Help With Coloroado Spruce

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neefman East Bridgewater, MA Aug 01, 2016

My parents have a Colorado spruce in rough shape. Is it because it has been so exposed to the sun? The heat in the northeast has been brutal this summer. watering extra doesn't seem to help.

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ViburnumValley Scott County, KY(Zone 5b) Aug 01, 2016

Since you seem to have some (spell) Czech in your heritage, you messed up Colorado in your thread title...

Your images don't immediately illustrate anything to me, nor do they give much idea to what is going on around where this plant is located. Backyard, front yard, side yard? Near a downspout? Next to a sidewalk, driveway, or road?

I would suspect latent damage from previous events - not current weather conditions. The branches with little to no needles on them could have been damaged by weight of snow or ice from some of your recent brutal winters. Waterlogging events from past episodes of excessive rainfall treat Picea pungens particularly poorly.

Send us more info.

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) Aug 03, 2016

The main cause of the damage is fungal pathogens encouraged by the high summer humidity. It is worst on the lower branches as (a) air there is more stagnant and humid with less ventilation, and (b) those branches are less vigorous anyway, so less able to hold off the fungal onslaught.

Unfortunately a very common problem with blue conifers, which are mostly adapted to low-humidity climates where fungi don't survive well.

Resin

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