Spruce dieback

[TreeAbility]

Anyone got any thoughts on the cause of this dieback on a few spruce trees?

[Gary Prentice]

Any evidence of insect predation such as shot holes where eggs may have been deposited?  Is the browning widespread or just at low levels?

It could be as simple as frost damage/windburn, salt spray if near the road. Could do with more photos and you having a good look to see what you can see yourself, before even beginning to hazard a diagnosis.

 

Where are you situated, if it's North America first thoughts would be the spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) which kills millions of trees annually, but I don't think that's a problem in the UK.   We just have this little beauty  which unless you're next to a lot of spruce woodland is probably unlikely.

WWW.WOODLANDTRUST.ORG.UK

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[TreeAbility]

It's just the very tips of the branches. I did look for any insects but didn't find any.

[Vedhoggar]

Looks like it might be frost damage, some Christmas trees I have got hit with a late frost this year.

[spuddog0507]

I agree with Vedhoggar, Frost damage, where we are extracting timber at the moment there is a Beech hedge that looks like it should in november all brown leaves on it and no green to be seen, its all so done some lower branches on some chestnut and young beech along with some tips on some Larch,

[difflock]

After our premature exceptional April heat we had a quite tight and very late May frost for 2 or 3 nights in a row, which left Beech and Oak looking like someone took a blowlamp to the leaves and the fresh new growth on the Beech.