There are a few things that can cause damage such as this to a dwarf Alberta spruce. Spruce spider mites cause areas to first brown and then die. The problem often spreads and can kill a plant. Secondly, winter damage from wind or salt exposure can make a DAS bare on one side as well. Thirdly, any plant that might have been hit with herbicide, salt, household cleaning products, hot water from a sun heated hose etc will experience dieback.
Our best guess for your plant is spruce spider mites. There is a way to see if there are mites: put a piece of clean white paper under a branch or two, then shake the tree/branch. Little moving dots are red spider mites.If uncertain, crush and smear the dots. Mites will produce a brown streak when smashed.
In our region, our hot, dry summers make these shrubs very vulnerable to attack from the mites. Unfortunately these plants don’t regrow from bare wood, ever. So those parts of the plant that are dead now will always be dead, and the green growth on this plant doesn’t look too healthy either.
Hose the plants down thoroughly, with a forceful blast of water from the hose, and make sure they are well watered -not soggy- but that the soil is wet down to at least 6 inches or more. We like to build a little “moat” z(about 3-4 inches deep) around shrubs, out at the drip line, where the ends of the branches reach. Fill that up with water and let it disappear a couple times. In a few more days, repeat the hose blast, and fill up the moat again.
See if this helps at all. The cooler weather is on its way.
Let us know if this helps.
Thank you.
I have 5 Dwarf Alberta Spruce trees that sustained winter damage. I planted them 9 months ago. They are all browning on the south side. In the fall of last year before winter set in there was no visible damage so I am assuming spider mites have not infected my trees. What can I do this spring to revitalize my trees and stimulate growth?
I have the same issue, question. It’s just winter burn. How can I spruce my spruce?
my dwarf alberta spruce had a very bad case of bag worms — i picked off about 100 of them and ever since then, my spruce has been going down hill . the south side of the bush is dropping needles and turning brown. the other two next two it are not showing any damage at all. what is going on and what can i do to save this precious bush ?
please let me know ?
When you have planted your trees, spray for disease and use wilt stop spray on trees once every year before the heat of summer and before bitter cold of winter. This protects your trees! Also, put a fertilizer stick for trees in the ground at spring time once a year. Doing this for my trees made all the difference!!
PJC