and if so, out it goes.

I have Clearys 3336f (Thiophanate - Methyl), Bonide Copper fungicide, Mancozeb and Fung oil. I can alternate based on what you said - what are your thoughts on incorporating the 3336F?

Also, have 9 evergreens in a row there (hemlock, balsam, blue spruce, Serbian spruce and Norway). Any of those you "wouldn't" proactively spray?

Temps hitting the 60s next week so I'm anticipating that to kick off the budding.

Thanks!

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Re: Looking for some off-season help

Post by MorpheusPA » March 30th, 2023, 4:28 pm

I'm not intimately familiar with 3336f...but it is registered for use on Phomopsis, so sure. I'd hit everything; I'm thinking the fungus has gone further than you think it has (kind of like any given disease has always gone past the borders one thinks it has...) at least preventatively.

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Re: Looking for some off-season help

Post by PSU4ME » March 30th, 2023, 4:48 pm

Any desire for a soil spray or will the drip down be enough? I plan to pull back the mulch and redo it.

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Re: Looking for some off-season help

Post by MorpheusPA » March 30th, 2023, 8:01 pm

Oh, good thought. Yeah, surface spray the soil, then surface spray the mulch. Assume the mulch is infested and discard (or compost at 160 degrees for at least 3 days before re-use). There's no need to soak soil or the mulch, just spray like you do the trees (technically it's supposed to be superfluous, but, eh).

Mind overspraying too much with copper or zinc based sprays. They can build up over time.

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