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Needle Cast Disease on Spruce
I have lots of white and blue spruce of varying heights (18" to 20') on property. The neighbor has gone beserk because some of her trees have needlecast disease and hired someone to come in and spray at a very high price (she wouldn't tell us how much). My wife has found the disease on maybe 5 of our 300 or so trees and now is going nuts. She wants me to pull out the infected ones or run out and get spray, isolate them or whatever.
I know this disease has been on some of these trees for a few years and has not spread. How bad is this disease? Should I pay big bucks for a professional? Or just spray them myself with my newly acquired spot sprayer? If so what chemical should I use? Or should I just let nature take its course?
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Needle Cast Disease on Spruce
A forester told me the best preventative is to thin the trees well enough that air circulates freely and foliage dries out quickly. I've been thinning for a few years now here. No sign of needle cast yet, knock on wood. Here's a link on treatment once your trees have it.
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Needle Cast Disease on Spruce
Thanks Ken - I think I will go to Agway and see if they have any spray for this. The infected trees are already fairly separate from the rest so I will keep my fingers crossed that not too many others will be infected.
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Needle Cast Disease on Spruce
My experience with fungicides on turf rust (Daconil in particular) has me skeptical about their effectiveness. A lot of money, questionable results. But if you only have a few trees it's probably worth a try. Good luck, and please keep us posted. I'm really curious to see if it works for you.
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Needle Cast Disease on Spruce
I spoke with the Cornell Agricultural Extension service on this. They said if I cut 3 branches with a mix of good growth and the disease - and I deliver the branches to them during their office hours - for $8 they will diagnose the disease and make a recommendation on how to handle it. Sounds like a plan to me!
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Needle Cast Disease on Spruce
Brought the limbs in today. The Cornell extension person called home before I got there and told my wife the disease is NOT needle cast. It is "spruce gall adelgids". Treatment is to clip off bad branches and spray a few years in a row with either horticultural oil, insecticidal soap, or cabaro. The disease doesn't kill the trees - just thins them a bit and they don't look their best.
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