Spruce Tree Care

Spruce are high altitude dwellers widespread throughout the southwest. They are popular as a landscape ornamental tree.

Spruce Tree Health Care

In Denver, the IPS beetle can cause damage or even kill a spruce. Preventive spraying needs to be done throughout the growing season. There’s also cooley spruce gall which looks like little pineapples on the tips of the branches.

Denver spruce trees also are affected by scale. Symptoms include excessive sap and white spotting on needles. The best time to combat these is late winter/ early spring with a dormant oil.  

Dust at the base of your Spruce is a sign of beetle activity

Dormant oil works with cultural practices. Application at the proper time is crucial. Apply too late and insects will be gone before the dormant oil can trap it.

Although it will alter the eating habits of aphids and other crawling insects, dormant oil is less flexible then general spraying which can be done throughout the growing season.

Dormant oil is diluted with water and applied as a spray. Typically dormant oil is mixed with water at about a 2% rate. Apply in late winter or early spring to prevent any needle burn or discoloration.

Spruce Tree Trimming

Lifting or skirting may help with landscaping chores and keep a spruce from collecting trash. However, take too many branches away and the next heavy snow may break or flatten the branches.

A spruce trimming is usually cosmetic and also for taking the branches away from windows, sidewalks and other structures. They serve as a great wind shield planted throughout southwest Colorado to control snow drifts.

Spruce Tree Removal – spruce tree removal will usually be straightforward.  A tree in decline will thin out and start to die from the top down.

Please call 303-795-2381 with any questions.