this is one of the downsides of planting a monoculture.. when one starts to go.. they all have the potential ... soooo ... if you replace.. do not go with one kind as a replacement ...

i have one neighbor with the same on maybe 30 trees or so ...... he had them limbed them up about 10 feet... and they looked decent for some years ... then he died.. and now she is left with them still looking like carp ...

his immediate neighbor has 4 .... and has spent the last 5 years.. having them sprayed... IMHO ... it accomplished nothing ... you ought to see them spray a 40 to 50 foot tree ... crikey ... well.. it did accomplish one thing.. enriching the spraying company ...

they have to go ... its all part of the aging process ... how fast .. how many .. and how its done is up to you ... one way or another.. its going to hurt ... physically or financially ...

so do keep in mind .... do not plant 50 of anything ... ever....

ken

I remember your post about the seedling that still had leaves after being buried in the snow. I believe you're somewhere near IL-IA, i.e.

If you want to diversify, add Picea omorika. If you want more diversification, I'd like to know your location.

Your blue spruce will never regenerate, that's a failed attempt right now. You might as well throw money in the street.

Dax

Thanks for your advice guys. We live between Utica and Syracuse in a forgotten little town in upstate New York. We bought this beautiful piece of property last summer. The people we bought it from had added lots of varied landscaping over the years. Unfortunately, it seems that it will cost us a ton of money to properly maintain all of it. I wish the previous owners had not chosen to plant such a large row of Blue Spruce trees (50 of them!). I guess they were all the rage back in the late '80s. It's kind of a pity that they didn't go with Red Spruce since they are native to the area and probably less susceptible to needle cast around here. Besides the Blue Spruce needle cast disease, we have a dying Catalpa tree (verticillium wilt), dying Cottonwood tree (old age, lots of dead branches) and a large silver maple tree (next to the house) that will all probably need to come down soon.

With regard to the horse chestnut seedling that retained its leaves, Ken was right in that it actually shed them once the snow finally melted here in late March. The seedling went dormant for a few weeks, and we thought it might have died. However, it actually sprouted new leaves again! Nature truly is awesome and works in mysterious ways.

Unc, yes, most likely Rhizoshaera. Maybe a little Cytospora canker thrown in. With that, you'd see pitch masses in the area under infected branches. Now I am going to deviate a bit here as to the efficacy of spraying for the needle cast: We once moved some rather large Col. spruce into a new location. The did fine for a few years burt then came down with a bad case of the needle cast. Back at that time, I still actually worked for a living, and it was me and another individual, using bucket truck, that sprayed regular old bordeaux mix. It really worked well. today, those spruce have doubled in size and are in near-perfect condition.

Now, the other side: Col. spruce are looking like crap all over the place. The combination of drought, humid air, and probably other factors, have rendered them very susceptible to such pathogens. So the choice is really yours-of course-but treatment is not necessarily a lost cause.

I do much, much prefer Norway spruce though. All in all, a more robust plant, and one much better adapted to high atmospheric moisture.

+oM

Or Phomopsis Canker. A pathologist at Michigan State was looking into spruce decline when he gave a talk at the ACS Conifer College in 2012. This was added to their list of usual suspects. Normally a seedling ailment, it morphed to affect old trees.

tj

Here is a link that might be useful: Cantankerous Cankers