The spruce is an attractive sight, especially in spring with its young, light green shoot tips. Bare branches, on the other hand, are unsightly when a spruce loses its needles. Therefore, you should react early when the first needles turn brown.
Why is my spruce needling excessively?
If a spruce needs excessively, dryness, waterlogging, lack of nutrients, plant diseases or pests can be the cause. Water the spruce when it is dry, create drainage when it is waterlogged and improve the soil accordingly when there is a lack of nutrients.
Why do spruce trees needle at all?
It is not always a cause for concern when a spruce loses its needles, as a certain replacement is quite common. The individual needles live for around six to 13 years, depending on the type of spruce and stress level. This leads to the needles falling off prematurely.
However, if your spruce loses an excessive number of needles, there could be many different reasons behind it. Dryness is one of the reasons, but it is easy to fix. Waterlogging and nutrient deficiencies are another possibility you should consider, as are pests and diseases
What should I do now?
Check the soil under your spruce for moisture and pH. If the soil is dry, water the spruce greenish; if the soil is wet and/or heavy, create a drainage system. You can use the pH value to see whether the soil may be too acidic. This can be compensated for with a small dose of lime.
Pests can also cause brown needles and later dropping. Don't just think about the bark beetle, which primarily damages the bark, but also about spider mites and various plant lice. However, the location may be the cause because walls or foundations significantly restrict the root space.
Will pruning my spruce tree help?
The spruce often reacts to pruning with large gaps that only close very slowly. However, if individual branches are severely infested with pests, they should be removed.
Possible causes of needling:
- drought
- Waterlogging
- Nutrient Deficiency
- poor growth after transplanting
- various plant diseases or pests
Tip
The sooner you pay attention to brown needles on your spruce and react to excessive loss of needles, the sooner your spruce can recover.
